Do we need a school?

[Giuseppa Mauro]

The video conferences certainly help in particular situations,for example they link the pupils in hospital to their class mates,to the teacher and to the school environment.

Probably technology helps in the long life education,since people who work might not have the possibility to attend a school (building). I think and I do not support the idea to substitute technology to a human being (the educator).

What kind of world we want in the future?

What would happen of the communication between teacher and pupils,or among and between pupils, thre socialization, the sense of duty ( for example to be on time in the school).

We want a world withouet emotions?

Let us use with WISDOM technology and not disregard or undervaluate the human relationship.

[Guest Andrew Moore]

I very much agree with the last point fd10801 makes. I am a very prolific user of new communication technologies. I was introduced to instant messaging by a friend from another country, whom I see occasionally, and to whom I chat most days. In the space of a year or so, my perception of the world's geography, and ideas of distance, have changed radically.

The new technology can allow people to have very open and almost direct access to others' thoughts, and thereby to their character. This can certainly mess with your head. I foresee all sorts of new jobs emerging for counsellors and therapists who will treat our confusion and compulsive behaviours...

Giuseppa's point reiterates something my wife keeps trying to tell me, and others often claim - but behind it lies a belief that only physical proximity allows people to be sociable, and express emotions. In disputing this, I would begin with the letters of Eloise and Abelard, or all those characters in Jane Austen's novels, sorting out their lives by letters.

But I also have real world experience. There are various people whom I meet rarely, for the simple reason that we live far apart, but with whom I can communicate using Internet technologies. When we do meet (maybe once or twice in a year) we have the very clear sense of having met far more often - and being closer than people who may have met repeatedly, but in ways that are less sociable.

[Marco Koene]

Let us use with  WISDOM technology and not disregard or undervaluate the human relationship.

I agree, forgetting the human relationship is a danger that lies just around the corner.