THE PEARLY GATES OF CYBERSPACE |g ursteny oF space FROM DANTE TO | THE INTERNET MARGARET WERTHEIMCherren six CYBERSPACE Witticezmentl face ois combine, bernie loging into being before our very eye. ust as cosmologsts tell us thatthe physical space of ur universe bunt into being out ‘nothing some ieen bili yeas ago, sls the ontology of ey berspce sex nihil. Weate witnessing here the bist anew do- sain, 8 new space at simply ded nok exist beforcr ‘The interconnected "space ofthe global computer networks nt ex- and into any previeusly existing domain; we have heres di ‘tal version of Hubble's cosmic expansion, « process of space cretion, Like plyscal space, this new “cyberspace is growing ata ‘taorinay rate, ineseasing its "volume” in an everwidening “ahr” of expansion. Each day thousands fnew nodes or "sis" stead tothe Intemet and other affiliated networks, an with ‘each new node the total domain of cyberpuce gr larger What increases here isnot volume in any siely geomet sense—yet itisa find ot volume. In eyberpace each ste is connected to dozens, or even thousands, of ether through software defined “hat batons.” ‘These digital connection link sites together ina Labrinthin web that branches out in many “directions at once In desenbingeyberspace we might une the words "web and net”hich clash te imensona pesos, bt en te ethan ern atop canon cored Posner Thme: eg ace the bjt of a ning te hapten Sherer tft expanding it ding 0 expe aly. hss fo gence pal hat os pe meee or essa Swng bleh rn Sang urnee weeny hee waa pe ow seine cio hat py ero he “ination SESS pee weed fo moc at Saran spun tes of apt ncn ‘ce Tie sey he mimes of ages com Sette ntl dow he yan, it wee for te gal Ceetemttcnimea Tht yee png so ony peso Inthe poten yea th tere a led fom ttn honed ho compte ore tan ier ‘enind owing the ty. Hesse ach new me concn isla ho mish ater nodes iho te frre numb of es he get psi fr eee un then lena pae the ese “toe eer domain ao bang ome Cheyne ahaa other byes tc to, The avn of Berean te tut fick syed nein Tegan ection 1963. Tha ers he Meena te wast onstnce compe nets, [SPAMET, cnet ye US Deprinet f Dees DOD) tough Aimee Resch Pre Aeney FART Detober 199, ess for the Bonn sc ir ere and ean get i ely iene rein comptes emer aa one t UCLA, ie vista Sad Rese By el th eb more des had been aed to his nascent net—the University of California at Santa Barbara andthe University of Utah—making network of four sites? By the nest yer, write comptter historians Kai Hafner ard Mathew Lyon, “he ARPA network was growing at ate of about ane nae per month, ad by August 1972 i contained twenty rine des located in universities and esearch centers across the USA? fn these cary yeats, when maintaining a site cost more ‘han $10000 per annum (with ll the money coming fom the DOD}, growth was necessarily incremental’ Indeed, by 1979, 4 Acc afer the fist wo sites were connected, there were stil just sinyzone ARPANET sites, “The advantage of what was already being called "the Net were, however, becoming evident, and more and more people ‘spec computer scientists wet calling fr online acess. But sa research project ofthe Defense Department, the ARPANET ‘vas not easily avilable to anyone outside ARPA det cicle (lea thee mms ned for han network a wll To that end, in 1980 the National Science Foundation decided t sponsor a rework to connect the growing number af eomputrsience de partnents around the ountey~the CSNET. Though separate, the no networks were interconnected 9 that members ofeach ‘ovld communicate with one another. During the eighties, other ‘etworis lo were connected to the ARPANET, erating global rework of networks, The growing deseo communicate betwee reworks broght about the ned fr a standardized set of proce- tes that would enable all networks to pas information amongst themselves—wvhat came tobe called an "IneretProtncol” From ‘his originally technical trm the Internet” would get ts name. Sil the Net remained rarefied dan. the ely eight iesfew people ont the ltr and the academic ald of com ple science had any network acces, and few Americans were ven avare that “eyberspace” existed? The wor itself was onlyxine in 1984, i Willa Gibson's seminal eybespank nove, NNeuromanee. in 1985, however, the expansion of cyberspace shied into higher get. Following the success of CSNET, the National Science Foundation made the further deeson to build ‘national "bacHbone” network serve asthe foundation for ase- fies of regional networks inking univesities around the county ‘oplacng the ae! ARPANHET, tht NSENET was the basso ‘what soon became the Internet ‘The cetion ofthe NSFNET marks a turing poin ithe history of egberpoce Hexe was the Hat of eyberspatil inflaton, Since then the pce of growth has aceeerated rapidly, tstpping ‘he wildest imaginings