Quote - If anything, the online ethos, both positive and negative is seeping into the real world. I have no idea what the long term consequences of that will be. Some would say that the migration from the farm to cities and then to surburbia lessened the sense of community and increased isolation. The internet could have a similar impact - in either direction. 

People tend to think of cities as being more barbaric and violent places, and yet in Canada, it turns out that violent crime is significantly higher in rural and small urban areas than in big cities. At least in some cultures, being forced to live in close quarters with other people seems to have a civilizing effect.

I would think you might see a similar effect on the internet: the more time spent conversing with others, the greater the tolerance for differences. When I consider the cultural changes just here in North America that I have personally witnessed since the WWW arrived, I do tend to think we're moving in the direction of tolerance and inclusiveness, and we're doing it at a rather astonishing speed.

---

PoserPro 2014, PS CS5.5 Ext, Nikon D300. Win 8, i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz, AMD Radeon 8570, 12 GB RAM.