Carácter y caricatura, virtual y real

Abstract

Character, as personality, is formed through biology and culture. But the influence these forces have and the actual processes involved are not really known. Technology, as an important and always changing part of culture, offers us a window on the construction of character especially in that strange new place: cyberspace. The virtual world allows people to play with their character in ways that are very difficult "in real life." This play reveals a great deal about what is biologically immutable and what isn't after all. In particular gender, race, and embodiment in general are treated quite differently on-line then in the flesh. And character/caricature formation in the MUDS and MOOS and other cyber-places throws light on the processes of character, such as the roles of evocative technologies, the feedback loops of will and non-will (addiction), and the potentiality of fan- tasies actualized. In particular political participation on the internet reveals the limits of what real character can be manifested in a simulated environment. It seems cyborgian character is more plastic in some ways than most observers would have predicted; but character, as integrity, will still determine how far the role of caricature will go in supplanting character.