VIRTUAL LIFE BECOMES AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE REAL ONE
Prof. Dr. Fuat Fırat, Lecturer at University of Texas-Pan American, and Prof. Dr. Nikhilesh Dholakia, Lecturer at University of Rhode Island, attended the seminar as guest speakers. As well as the doctoral students and academics of Izmir University of Economics, participants from Ege University, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir Institute of Techonology and Eskişehir Osmangazi University also joined the seminar.
Prof. Dr. Fuat Fırat, stated that consumption was an essential fact of life, and individuals would not be referred to as consumers only in future societies at the seminar co-lead by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Deniz Atik and Lecturer Dicle Yurdakul Şahin of Department of Business Administration. Fırat said that people were experiencing a transformation and their roles as producers would become prominent again.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Nikhilesh Dholakia of University of Rhode Island, on the other hand stated that banks, schools, and shopping malls in today’s society all became virtual, and as a result of this, virtual world became a real concept. Dholakia said, “People take care of many things through virtual life in today’s society. Virtual life is not a simulation of a real life but an alternative to it”.
