Friday, November 9, 2018

Cyber-Utopia

 Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 History of Space from Dante to the Internet Cyber-UtopiaA summary of:
Wertheim, M. (1999). The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 History of Space from Dante to the Internet. Virago Press: London.
Chapter 8 - Cyber-Utopia

The primary sentiment critiqued inwards this chapter is the belief that cyberspace leads to the evolution of "idealized communities that move past times the tyrannies of distance too that are gratis from the biases of gender, race, too color" (281). Famous proponent of cyber communities, Howard Rheingold writes that "Perhaps cyberspace is i of the informal places where people tin give the axe rebuild the aspects of community that were lost when the malt store became the mall" (282).

I holler upwards the work inwards realizing this vision lies inwards the fact established inwards the previous chapter, that cyberspace is fundamentally amoral - which is non to state immoral, but moral-less. The examples presented inwards this chapter present how cyberspace inwards fact liberates us from the norms of social conduct nosotros are accustomed to inwards the existent world. Yes, at that topographic point are creeps inwards the existent public too, but creepiness is allowed to expand inwards cyberspace, exactly because this infinite demands zilch of us inwards price of moral behavior. It has only i commandment: "Thou shalt non restrict another's gratis speech."

This infinite generates a weird mentality, or indeed purpose. The destination is to get, to colonize. Instead of creating a public where "men of all nations volition walk inwards harmony" (294), nosotros seem to hold upwards climbing on i unopen to other to avoid drowning inwards the oblivion. "On the contrary, commentator Ziauddin Sardar suggests that what nosotros are seeing is non too so much a infinite for vibrant pluralism but a novel sort of Western imperialism" (294). As Wertheim shows, it is also an affirmation of the patriarchy; women are non exclusively welcome inwards this space. And futher, "With the public constantly existence formed anew at the digital frontier, traditional ways of thinking too existence are all also easily reduced to quaint curiosities: 'Other people too their cultures acquire too so many 'models', too so many zeros too ones inwards cyberspace.' It is a procedure that Sardar decries every bit 'the museumization of the world'" (295). What are the effects of this museumization? It serves to affirm too enshrine the thinking that produced the Internet inwards the showtime place, which is unopen to other way inwards which nosotros are heading toward Lanier's "lock in."

I do similar this sentiment from high-technology entrepreneur Esther Dyson: "Because at that topographic point volition hold upwards too so much information, too so much multimedia, too so many options [online] people volition larn to value human connexion more, too they volition await for it on the Net" (283). But I holler upwards that cruelly, piece nosotros may crave human connexion to a greater extent than every bit it becomes to a greater extent than too to a greater extent than hard to brand connections inwards the existent public too people experience increasingly isolated, forging relationships on the Internet only reveals how they pale inwards comparing to the existent thing; Internet connections devalue human connections. How painful that nosotros are stuck inwards this cycle whereby our engagement alongside social media increases our wishing for human connexion e'er to a greater extent than every bit it decreases the value of these connections. This is similar Zeno's paradox; too nosotros volition never acquire to the quest where nosotros experience fulfilled past times these connections.

I would argue, further, that past times looking for a way to assuage our isolation on the Internet allows us to ignore the greater responsibleness of fixing this work inwards the existent world. How volition nosotros e'er bring the necessary activity to repair our societies too generate social majuscule inwards our physical communities when nosotros could just every bit easily hop into Second Life?

Wertheim writes, "With these utopian visions nosotros witness the emergence of the sentiment that man, through his ain efforts, tin give the axe do a New Jerusalem hither on earth" (284). To me, this seems, sadly, similar nosotros receive got developed intense abandonment issues; though this is hardly a surprise, given the fact that Wertheim shows inwards the balance of her mass exactly how our God was taken away from us. But are nosotros actually happy to receive got this meager substitute for heaven; or do nosotros do too so merely because nosotros know it won't move out us?

Another sentiment that Wertheim challenges is the sentiment that the Internet is the utopia for discourse. "Connery suggests... that the history of the coffeehouse 'holds a potential alarm for those who dream that the Internet volition do utopian discursive communities" (289). In the coffeehouses, for example, hierarchies shortly developed, too elitism too exclusivity, presumably exactly what the cafe sought to extinguish, prevailed over democracy.

I don't encounter at that topographic point existence anything incorrect alongside utopian visioning. I holler upwards it helps us know where to aim. I holler upwards nosotros would do good to advert this challenge: "our mutual task is to do a improve task alongside the Net than nosotros receive got done too so far inwards the physical world" (Dyson, 282). And piece it is poetic, I holler upwards it is truthful that inwards the Dantean sense, nosotros do our ain hell: "Now cyberspace also is an inner infinite of humanity's ain making, a infinite where the vilest sides of human conduct tin give the axe all also easily effloresce" (296).

Wertheim leaves the reader alongside the sentiment that perchance the greatest potential of the Internet lies inwards the fact that it is fundamentally a "network of relationships." "It is this inherently relational aspect of cyberspace that I believe tin give the axe serve every bit a powerful metaphor for edifice improve communities" (298).

I do promise so. If nosotros tin give the axe at to the lowest degree recognize our responsibleness inwards the creation of cyberspace, we'd hold upwards off to a adept start: "If cyberspace teaches us anything, it is that the worlds nosotros conceive (the spaces nosotros 'inhabit') are communal projects requiring ongoing communal responsibility" (302). This is where literature on moral healthcare mightiness come upwards inwards handy, oddly, because just every bit the medical profession has realized inwards recent years, nosotros receive got to commence to prepare codes of practise that adapt a plurality of religions. This way nosotros receive got to figure out what it is that nosotros tin give the axe do that volition hold upwards acceptible to all members of this cyber community. Religion is non universal, but a spiritual longing may be, every bit evidenced fifty-fifty inwards the rhetoric of the cyber-enthusiasts who encounter inwards cyberspace the potential for salvation.

The key to reenvisioning the potential of this community is to holler upwards exterior the box: "As Einstein himself recognized, it is the linguistic communication nosotros utilisation - the concepts that nosotros articulate too thus the questions that nosotros inquire - that determines the variety of infinite that nosotros are able to see" (304).

And finally, Wertheim notes: "To recognize the contingent nature of our conceptions of infinite is non to devalue them - relativistic infinite is no less useful or beautiful becaus nosotros sympathize its cultural embeddedness. But inwards recognizing this, nosotros may acquire less probable to devalue other conceptions of space" (305). Aha! - things do non receive got to hold upwards the way the are! Things - cyberspace fifty-fifty - tin give the axe hold upwards different! People tin give the axe hold upwards unlike too, if nosotros alter our thinking!

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