That's all, folks!

And so I reach the conclusion of my blog. Doing an online blog about death has certainly raised some interesting questions and made me more aware of the nature of the internet. Firstly, the fact that anyone can post anything they like on the internet is really made clear. One only need look at some of the YouTube videos, the Death Clocks and Williams' NDE website to see that. It really makes one think about how much one trusts the internet as an academic resource - is Williams' website at all academically credible? It's very hard to say.

Theologically, I have become more aware of modern attitudes towards death. I don't want to sound like a tub-thumping conservative, but is modern society morally corrupt, and if so, how much can the internet be blamed? I think that the casual attitudes towards death that I have come across had their seeds sewn before the internet became a global phenomenon - some of the YouTube videos, for example, are older than the internet. However I think it is fair to say the speed of communication and the availability of information afforded by the internet has helped to accelerate the process.

Despite this, I think it is important to maintain a degree of perspective. Although a very powerful phenomenon, with serious legal, financial, etc ramifications, the internet (along with other forms of media such as television) is not seen, by many, as 'the real world.' Therefore, I am sure that outside of cyberspace, such casual attitudes towards death are not so prevalent. Someone might laugh at a cartoon of a person getting their head sliced off, but if they were to see the same thing happen in the flesh, I am sure their reaction would be very different.