The Humanitas Forum

The Internet is an integral part of life for most of us.  We send e-mail, we text, we surf, we Skype, we watch YouTube, we buy and we sell.  But do we understand how this computer-mediated world impacts …

Which is better, the hearty laugh of a friend over a cup of chai, or the “LOL” in a text from the same friend?  There is a difference!  

“Laughing-out-loud” could just be a distracted throw-away line.  …

Over the past half-century, American doctors have begun to use the tools of medicine not merely to make sick people better but to make well people better than well. Bioethicists call these tools “enhancement technologies,” and usually characterize them as …

What to make of television?  The debate began soon after television sets became commonplace in American homes in the 1950s.  It’s been described as the “boob tube” and the “idiot box,” and its content as “chewing gum for …

What to do if a friend wants to borrow a book?  You firmly but gently tell him to buy his own copy.  “You will lend him your car or your coat—your books are as much a part of …

The research is starting to come in!  And even the most ardent supporters of the Internet are having to rethink their enthusiasm for the world of “always connected.”

Since the arrival of the Internet, there have been questions …

The Amish are anything but anti-technology.  “I have found them to be ingenious hackers and tinkers, the ultimate makers and do-it-yourselfers and surprisingly pro-technology,” writes Kevin Kelly.

If you know something about Kevin Kelly, he may be the …

Sometimes people need to change their minds, especially when spurred by additional information, insight and wisdom.  But change requires courage when it requires modifying a public stance.

In April 1996 Sherry Turkle was featured on the cover of Wired…

Pico Iyer travels the world.  His travel books include reflections on such exotic places as Kathmandu and Asunción.  His novels have been translated into Turkish, Russian, and Indonesian.  Yet, he’s not what you might expect.  He’s …

I don’t think, I skim!

“The internet is certainly changing the way that we get information.  Is it changing the way we think?”

Aimee Byrd is a mother of three and a good example of what all …