It is therefore very fortunate that an outsider with a humanistic background has decided to study the computer culture and its effects on its followers as well as on society in general. Her strong background in psychoanalysis is obvious in her books, which can be irritating for those who, like me, think that psychonalysis is mostly humbug. This doesn't diminsh the importance of her conclusions, though. Many changes have occurred since the last book. Besides creating an unholy alliance between the psychoanalytic movement lead by Jacques Lacan advocating the theory of a fragmented self, Turkle also means that this makes the AI claim of someday being able to create intelligent machines more acceptable to the public, since it is similar to way we imagine ourselves working.
MUDs give unprecendented possibilities for roleplay and experimenting with the own identity.
Turkle combines this with postmodern and psychoanalytic ideas of a fragmented self and a vaguer boundary between real and virtual and finds that roleplay in MUDs makes these ideas concrete in a whole new way. Turkle finds that it is not unusual to play several different personae and interprets this as a way to experiment with identity, to try to change yourself. Thankfully she does not dismiss the whole phenomenon as an escape from reality, but thinks that it can have therapeutic value. ON THE other hand she gives several examples of persons who have failed to integrate their on-line personaly with their real. For example, most on-line romances don't work when you try to take them to reality.