of xeators, By late 1998, Tite the ‘World Wide Web which isthe rest public component ofthe Infemet has ove 300 million pages. So much volume is being aided to the World Wide Web that rir cataloging vervies sch ts Yahoo and AltaVista estimate thet iraries have logged only 10 percent ofthe tla. Inflationary growth on the Web snow 3 ceteme that experts wy they will eves Leable to beep imac of ital [Ahithetto nonexistent space, each yea this new digital do- main plays greater ole in more and sore people’ ives, Like tmany “netizens” Tow have email correspondents around the ‘eri, People wth whom would be diel to communicate the flesh are oflen rely available online, especialy if they wok inthe academe arena, laos all academicians esearch enters, and major libraries in the Ure States now have Web Ses, Through my cmpter ean access the catalogofhe Lita ff Congres ad that of UCLA, which is physically located just nile fom where (ie. Ia the nottooistant future the ta themselves wl ao be online; ap aleady i the content of many Imagazines and newspapers. Why bay the New Yrk Times on per when you can ead tonne for fee? Moreover, inthe new psblhing pea now emerging, may publisen exchew Pepa pubiheiine nee fo ate aking out» presence in eybenpace. Seemingly every corporation fem IBN and Nike on dowa tow spr Web ite paced with corpo Par product norm ton nce ina nceasing number of al the abiy Ieper ine Claes semis sine rk, aad compstereavipment (name jst ew ems) can be fougt over the Net According to a recent Commerce Deparment vpn tsi etl inthe nied Slats and Canada a bough something onlin the endo 197 Thee potas tha clectoric commerce sul rah $30 bln ‘by 2002. The virtual mall has arrived. ‘What the von of the Inet ounders,ybespce tarlng nce bs the ak of is aedemic sede. These dys cre second elle id in Aes fa his or her omn home passing what mist be the get archive eve ofthe do. Tecan ging mmber of a ao “meng imo pbenpace, keeping loved nes posed line wth digced ‘upshot eeldns With th advent fant Web te-athring wae, aly home age destined to Become wigitow a th ol phot alban a lot more obi ‘Met prominent, beac ia new place to ciize and thy. Chat ons, nome IRC chanel enin conferences tol acu and the fantay welds Known as MUDs al sero on alostinte cope for cl interaction, Morcve in tbenace one an eal sear fr few sinlainteret. ‘online poner Howard Ringler writen hile you ca singly plek up» phone ands fo be canesed wih someone ‘showantt a st aor aif wine osomeone withathuceyeareld auger ftyearold Hudson, you cn,bower, jin # computer cnfeence on any of hese topes* Mheleshe dus in nany pe omy well be iki a btsrios rat nine isesion ps about 03 Siar of ope, fom bible pele phys fom The Dine Comedy the igang. ‘Ae id 198, there ae one hdd ion people ae ceuiog te tre on esl acs il itimatel ata ie seat cae there wil be els bilion pope onlie. Wi thee hdd millon pags alendyon the Worl Wide Web, icra owing lio pages dy Tn st vera ge ret thc pg ig ah ae imei the testing eon” in his. avery pun snes ew dil pace beyond” ‘he squce ta fice deers, for deere is 0 as ti of psc parle and foes, but ofits and yes. Thee pct f dat ete onli funda of pbesac, he teed rom which the bal phenomena “erergs” tay bean Snowsutement ay ht eyoenpce nse pa a ‘alpaca foes but tia eoltonay ove. Beate SSbenpace et ontlicly ted nese psa pheno Shaan ubjt othe lve of pc, and hence 8 04 Beard byte Lntatons of the Tn pric thi em spac it contained kin physi’ hypepace comple. No ‘Rate many dimensions hyperspace physics ain thi Serutons, ebepace wil reign “ube” them al. Wi Bevpace, we hae dover alae” eynd pepe "We should not underestimate the impance of hs deck nen The tnt esa chip esme ‘Tones metic gatemy frou modems tansor so Sithercach of pat eqas aac" rea. ‘When Igo ino cyberspace I eve bind oth Nevo! and tein iv Hee neh ean orators fu sayy. Teng fom Website to WEb te yo ‘ion cannot be deseribed by any dynamical equations, The tens Inwhich I find myself online eanot be quantified by any py cal metic; my journeys thre cant be measuted by any py calrulet. The very concept of "space" takes on here anew, ad 3s petite understood, meaning, but one that i deine beyond gsc’ ken. Ironically, eyberrpace i a technologie! byproduct of pips. The slcon chips, the optic ier, the liquid ental de play screens, the telecommunicaions satlites, even the eleetrie- iy that powers the Internet are all by-products ofthis most tathematical science, Yet if eybespace could not ext without lysis, neither is it bound within the purely physiealit concep ton ofthe el Inthe plane of complexity theory, cyerpace isan emergent phenomena, something that i ore than the sum of is parts This new “global” phenomena emerge fom the in- ‘eraction ofits myriad interconnected componenis and is ot re- cb to the puely