i guess I still need to write that paper on online communities and the socialization of online relationships. Especially in light of friendster and the development of virtual “ubermensch.”

heh. I guess I wasn’t clear in what I was saying. I am naive enough to jump to the conclusion that I can use the idea of the ubermensch when talking about online communities.. when discussing the idea of ubermensch or overmen.. let us look at the above links definition:

“An overman as described by Zarathustra, the main character in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, is the one who is willing to risk all for the sake of enhancement of humanity. In contrary to the ?last man? whose sole desire is his own comfort and is incapable of creating anything beyond oneself in any form. This should suggest that an overman is someone who can establish his own values as the world in which others live their lives, often unaware that they are not pregiven. This means an overman can affect and influence the lives of others. In other words, an overman has his own values, independent of others, which affects and dominates others? lives that may not have predetermined values but only herd instinct.”

the key here is that the ubermensch is someone who “has his own values, independent of others,” which helps to lift them to the top of the community they are involved in. The ubermensch I am talking right now is somewhat of a community leader. But they have no choice in the matter. They can know they are ubermensch.. Or they can not know.. it doesn’t matter. The idea is that there are ubermensch in social environments that act as hubs for the environment, keystones of sorts. They are so established in their own thinking/values/morals that people identify them as the real thing.. They become attractive/magnetic/whatever and people are drawn to them. They are able to transcend scene or venue or whatever..

What is different in friendster is that the pseudo ubermensch are able to see each other. So they have the potential to bind together, compete and all that within a very small theatre. This allows for some interesting dynamics to occur. Check it.