Borgmann also spends time talking about "contingency" which he uses to describe the unpredictability of the reality. Information can help mitigate the negatives of unpredictability (like the information that a certain plant is poisonous), but at the same time when a world is made entirely of information, it looses the beauty that comes from unpredictability. It's the improv (or "contingency") at a concert or a church service or a romantic evening that makes it reality and makes it human. Borgmann wants us to retain our contingency to retain our humanity.

So, I guess the question he might as is if the blur between online and offline can still include contingency and thus remain human.

Great post bro! It reminds me of McLuhan's premise that "technology is an extension of our humanity" not the other way around (even though we sometimes become a slave to the technologies that we use).

To play devil's advocate: if we are seeing a breakdown in the barrier between the online and offline worlds, do you think that eventually our description of reality WILL include what we have commonly referred to as the "online" world. In other words, are we seeing the breakdown of "virtual" reality because so many slide in and out of both the on and offline worlds?

I just hope we don't become the humans in Wall-E. :)

Dude, amazing post. I'm going to need to process your comments on people recording, photographing, etc. the concert while there in the present reality. This has really struck me recently…texting, Twittering at a Dallas Mavs game, rather than watching the game. I did the same thing at a Coldplay show last October here in Dallas. And it sort of scared me. I'm wondering how to strike this balance…..

rhett