cyberspace metaphor obsolete
from Karl Schroeder - this ties into the pundit post and supports the soccer field post I did a while back:
It’s this overlay of the virtual over the real that makes the cyberspace metaphor obsolete. Cyberspace, after all, is conceived as something like the astral plane–a digital reality that exists “elsewhere.” But it’s precisely this “elsewhere” that’s being eroded by applications like Davison and Reid’s augmented reality system. Increasingly, the digital world is being married to the real world, with surprising results.
My personal theory is this: when the only way to use a computer was to sit still and look through a little window (the screen) into a virtual space, the cyberspace metaphor worked best for us. But with cell phones, PDAs and geographical applications such as store-finders and the proposed “taxi” key for cell phones (which simply summons the nearest cab when you press it), we’re no longer staring through a window into cyberspace. The window’s been broken, and the cyber world has spilled out into our own space.
link
The only thing I disagree with is the “cyberspace RIP” thing. Yes, augmented reality is happening, and the online/offline dichotomy doesn’t describe it. But that meaning we have to ditch the concept of cyberspace? Ask someone playing an MMORPG for the first time and see if they don’t feel cyberspaced out till their wazzoo.
October 21st, 2005 at 11:55 pm
I am WAY sexier now.
Yeah, so I just logged off after a few hours and my brainframe is totally destabilized. It’s VERY discombobulating.
October 24th, 2005 at 10:15 pm
“we’re no longer staring through a window into cyberspace. The window’s been broken, and the cyber world has spilled out into our own space.”
it’s worth noting that there’s an implicit private/public space division here, and what seems to be happening, is that a person’s ‘private’ cyberspace experience is becoming increasingly public in these multiple player env’ts… compound this with things like Nintendo’s free WiFi gaming zones, and you have even more instances of ‘cyber-reality’ and ‘actual’ reality overlapping…
October 24th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
hmm.
“you have even more instances of ‘cyber-reality’ and ‘actual’ reality overlapping” I knew.
But I didn’t think whether it was significant that cyberspace normally used to happen in private and augmented reality happens often in public. that’s a really good point.