Question 2

On page 43, one of the children participating in Turkle's experiment, Denise, says "It was a mechanism, but alive enough to die." My question is this, what is death? What counts as dying? Can anything die, or does something have to be alive in order to die?

Death is, according to definitions of the word, the end of a person or an organism. Death is defined by the loss or the inability to sustain ourselves using vital processes. Although I very much believe this to be true, I also believe there are different circumstances that feeling can also “die”. Death in a literal sense is when a person’s life has ended and their heart no longer beats and their organs no longer work to keep their body functioning. The same goes for animals and all the rest of the living organisms. However, I believe that there are other definitions for death or rather other forms of it. When it comes to feelings for someone or for something, I believe that it is appropriate to say that your feelings have died if you no longer have the same feelings or any feelings at all for that person. I see this as a form of dying because you leave that part of you behind, and even though you may still think of them for time to time, you know that it’s best to never relive them again with that same person. When it comes to objects, such as the Furby that Turkle mentions, I don’t believe that it can die. The Furbies are battery operated, so when the batteries go out, it is a simply replacement. Much unlike humans or organisms, when their heart stops beating, there is no replacement. They are simply gone. Death is not something that we can avoid, no matter what we do, death will eventually come for all of us. In order for something to die, I believe it has to have thrived at some point in time. We as humans try to thrive everyday of our lives and when that battle ends, we die. When it comes to things such as feelings, I believe that they too can die because at some point in time they were a part of what made you thrive. The feelings you had toward someone or something made you want to wake up the next day and continue your battle to thrive. When those feelings die, a part of you dies. A part of us dies every day, whether it’s thoughts or feelings, or just the simple fact that as each day goes on we grow closer to death. Another important note is the relationship between death and existence. When people die, it doesn’t automatically mean that the cease to exist, but in contrast it is possible to not exist without dying. The fact of existing without dying, to me, would feel as if I were already dead.