Journal of a Sabbatical

May 11, 1999

why do they need clothes?

Reading: Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West, The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders by Clair Hayes

When I can't sleep, which seems to be every night lately, I listen to the BBC news on WBUR. Sometimes I actually do fall asleep and only hear part of the story or I have dreams involving the news - although the dream where I was camping in Albania near an outhouse that had a transparent wall and BiB turned into a blue-winged teal was not on a night when I was compulsively listening to the BBC all night.

So Sunday night I heard this story about four people who were spending 100 hours Naked in a Room with the Internet as part of a psychology experiment. The basic idea is that each of them is locked into a room with a computer hooked to the Internet and all they have with them is a credit card and a dressing gown.

They're supposed to meet all of their needs for food, clothing, entertainment, and everything using only the Internet. The credit card has some initial credit limit. I gather they don't have to use it to pay for their connect time to the net. I thought I was dreaming Having a nightmare. My inner Luddite began to get worked up.

When I got up in the morning and heard the story again, I got even more alarmed. So there are these people, each one alone in a room with nothing but a computer, a bathrobe, and a credit card. Why do they need clothes? They're not going anywhere. You can surf the web in your bathrobe no problem. Of course, when I checked the site I realized they probably did want clothes because they all have web cams so we voyeurs can see these lonely people.

I can't tell from the descriptions whether the experiment is about shopping or about meeting basic human needs through the Internet. Nowhere does it mention whether in addition to a credit card, a bathrobe, and a bed they have toilet facilities and water.

When I first heard the story, I didn't catch that the experiment was only going to last 100 hours. I had visions of these people being in for a year like the Biosphere people. That got me wondering about how the Internet could meet the need to touch and be touched by other members of our species and/or companion animals. Humans don't quite exhibit the thigmotaxis reflex that, for example, sea lions do but we do have a definite physical need for touch that I can't imagine meeting by typing on a keyboard.

And aren't they kind of cheating by starting out with shelter provided for them? Shelter, food, and water are the bare essentials. They've got at least one and possibly two of those provided for. Anyway, like I said, I can't tell what this experiment is really about. Maybe I'll have to wait for the report on the results.