Allucquère Rosanne Stone's "In Novel Conditions: The Cross-Dressing Psychiatrist" recounts the self-indulgent tryst of a New York psychiatrist who goes to absolute extremes to develop and maintain an online pseudo identity as a means of relating to the opposite sex. Creating this deceptive personality via a CompuServe Internet connection service, Sanford Lewis represents a blatant example of how wryly a communication tool may be manipulated and how credulous people are by nature.

I think Lewis took advantage of an innocent online community with the intent of gathering information from which he would reap self serving benefits. This group was truly a community in every sense of the word--sharing similar interests, living in the same general area of New York--apparently well meaning, honest, gracious people. This group employed the Internet as a means of communicating between its members and bolstering their relationships by meeting periodically in RL, or real life, as often as possible.

Upon establishing contact and developing a rapport among the members of this community, Lewis stumbled upon the realization that, under cover of an online persona, he may portray a feminine personality, which would elicit unbiased interactions attainable only within female groups. Upon identifying this genuine human anthropological set as his experimental group, Lewis proceeded to devise, develop, and adapt his pseudo personality in order to distill data from the unsuspecting social group. As he realized positive results, he expanded his online image and meticulously revealed himself to his newfound friends in such a horrible way that he would be excused from the occasional RL rendezvous.

He preyed upon the empathetic emotions of this community by fabricating a story detailing horrific injuries sustained in a fictitious accident, leaving her (his online identity) with extreme facial disfigurations that dictated total seclusion. Lewis now had convincing evidence that women communicated differently, more honestly, among themselves than in mixed company. He expounded on this notion by further developing his feminine identity through deeper, more confidential relationships with his online community. As his success grew, so too did his untruths exponentially multiply; Lewis avoided the RL rendezvous with yet more deeply developed falsehoods. When he felt that he had gathered sufficient data, Lewis attempted to exit the relationships tactfully--by killing off his fictitious alter ego with a terminal disease. He recanted his story once inundated with the desperate concern and affections of his now very good friends.

Somewhere inside, Lewis retained a shred of humanity, as evidenced by his plot adaptation from tragic death to an eventual withdrawal from this group. Even so, his grotesque deception is a fine example of how technology "ain't," which prompts a reverberation of that old childhood adage: It takes one to know one.

Kurzweil, Raymond. "The Future of Libraries." CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 291-304.

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