Real life?
I prefer a surreal life, TYVM.
I hate that term. It implies that online interactions are not “real”, that they “don’t count” somehow. That kind of mental framework underlies a ton of unsavoury behaviour.
I wouldn’t say they ‘don’t count’, but they certainly don’t count on the same level as my off line interactions.
The phrase always reminds me of the club George goes to in The Bizarro Jerry.
(The meat-packing plant. GEORGE and JERRY are walking around. The walls are still black, but there’s no furniture and there are sides of beef hanging on hooks, sawdust on the floor. They are the only people there. GEORGE is dismayed, and bumps into a side of beef in his distraction.)
JERRY: So this is it, huh?
GEORGE: But it–eh… It was here, I’m tellin’ you, an’ w–w–it was really here! The, there was, a, bar, and a, an’ a dance floor…
JERRY: I guess the DJ booth was over there behind the bone saw?
Makes me hungry.
And that’s kinda weird, when you stop to think about it, isn’t it ? Both involve the “same” people, communicating and sharing the same ideas/feelings/emotions/ideas/hobbies, albeit via different mediums. And yet somehow it’s “not real”, it’s “virtual”, it’s “not on the same level” and so on. We compartmentalise the hell out of online business.
I don’t quite grok how that works.
Screw the Big Blue Room, for one, it’s not even always blue, depending on what time of day it is and other reasons it may be black, or even gray! The plumbing is also borked, why should I go into that room when there’s a chance I’ll get wet. Ummm… I have a shower at home, thanks.
Also, whoever manages the heating and cooling of that room is completely inept. It’s bad enough that people die because temperatures are too hot or cold. Not to mention how bad they are at managing the humidifier sometimes.
The people who live in the Big Blue Room also have no care for how their actions might affect their neighbors. Why, recently, they just up and cause a whirling dervish that rips through that destroys a bunch of other rooms, not to mention kills and injures people, and who has to clean it up? The US government and a bunch of charities, the owner doesn’t even take responsibility.
Not to mention whenever the plumbing breaks, for some reason this appears to be cause for a party rather than fixing it. I’ve heard what I SWEAR are deep bass drums rocking late at night, usually in conjunction with what appears to be a fault electrical socket or something, given the large bolts of electricity that occasionally come down.
For fuck’s sake, they let rabid, feral, or otherwise dangerous animals roam around. There’s mold and bugs EVERYWHERE, and it seems to be the prime location for all the crazy, dangerous people to hang out and beg for money or drugs.
The Big Blue Room is terrible, I don’t understand why anybody would go there, ever.
It’s easy. I don’t trust that anyone on line is who they say they are. I like to enjoy the sport of messagboarding as *if *everyone is who they say they are, but I don’t actually trust that to be true. I find this an interesting conversation. I think I will start a thread.
I’m on board with the OP’s dislike of “meatspace” - partly because (and I’m pleased to discover I’m not alone here) it conjures up images of some trendy hipster nightclub themed like a freezing works, complete with sides of beef hanging on hooks and so forth.
“In Real Life” works as a descriptor for the physical (not virtual) world, I think. I’ve yet to hear anyone come up with a serious and practical alternate suggestion, at least.
I like meat space. My insidey bits look forward to keeping meat space for lamb. And bacon.
I have mousse space as well.
I looked for your thread and did not find it - will be interested to see it.
the not trusting anyone makes sense…and yet, I find that after awhile I do exactly that: trust people to be who they say they are.
I had one experience of meeting in 3D a large group of people that I had previously only known online. I found I changed my opinion of only one of them, and it was for the better. basically, we were all who we seemed.
it may be naive, to some extent, but deliberately so I think. mindfully, in fact.
… Terry Bisson
Nope - because it implies that what happens in cyberspace is somehow not real or not actually part of our lives, which isn’t true. “In physical space” would work better, but for some reason that hasn’t caught on (probably because “meat space,” though gross, is pithier).
“Uh, the… meat blimp crashed out back.”
“The Meat Blimp?”
“Uh, yeah! That’s how they move meat these days!”
- Drawn Together
I always talk about meeting someone “outside the box”. I know it has another meaning, but it’s just what I say. I have conversations in the box, and sometimes we meet outside the box. Hell it’s better than “meatspace”.
I currently like in 3D best, but “outside the box” is OK with me, too.
how about “off screen” ?
I’ve never heard of “meat space.” Is that anything like “meat market”?
Yes. It’s approximately 50% like that.