Margaret Wertheim; The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace

In today’s society we see that cyberspace has filled a space that has links to the Middle Ages. Where there were one physical earthly world, and one non-physical world. A world that was a better place. A place that was dreamt on in the harsh every day life. With cyberspace we can draw links to this point of view. While the non-physical world was after life, something you only could dream off and look forward to, today’s non-physical world is something you can enter whenever you want.

The Middle Ages is called the dark years for many reasons, but one of the most important one is the power of the church and the “death” of individuality. It was God in the centre, not the individual. The peasants were told that if you live right you would come to a better place after life. That to have another life to looking forward to was a relief for many. A place you could imagine in your own head, a place where no one could reach. You could decide over your own life. This belief exist also today, but not in such a big scale. We could say that cyberspace has taken over this role.

Cyberspace is a place where you can hide, and start all over again. You can be the person you always wanted to be. But in cyber world your body remains in the physical world. We can’t escape completely! Today we see many examples of people that have no real social life, but entering cyberspace you can start all over again. Many of these individuals use more time in cyberspace than in real life. Cyberspace has replaced it. Does the real life have too many rules and obstacles?
In reality cyberspace was just a “data space”, an exchange of information. Today, there are mostly a social interactions and communication. Therefore there are not a data space, but a cyberspace.


Herman