Back to my home page
In his essay "Cyberspace," Benjamin Woolley defines the title as "where the money is"; "the place where events increasingly happen"; "where lives and fates are determined"; and "a continuum where blips control our lives" (16). Woolley is determined to make the reader believe that cyberspace is a new reality in which we are all destined to exist.
As grounds for his brave claim. Woolley gives a detailed history of cyberspace and how the Internet became the presence it is today. He discusses the idea of the "global village," first explained by Marshall McCuhan in 1964 as a sort of electrical contraction (8). In the 1980's the term became popular once more in the finance and telephone industry. These industries had begun utilizing computer, satellite, and cable networks, and, in turn, made their industries global. In the 1990s, the "global village" expanded even more with the evolution of the Internet, which made "information [...] instantly available all over the globe" (9).
Woolley describes the development of networks and virtual communities. The world's first virtual community was developed and utilized by the American Advanced Research Projects Agency or ARPA. ARPAnet not only inspired the Internet, but was also instrumental in the development of Ethernet or Local Area Networks (LANs), which are designed to carry large amounts of information over short distances (10).
"Telepresence," a term first promoted by NASA, describes a way of controlling robots in hazardous environments. Telepresence denotes a robot operator's feeling of being "instantly transported to wherever the robot was working" (11). Woolley suggests that, since communication between the robot and the operator could be linked together, anyone could utilize this technology. He submits that "doing television" would replace watching television (11).
The new frontier of cyberspace, says Woolley, quoting John Perry Barlow, is "inhabited by mountain men, desperados and vigilantes, kind of a rough bunch" (8). These bad guys of the Internet have unleashed computer viruses that can be likened to biological viruses. The major difference between the two is that one happens in nature, while the other is written and unleashed for mischievous purposes. With the threat of biological warfare, we can liken the computer virus to a biological one.
Cyberspace is "increasingly where the money is" (16). In the business world, cyberspace has become a normality. Business in general has migrated from the telephone to the fax machine to electronic mail. "Computers, cyberspace and telecommunications have all combined to change working practices" (17).
Cyberspace has also enlisted a significant number, increasing every day, of home users. There are now many electronic services that these users can subscribe to over the Internet-- home banking, shopping, Email, bulletin boards, etc. These offerings reinforce the idea that another "world" exists in the realm of computer space. Being a part of this world has excited the interest in virtual reality around the globe, so much so that the term "global village" is a just description of the Internet and its infinite possibilities.
In conclusion, cyberspace has provided us with endless opportunities to advance our world and ourselves. We must realize that cyberspace is not the final frontier--it is evolving constantly. The world must become our village, and we must be willing to experiment and change.
Woolley, Benjamin. "Cyberspace." CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 6-17.