Online you can do (virtually) anything

In the online world, it is almost possible to live out your entire existence - yes really. In fact (sociology, anthropology, psych students & reality TV producers take note) this would be a really cool experiment, wouldn't it? Put it this way: if you advertised it as some kind of ground-breaking trial, to be filmed as a serious (or otherwise) docu-drama, with a massive cash prize up for grabs, well, the sky's your virtual limit!

Picture this: your contestants are confined to something like a one bedroom apartment, as if in solitary confinement, for what, three, six...twelve months? All they have to keep them sane (or otherwise) is the internet - so the virtual world becomes their reality.

Think about it: they would have to work, shop, interact, be entertained and communicate strictly in the online environment. On being released form this virtual prison, I wonder what their greatest yearning would be - the touch of another human perhaps? (and no, not in that way) But really, wouldn't you miss that tactile 'real' connection with another? (unless you are some kind of autistic/sociopathic freak - in which case either go and get help, or take your medication - they're watching, you know)

But on a far more mundane level, aren't we already doing this to a great degree? Once again, have a really good think about how much we all engage with this virtual reality on a daily basis: email (of course), which you have access to via your phone, on which you also pay bills, get the footy/cricket/netball scores, do a fair bit of social networking, watch stupid things on youtube and occasionally even make phone calls.

So the digital hegemony has crept up on us a little more surreptitously than we might think. Has this happened by accident? Well, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I doubt whether Bentham could imagine a better realisation of his panopticon than the internet - can you?

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