Anthropomorphize... More than just a word to fail spelling bee contestants.

We all find ourselves committing this -- anthropomorphism -- though few of us even realize how often. Now you may already be confused so let me set up a hypothetical for you. You're driving in your car to work or class when suddenly you realize that the gas gauge is nearly running on "E." You rub the dashboard to comfort your ailing automobile telling it,

"Come on baby, you're almost there. Just a few more miles."

Voilà, Anthropomorphism! Taking an inanimate object and reacting to it as though it has human qualities. Here's another example: You're trying to write your blog post for a class at the last minute, and just when you reach the last sentence, the computer FREEZES! In sudden horror, you smack the computer upside the CPU and shout,

"No! Come on -- don't do this to me! We almost made it!"

We like to have a relationship with things like computers, televisions, and automobiles because they react as if they were human. As an article titled Reeves & Nass points out, we tend to personalize these objects because they respond back to us. You push the gas pedal and the car reacts by moving faster. We type out a sentence on the keyboard and the computer reflects what we typed. It's a game of input and output, and if you look at the concept of a conversation to another human-being, it's the same game.

"Cybernetics?" Why am I eating dinner with this guy?

There's a name for this system of inputs and outputs -- cybernetics. Sounds fancy, but believe me. It's quite a simple concept that can closely tie into anthropomorphism. It looks at technology (mechanical or electrical) and maps it out as a machine that takes what you put in and gives you something back. Now that you have a definition feel free to use it at dinner. You're sure to impress everyone with your expert jargon... (I wish sarcasm came across better over the Internet.)

Another point made in the article is that human-beings automatically respond to these things as real, because for nearly 200,000 years Homo sapiens have been taught to separate objects based on how they respond to our presence. If your iPod, iTunes, or Pandora radio account plays music generated around your own taste then we as humans believe, for a split second, that it must KNOW us. Creepy as that may sound, but we like it. We like the thought that our world is personalized especially for us -- As Reeves & Nass puts it so eloquently, "we like special treatment."

However there is one thing we must note. We can't always respond to a computer as a human being. It has become commonplace that people can say whatever they want on the Internet because of anonymity, but we have to observe and display "computer politeness." The Internet is as much of an social experience as going out into the public and communicating with people face-to-face, and I think people forget that sometimes. There's etiquette to follow: "Hello's," "Goodbyes," "Thank-you's." Be a proper gentleman and lady when you're surfing the web and posting your thoughts for everyone to see.

So, without further adieu, I bid you all farewell. Heed my words, and use the tools given to us with care. Adios!