NEWS: Are You a Net Neanderthal?

GEEK: Are You a Net Neanderthal?

With the dawning of the Internet, it has never been easier to get in touch and establish relationships with those you otherwise would have never met. Yet, what about the ignorant strangers lurking about the inner sanctums of the Web? Such people inspire me and make me want to poison the water supply at the same time. So how would I hook up with these elusive Net Neanderthals? Omegle, a new program and iPhone application which does just that. Fun!



Okay, I'm embellishing a bit; I did have a blast with this. However, it is not for the weak of humour. The concept of Omegle is randomly connecting one thinking, feeling individual with another by a simple click of a button, and it has glorious potential. When you enter the website or hop on from your approved Apple device, you are quickly prompted by a cheery online atmosphere and an easy-to-find "Start Chat!" button.

Now watch in awe as the hilarity grows like a virus and instantly instills in you that good ol' love/hate feeling. Kind of like how you feel about mullets and pro wrestling.



Four hours later you'll start doubting this whole "blind date on the net" thing. Not that this will stop you. Numerous "strangers" will ask you if they can 'oh please have sex with you' and you may just chime in: (completely outside your character, of course) "Sure thing, duder! Throw in your bloated, sore-laden, puss-ridden mother and you have yourself a deal!" HEY MAW!



The fantasy of carrying on intellectual conversation when spontaneously connecting two people that initially know nothing about each other is not unique to Omegle. For example, see the AIM Fishbot Phenomenon. We're sure the project developers have the best of intentions. However, Uncle Ben got it right; "With great power, comes great responsibility."


When given the choice of hiding behind the veil of anonymity and unleashing your inner creep, or showing your true intellectual self, which would you choose? Which do you choose?





Keyboard photo courtesy of Christopher Saccaro

Enjoyed the read

I can never intentionally be a creep. It always happens by accident.

No, seriously, I always try to be nice. I have a ridiculously overdeveloped sense of empathy. I feel bad being mean to NPCs in RPGs. I can never play evil characters.

Another reason to add to my list of why the Internet will destroy the human race.

Well that was completely unexpected. I clicked the link fully expecting a barrage of instant disconnects and cock queries.

Instead, I ended up having a 60 minute conversation with my first click - a Norwegian high school kid named Lars. We talked about college, vikings and of course, metal! Though he admitted preferring hip-hop. I learned when Norway's Constitution Day is (May 17th), and we even conversed in Spanish for a while. Crazy.

Some stranger said hi to me. I ran away.

So, this is the iPhone version of Chat Roulette?

also got a norwegian kid, wonder if its the same one?
turns out all connections are to a college campus in norway. the newest way to go a viking.

This was the extent of my 3 attempts at a conversation:

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi
You: hi
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi
You: hello
Stranger: from?
You: St. Paul Minnesota
You: you?
Stranger: belgium
Stranger: m or f?
You: m
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: hi
Stranger: hi
You: Where are you from?
Stranger: indonesia
Stranger: u?
You: USA
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

Awesome.

Wow. Just like online chat rooms, circa 1994.

awwwwwww talks me back to searching by intrest on Yahoo messenger

I wonder if the results would be any different if I just started randomly trying this in real life...? How many people would just open up to a "Howdy! So where are you from?"

-ReAct
"How to make friends and alienate people."

Alas! How I long for the days when I could pretend to be a thirteen year old girl.

These are the types of sites and apps that the "internet is making people stupider" people love to use in their experiments.

Yeah.

Some of the Chat Roulette pics I've seen posted online have been pure comedy.

-TM

From what I've seen it works better in real life than it does on Omegle.

Nice article but...The internet is NEVER truly anonymous.
And any random potential hooking up is scary enough in real person with the benefit of alcohol(such as in a bar) much less some guy/girl/tranny/axe murderer inviting themselves over for God know what.

I always think this is about gambling with cats.

Don't try it. Your money tends to get up and wander off.

Nice thing with chatroulette - you can in 9 of 10 cases see the actual size b4 meeting him

ahahaha win

That's what I was thinking...iPhone IRC.

You think this is bad, try 4chan.