Cyberspace

A summary of:
Wertheim, M. (1999). The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet. Virago Press: London.
Chapter 6 - Cyberspace

Wertheim suggests that the very fact that cyberspace is constructed of bits and bytes, as opposed to particles and forces, is what allows it to exist outside the realm of the physicalized space... i.e. outside the space which has squeezed out the soul. In other words, this is the great spiritual potential of cyberspace. "Because cyberspace is not ontologically rooted in these physical phenomena, it is not subject to the laws of physics, and hence it is not bound by the limitations of those laws" (226).

But let's not get too ecstatic. Is it not still a product of mathematics??? I suppose that the level at which we interact with the Internet that mathematics has been obscured from our view... but then the last few chapters have shown just how much of the physics - i.e. the mathematics! - of our world is obscured from view. I would argue that it's all well and good to say that the substance of the objects of Internet are not those that we have painstakingly physicalized, but to suggest that the Internet is entirely free, that it has unbounded potential or "infinite scope" (225), is misleading. It is constructed from mathematics. And it is bounded by the technology which mediates it.

Then again, it's important to recognize the spiritual potential of the Internet as being a specifically non-material space akin to the "spiritual realm", given that this spiritual realm seems not to be able to exist elsewhere at the moment. This is the reemergence of dualism (227)! "Yet while physical space and cyberspace are not entirely separate, neither is the latter contained within the former" (228). Now our minds have their own space once again!

In this sense, we may see cyberspace as a kind of electronic res cogitans, a new space for the playing out of some of those immaterial aspects of humanityman that have been denied a home in the purely physicalist world picture. In short, there is a sense in which cyberspace has become a new realm for the mind. In particular it has become a new realm for the imagination; and even, as many cyber-enthusiasts now claim, a new realm for the 'self'" (230).

Admittedly, this dualism is the source of much concern regarding cyberspace. Wertheim goes on to explain at great length how people can use the Internet to engage in psychological play we are denied in the real world, but that for some this can become addictive and encourages them to
disengage with the real world, never actually solving their real problems: "the notion tha we can totally remake our 'selves' online obscures the very significant difficulties of achieving real psychological change" (247). Certainly it is dangerous to fragment ourselves and think of our cyberspace creations as equal to physical ones, as Turkle does here: "Experiences on the Internet extend the metaphor of windows - now real life itself [as one of her MUD subjects notes] can be 'just one more window'" (246). I remember as a child bursting into tears when my character on Kings Quest died, screaming, "I'm too young to die!" This is cute for a 6 year old who has not yet grasped the difference between VR and RL, but it's disturbing when it happens to adults today.

Wertheim argues that the Internet allows for a massive "consensual hallucination" of which we are more than happy to take part (and which is not altogether diffrent from the consensual hallucination we take part in when watching television) (233). But is that all that different from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and the soma tablets? (At the same time, as Wertheim correctly points out, "a multileveled reality is something humans have been living with since the dawn of our species" (242).)

What Wertheim never articulated is the fact that in many ways, cyberspace began as a void. It is an infinitely large void, which we are welcome to try to fill with 'stuff', but which will never be full. Now that we have an impossibly giant alternative space, it is as if a giant dam has broken and what followed was a massive flood. A trash dump, if you will. This is not to say that all of what fills cyberspace is junk, but I do suggest that the filling of this space has been unstrategic. When space is infinite, real estate values shrink to zero; which means that we haven't paid any attention to the construction of the stuff of cyberspace.

It's probably necessary to disentangle cyberspace from the Internet. Cyberspace in no way necessitates the Internet in the form that it has taken (see Lanier's book). And I think that the Internet is an amazing thing for so many reasons. But I think that in the sense that it fails to serve a more spiritual purpose it is because it bears the responsibility of being our "data space", as Wertheim calls it (229). Data is not always meaningful, particularly if it does not connect to other bits of data to tell what is effectively a story. The Internet now is like a massive warehouse or storeroom. But perhaps we need to design an alternative Internet (another space within cyberspace) that is more of a studio space or workdesk.

I should soften this a little. The Internet has always also been used in very creative ways. One example is the MUDs that Wertheim discusses that require people to craft elaborate character stories. This is fabulous creative activity. And the Internet is being used in all sorts of other creative ways. But the navigation through all the muck prevents us all from using the Internet creatively.

But cyberspace, again, represents a massive spiritual opportunity. Up until now, I had been thinking that it was easier to construct an object that embodies spiritual values, because objects have a long history of being associated with spirituality. I realize now that the Internet actually represents a space that closely parallels the spiritual realm. Critically, "Here is a space that offers, even if only temporarily and in very truncated form, a chance to at least get a glipse at other ways of being" (239). Cyberspace seems to affirm the notion of the soul! "Obviously, my 'self' only exists because there is a physical body in which it is grounded. At the same time, 'I' am not restricted purely to the space of that body. As Descartes recognized, there is a sense in which I am first and foremost an immaterial being" (250).

I just think we need to not waste this opportunity, and begin to craft this space a bit more strategically; particularly given Lanier's warnings about impending "lock in."