The idea that I found to be most important was Kaplan's realization that being an empiricist doesn't necessarily make you an insensitive person. When Kaplan went on her honeymoon, she discovered that her husband was much more interested in the vacation from a technoligical standpoint. He was always using tools to plan and carry out the trip. She immediately associated this type of behavior as being one of an insensitive person who was incapable of acknowledging human feelings. She later found herself to be quite wrong and realized that her husband was a very compassionate and nuturing man. As a result of this she questioned her philosophical approach to the situation.

To me, the least acceptable idea was that through technology we will become a type of people who are uncapable of compassion. Yes, technology does have a profound affect on our lives, but I don't feel that we are involved in it so much that it desensitizes us to the acknowledgment others' feelings. There has to be a happy medium with this situation. Technology is becoming more and more a part of our lives as each one of us in this class can testify to. But because we see each other through a television screen, does that make us any less compassionate? To me it's simply a different approach to learning and so I don't feel any relevancy to technology having a negative impact on us.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2000