Embracing the liminal moment

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View in browser  |  Your newsletter preferences Not yet a subscriber? By Eve Sneider | 06.24.23 Sherry Turkle Negotiates Life Online I never know what to do with clichés. On the one hand, they're definitionally overused. On the other, they're in heavy rotation for a reason. Case in point: It feels ridiculous to write a newsletter for WIRED magazine about whether our devices make us more or less human, but I really can't resist. Does the amount and kind of time I spend on the internet bring me closer to other people or drive them away? Both and neither. What do you think? I'd love it if you wrote me a note with your thoughts. My justification for dwelling on this question is that this week's Classics is about Sherry Turkle, among the foremost thinkers on the culture of technology and the impact of screens on our relationships. When she became one of the first women to grace WIRED's cover in 1996, she spoke with measured optimism about how computers can give people the space to invent themselves and their worlds, to be messy and multifaceted in a way that can be remarkably true to life. "I'm drawn to—I love—the liminal moment," she said to writer Pamela McCorduck. "Historically, these times of change are the times of greatest cultural creativity; everything is infused with new meanings." In the ensuing years, it seems, Turkle has changed her tune several times over. As she told WIRED in 2021, the pandemic in particular "turned everything upside down." She pointed out that she had come to be known chiefly as a technology critic, a proponent of in-person connection. But the pandemic represented another liminal space, one where technology gave rise to something pretty lovely. "The sense of participation and collective healing in these moments really brought out something in the internet that I thought was unique and wonderful and very special," she said. "When people have great intent, and great desire, and full attention to turn this medium into something extraordinary, they can." What do you make of all of this? On a scale of cynical to sanguine, how would you say you're feeling about your attachment to your devices these days? Write me an email telling me more, or leave a comment below McCorduck's profile. See you next week! Eve Eve Sneider, Deputy Ideas Editor Read the Full Story Originally published in April 1996 SUBSCRIBE TO READ THIS STORY  Sex, Lies and Avatars Sherry Turkle knows what role-playing in cyberspace really means. A profile. You Might Also Like Sherry Turkle Talks Going Remote, Loneliness, and Her New Book In The Empathy Diaries, the pioneering computer researcher finally studies her own life. She tells WIRED why now was the right time. Psychologists Are Learning What Religion Has Known for Years Social scientists are researching what humans can do to improve their quality of life. Their findings echo what religious practices perfected centuries ago. Of Course We're Living in a Simulation The only people who absolutely disagree are, well, scientists. They need to get over themselves and join the fun. 'The Great Resignation' Misses the Point The phrase has come to describe record levels of job turnover. But it overlooks the bigger story: a radical rethinking of our relationship to work. SUBSCRIBE TO READ THIS STORY  Why the Future Doesn't Need Us Our most powerful 21st-century technologies—robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech—are threatening to make humans an endangered species. ADVERTISEMENT Brain Hack The other week, Classics looked at a 1999 story about a device that purported to replicate smells. In response, Brad Walters wrote, "Smells do hack into your primitive brain in an incredibly powerful way. My example: Decades after I graduated from middle school I walked into the lobby of some random office building. Suddenly I was standing in my middle-school library entrance, looking across to the shelves. I was there, for a second, back in 1963; then the lobby returned. It was hugely disorienting, and to this day (many decades even farther down the road) I can still bring up the library image and a faint trace of the scent, which was the floor wax. Not sure what brand it was, and I haven't run across it since."   Tell me about your favorite WIRED stories and magazine-related memories, and each week I'll feature one of you here. Write to me at eve_sneider@wired.com, and include "CLASSICS" in the subject line. Or, simply join the conversation by posting a comment below the article. GET WIRED Get WIRED for just $29.99 $5. That includes subscriber-only content like Steven Levy's Plaintext column, plus free stickers! Subscribe now. ADVERTISEMENT Have questions or comments? 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