Cyberspace

Cyberspace, a metaphoric abstraction used in philosophy and computing, is a (virtual) reality which represents the Noosphere/World 2 both "inside" computers and "on" computer networks.

History

Early philosophical conceptions

Before cyberspace became a technological possibility many philosophers suggested the posibility of a virtual reality similar to cyberspace. In The Republic, Plato sets out his allegory of the cave which is widely cited as one of the first conceptual realities. He suggests that we are allready in a form of virtual reality which we are decieved into thinking is true reality. True reality for Plato is only accesible through mental training and is the reality of the forms.

Related Topics:
The Republic - Plato - Allegory of the cave

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These ideas are central to Platonism and neo platonism. Perhaps the conception closest to our modern ideas of cyberspace is Descartes thought that people might be deceived by an evil demon which feeds them a false reality. This argument is the direct predesessor of the modern ideas of brain in a vat and many popular conceptions of cyberspace take Descartes ideas as their starting point.

Related Topics:
Platonism - Neo platonism

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Early philosophers also suggested the existence of a virtual cyberspace that was created by life like artistic representations. Some philosophers came to distrust art because it deceived people into entering a world which was not real and sited examples of artists whose paintings, sculptures and even literature could deceive people and animals. These ideas where reserected with increasing force as art became more and more realistic and with the invention of photography, film and finally emersive computer simulations.

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this has to be cleaned up and expanded

Television invented in 1926; Lawrence Livermore National Labs connects graphics display to IBM 704,

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1956; Spacewars, first video game, 1961; Sketchpad, graphic interface to computer "objects", 1963; Simulacron-3, narrative fiction work about virtual reality, 1964; Sutherland, with the help of his student Bob Sproull, created the world's first virtual reality system using head-mounted displays (HMDs) 1968; SHRDLU, natural-language understanding computer program "living" inside a full 3D environment, 1968; Aspen Movie Map, first practical application of 3d navigation of simulated space, 1978.

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Nova Convention

Perhaps one of the first indications of cyberspace becoming a topic of deep human consequence arose during the 1978 Nova Convention, in a conversation between William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine & Robert Anton Wilson about the nature of evolution, time, space and mind. One of the underlying themes in the convention was the disenchantment with the Blue Sky Tribe and the initial cravings for "cyber topics" such as transhumanism, Gaia theory and Decentralisation.

Related Topics:
1978 - Nova Convention - William S. Burroughs - Brion Gysin - Timothy Leary - Les Levine - Robert Anton Wilson - Blue Sky Tribe - "cyber topics" - Transhumanism - Gaia theory - Decentralisation

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William S. Burroughs' quotes from the convention:

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"Time is a resource, and time is is running out. We are stuck in this dimension of time."

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"This is the space age, and we are here to go.. However, the space program has been restricted to a mediocre elite who ?at great expense? have gone to the moon in an aqualung. Now, they're not really looking for space, they're looking for more time. Like the lungfish, and the walking catfish; they weren't looking for a dimension different from water, they were looking for more water".

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