THE INTERNET AND REINVENCTION OF THE SELF

Abstract

At present we live in a culture very different from previous to the invention of the Internet. Today the computer is much more than just a tool - it is a vector for engaging in a parallel universe, where, among many environments such as social networks, chat rooms and communities, there are the MUDs - virtual worlds, domains bin the internet that introduce the individual to an area where it is possible to live through an avatar, i.e. chat, walk, work and build relationships. Our hypothesis rests on the assumption that on these environments the subject may practice or develop some aspect of the self that wishes to work - with more security-, once in the virtual environment the subject is more protected in his investments: there are no legal risks for his acts and the consequences may be less disastrous.  While supposing that the constitution of the self is the effect of successive identifications that the subject performs throughout life, the psychoanalytic theory has privileged conditions for launching lights in the deliberations that involve the destinations of the subject in the culture of MUDs.

Keywords: Internet; virtual worlds; MUD; parallel universe; cyberspace; psychoanalysis.