The Web is hyperreality. Surfers experience telepresence--the extent to which persons feel present in the hypermedia environment of the Web--when they enter states of high flow. During periods of high flow, time stands still, energy is boundless, and action is effortless. The Web surfer is at one with the Internet, in the same sense that an ocean surfer can get totally immersed in a wave. Thus, surfing is an apt metaphor for describing sustained Web browsing.
Telepresence and flow can lead to addictive surfing, where the normal world is rejected in favor of the virtual, and often fantasy world, of the Web. For example, PJC Ventures is selling plots of land via the Web for USD 9.95 for 100 acres. Nothing particularly hyperreal, other than possibly the low price, until one finds out that the plots are on Mars, Pluto, and the other planets! The detachment from reality becomes even more extreme in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling and the 1967 Multilateral treaty specifying that no person or country can own any part of space. Despite this, some 1,000 plots of land have been sold on Mars and a further 13,000 on the Moon.
The sense of hyperreality is magnified as it becomes increasing difficult to distinguish between genuine and spoof sites (e.g., Microsnot vs. Microsoft), and between professional (run by qualified practitioners) and amateur (run by unqualified enthusiasts) sites (e.g., British Medical Journal vs. Dr. Mom). Digital images can be, and are, seamlessly modified. Consider the site Hillary's Hair, which allows surfers to view a vast range of pictures of the First Lady sporting various hairstyles, ranging from the elegant to the very unflattering.
A more dramatic illustration of the hyperreal world created by the Web is the case of bots or intelligent agents, which are autonomous, humanlike computer programs that can help in a variety of tasks. Bots can maintain and optimize your computer, navigate through a complex on-line file structure, and advise players in MUDs, MOOs, etc. Bots are virtual creations designed to pass as human beings. As the sophistication of these agents increases, people have been observed to develop emotional relationships with these bots, often unaware that they are virtual creations. However, perhaps even more importantly, those who are aware that these agents are virtual, still find themselves emotionally engaged and treat them as real people.
The case of Julia, an agent of the Mass-Neotek family of robots, has been documented by Foner [1993], who recalls people's attitudes towards, treatment of, and emotional involvement, with the robot as a real person. Furthermore, he reproduces the log of an amusing, yet faintly troubling series of exchanges, covering a 13-day period, between Julia and a love-smitten suitor called "Barry" (name changed), who was blissfully unaware of her virtuality. As Foner wryly observes, it was not entirely clear whether Julia had passed a Turing test1 or Barry had failed one.
In conclusion, the Web represents a new context where human agents are replaced with virtual agents, and reality is superseded by hyperreality.
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