The occasion for the conversation was the second edition of the book People and Phrases, in which Desnitsky reflects on relationships among modern people and, in particular, on electronic communication. According to him, the electronic form does not affect the essence of relationships but makes it easier to make new contacts.
He gave an example from his own life: he met one friend on the internet, although both were parishioners of the same church and knew each other by sight, but did not socialize at church. In Desnitsky's view, the internet “in one of its corners resembles the Kingdom of Heaven, where there are no barriers, where, I hope, one can communicate with any person who wants communication.”
Virtual Personality and the Burden on Text
Responding to a question about the virtual personality, Desnitsky says that such personalities exist, and cites a case when an online interlocutor imagined him as “very nervous with a high voice.” He himself admits that in oral speech he is more restrained than in discussions, where he can allow himself sharp statements.
Why people find it easier to open up before a computer, he explains partly through linguistics: according to him, linguists have experimentally confirmed that text conveys about a tenth of information, the rest being glances, gestures, postures, intonations and facial expressions. On the internet, by contrast, the main part of information is conveyed by text, and a heavy semantic load falls on the word. This he calls not openness but “the forced increased informativeness of text.”
There is also a psychological side: virtual communication allows one to draw ideal pictures, and it is hard to verify the authenticity of what is said. According to Desnitsky's observation, sometimes believers transfer this into real life as well, creating a “fairy-tale garden” around themselves.
The Forum as a Crowd
In his book, Desnitsky wrote that a crowded forum resembles a crowd of autists. He explains: on a forum, the interlocutor often ceases to be an interlocutor and turns into merely an occasion for a statement, and the participant's task is to express himself and explain something to himself. This, he says, is communication not so much with another as with one's own ideal image about another.
He himself says that he feels more comfortable in blogs, and likes Facebook most of all because it is “a very personal thing,” where you are always a guest at someone's place, whereas on the “square” of a forum it is hard to communicate.
He distinguishes a book and a blog by function: a blog is “a kitchen where something boils, bubbles, cooks,” a hurried remark on the run, while a book is a finished dish served at the table.
Reader Reaction and Responsibility for the Word
To the question whether he changed the text under the influence of reader reaction, Desnitsky replies that the most significant article for him in the collection is “De-Churching”: its electronic publication caused a storm of comments, after which he substantially expanded the text for the paper publication. There are also series of publications in response to comments.
At the same time, he admits that virtual communication has sometimes spoiled relationships: someone passed something on, another took offense. In virtual communication, he says, there can be nothing secret—everything will be quoted and known. He links this to the Gospel words: “There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed.”
In this connection he recalls a story about a Jewish sage who was asked what technical devices could teach. About the telephone, the sage said: “What is said here is heard there,” and about the telegraph: “That every word is counted and has its price.” According to Desnitsky, the internet can teach that for every word spoken one will have to give an answer.
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