My time on the Internet has been extensive. There was a person at the University who called himself ROCK and posted in a very inflammatory style. I copied his style and called myself ROCKET. Then I was reading someone saying, “I'm a doctor Jim, not a pervert.” I said, “You cannot be one without the other” and signed DR. ROCKET. That became my moniker for years. The Internet forums on which I wrote were at that time called “newsgroups.” There would be forums on all sorts of issues. The discussion was free, even anarchic. This resulted in some thoughts that otherwise wouldn't be considered getting heard. It also resulted in very vicious behavior on the part of any number of people who wouldn't normally say what they say because it would get them beaten up – but of course on the Internet they didn't have to fear such things. There were two kinds of people deemed undesirables: Trolls and bullies. Trolls were people who posted deliberately inflammatory content in order to get a reaction from people. Bullies were people who went around attacking other people, in some cases quite severely or even in criminal ways. Every “newsgroup” had a resident troll. On a psychology forum, there was someone who kept going around saying that psychology was a pseudoscience. On a cats forum, someone kept going around saying that he was going to kill all their cats. On a depression support forum, people would come in saying that the reason the people are depressed is that they are fat and stupid. And of course on the astrology forum there were many people who called themselves skeptics who were exceptionally abusive and mean-spirited and who justified their behavior by thinking that everyone who believed in astrology was a kook. I found the Internet appealing because it is a medium in which one does not have to think on his feet. You can read responses to your posts and then think about how to respond to them. There are many people who see the Internet as an inadequate medium for getting to know people. In fact it is highly adequate – for that purpose and for any number of others. The exchange of opinions and feelings over the Internet is a much superior way to meet people than say in the bar, where the only thing you know about one another is that you are both drunks. Any number of people see Internet as an imaginary world. No; it is an extension of the real world. It is a medium like any other. The things that take place on the Internet are real enough. Real business gets done on the Internet. Real research gets done through the Internet. Real relationships start on the Internet and in many cases lead to marriage. It is not “the tool of Satan” or anything of the sort. It is a human-made technology that is useful for all sorts of purposes. For me, it has been a way to express my views and understand those of others. That is neither imaginary nor Satanic. As with guns or anything else, it is what you are using it for. More in my autobiography at https://sites.google.com/site/ilyashambatbiography