physical ws tht govem the chipe and ers fom woven tindubtaly springs AN ths may sound rather radical, and many eyberpaceen- huss have suggested that nothing ike eperspace has exited lwfore. But on the cantar there ian important historical pal lieve with the spatial dualism ofthe Middle Ages. As we have seein that ie Chvistinsbelicred ina physical space described by sience (what they called “natural philosophy") and a nore rlysical space tat exited “outside” the material domaia, Thi ronphyscal sace metaphorically paralled the material worl, but it was not contained within physi! space. Although there vere connections and resonances betwen the hn sper, mes ‘eval spirit space was separate and nique pat of telly om sical pace, Sooo the advent eybenpace returns ust a dati the- ster ealy. Once again we find ourselves with salvia elm described by scence, and an immaterial eam that operates as 2Afferent plane ofthe real. As wit the medina word pictur, there are connections and esomances Between these 0 spaces Commentator N, Katherine Hayles has noted, fr example, that fe cannot experience sberspace all except through the phe {eal senso the body: he eyes that look atthe computer sete frat the stereoscopic projections of vital reality heats, the an ati the eum at th heard and conta he ge stig, the eas that hear the Real Adio sound files. Yet while pliyscal space and eybetpacearenot ently separate, neitheris the ater contained within he formes. Tn some profound way, cyberspace is another pace. Unleashed ino the Intesne, ny “Taos” can no Tonge be fied ely in physical space. ust “where” Tarn when Tener exber Spuce isa question yet to be answered, but cealy my poston {hot be pinned dows toa mathematical location in Euclidian for eltivstie space—not with any numberof hyperspace extere Sons AS with the medieval, we inthe technologically charged ‘Weston the eve ofthe twenty-first century increasingly contend with a o-phase elit But what does it mean total about this digital domain asa "space tall? What kindof pace it Some might objet that th nln arena ius vastibrary—o ess generous, avast soup tf connected information ad junk And cetany there saat lof unk online. Nonetheless important o recognize the gem tiely spatial nature ofthis dornin, Whatever tseontent maybe, “anew contexts coming ina bing hee anew space” i evolving ‘What is at issu, of couse, i the meaning of the wor ted what conde logit instance of this phe nomena, {contend that eybespace isnot ony legitimate ae Mantition ofthis phenernena but ai a socal important one. the age of science” many of ws have become so habituated tothe idea of space a purely physical hing that some nay find ita to accep eyberspuce av genuine “space” Yet Gibson's neal, fs is apposite, fo it apres an essential truth about this new bomain, When Igo ints” eyberspace, my body emains at ein ny chair, but “T"—or at lest some aspect of myelf—am tle- posted ino another arena which, wile lam there, [am deeply mare has its ova ogi and geography. To be ur, thi ia dier- cnt sot of geograpy ftom anything experience inthe physical ‘vl, tome tha cle arnt sing mates Stes tis pont ust Because something it not material does wot mean itisunea,astheofited distinction between cyberspace” and "real space” implies. Despite its ack of physcaiy, yber space ia eal place. a there—whatever hi tatenent may ul Umately tum out to mean, ____ Bren nout pofounly physicals age, we invoke the word "pace" to describe far more than just the physi word We talk bout ‘pessoal space," and about having “oom to rove” in out relationships, asi there was some kind of telationship space. We use the terms “head space” and “mental space,” and Lacanian ychoanalyss (lowing Fret) Believe fhe en tet has ‘patil ructre, Literary theorists discus literary space andartss Asus pictorial space ‘Contemporary scientists, fr their part, now envisage + whole range of nonphysical spaces. Chemis designing new dug alk shout molecular space; boli alk about vations spaces of potential organisms; mathematicians study topolgiel spaces, al ‘cia spaces, and met spaces chaos theorising phe- romena such 35 the weather and inset plagues look at phase ‘paces, at indeed do physicists studying the motion of gla ard the quantum behavior of atoms: and in a recent Scientific American atl an epidemiological nals of he spread of ine fetus dseses posited the iden of viral paces. “Space” is con cept that has indeed come to ave enormous application an resonance in the contemporary word “Most obviously the online damain ia daa space. This wasthe concept atthe oe of Gib otal berpnk von fa Newman eq, Cian taped hal we it os ded hr eps het hy We ected ye pe al conpsrgeaa ee dmensn itt nt tal dtl Hee he ares gia coporins wee eet are ucts ‘ita an fe Ss ar cap vat peta hat ofthe inion Aor wt pra. crane ample fe sing at Ti Bernese the tts the Mod Wade Web, hr si hat is goa when de “png the We wast meen lll dal sett eld Herre an share by aces at he wold Wear Sova eal pled of Cabos egal sion, bt ‘Re cont concept ofl atspaceaealy mane s the Wot Wide We But bene has come sich note ha jt sgce bees he noted ih fa peso hte “lomton-aented A any commentato have seed, he nny ose benpate hn gaening bt sel necton an onnnicalon—al prea al eran eeaanent nla the cet of tage stemmberofofine tay won which pale thon i- ors ‘Wha ental inhi bespace chopra ways in which ise dig da fonctions asa gee fe Corps ment expenge a games hese we srtjbeagcs sand feectonk econ new space Seer eat tane often neal gee of manly that haven dened se ithe pel pest wo pi tr on there ase hh bece hs bere 2 elt maid In patra bane eel frie ogo; and eens any here usin ‘Sam ane ea for teal" gute IT clogs oy berspace Sher Tule: “The Intemet hat become a significant so. ial laboratory fr experimenting wit the conseuetions andre ‘omstretions of self that characterize postmodern life Just what itmeans to say that eyberspace isan arena of sel” i something swe rust examine eloely, but the claim ise eommands ou a "The fart that we arin the punres.f eating # nw ns teri space of beings of profound psychosocial sgiicance. As wwe have been documenting in thi book, any conception of “ethes paces beng “yond” physical space has been made ex tremely problematic by the modem scientific vision of reali. ‘That problematizingis one ofthe prinary patholo ofthe mod cx West Freud's tert, nith hirscience of pychoanab, toe inslate mind or "payhe” hack nt the realm af xientif eos remains one ofthe most important intellectual development of ‘he past cent Yet Freud's science wat dine individualist ach peson who enters payhoanai (or anyother for of p> thoterapy), mast work hisor her payee mada. Therapy isa quintessentially lonely experience. In aio to ths indvid- taste experience, many people also cave something commu ral—something that wll link their minds to oes. Is al well ‘and god to work on one’s own personal demons, but many peo- qleslo seem towanta collective mental ron, espace they might Share wih other mind. “This widespead desive for some suet of collective metal szena seit toda in the burgeoning interes n psychic phe ‘omens. Inthe Unite States pychi tines ae fusing, be fin an “astral plane” is widespread, and spit chanelling ion these nthe ate eas, the posited collective eal transcends the boundary of death, uniting the Lving and dead ina grand Inotherhood ofthe ether, Meanwhile, Te Xie offers us weekly omises of ther realities beyond the material plane, and book ‘ores ate filled wih estmonils describing rps to en etherealseal of light and lve that supposedly awaits us al fer death One of the great appeal feyberspace that offers a eller immaterial arena na afer deat, but here and now on eat, [Nothing evinces eybenpace’s potential a collective py chic eam so much af the fantastic online worlds known at [MUDs® Standing for"muliser domain” or orginally “rls angoons and Drage” MUD are comple antsy wold oi inally based on the roleplaying board game Dungeons and Dragons that swept through American colleges and hgh schools inthe late seventies, Ae suggested by the ‘Dungeons and Dragons” ‘oniker, the orginal MUD were medieval fantasies whee play- fs bate dragons a picked their way ough mazes of dure trons in search of tease and magieal powes. Today MUDs Fave morphed into a huge range af stual wodds far beyond the ‘medical milieu. There is TrekMUSE, a Star Trek MUD where -MUDers (a player ate called) an rs through the ranks oa i= ‘ual Stafet to captain thir own staship. There is DuneMUD based on Frank Herbertsscience Neon sees, a Tov MUD, realm of cartoon characters. The Elysium is lr of vampire, and ForyMock a vital wonderland populated by talling ant tal nd man-beast hybrids suchas quiiid and wold Like good moves ces MUDs evoke the sens of rch anu believable world The ference eat while the eade of ‘hovel encountersa work fll formed by the writer, MUDers ase tively involved in an engoing proces of wold making, To name isto rete and in MUD words the simple actof namingandde- serbing ial takes to generate anew alter ego or “eyberselE™ ‘MUDery ceatetheir online character, or personae, wih sho ‘extual description and a name. “Joiny Manhattan, for instance, is described as “tall and thin, pale as string cheese wearing 2 ‘neighborhood ha; Dagzen "an intligent mashroom tha bab ‘Mes inanly whenever you appeeach; and enti “sleek rd squinioi, with sof downy fir and Tong ish eses cascading sensuously down he back” Within the ontology ofthese cyber worlds, you ae the charter you ees. At one avid payer pals i here "you are who you pretend tobe” Want tobe poetry.