Blog #1 -- CYBERSPACE

In the introduction to Michael Benedikt's article "Cyberspace: first steps" -- he basically states that since William Gibson's introduction of the word "cyberspace" in 1984, it has had certain negative connotations tied to it. Benedikt said, "An unhappy word [cyberspace], perhaps, if it remains tied to the desperate, dystopic vision of the near future found in the pages of Neuromancer (1984) and Count Zero (1987)..."

I understand that, perhaps, the above definition of cyberspace was exactly the kind of thinking Benedikt was trying to unravel in this article...but I personally, still associate 'cyberspace' with impending 'dystopia'.

Let us first define 'Dystopia':

–noun

a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.

While I feel the web in a great place to gather an array of knowledge and communicate with the like-minded (or the unlike-minded) etc. I feel there are MANY aspects of the web which are leading to "oppression" and for some "misery".

Take the events of China vs Google -- China was having it's google search engine censored, to disallow people from searching certain topics or accessing certain sites. This kind of censorship is absolutely an oppression of the ability of the Chinese to use the web freely.

If the internet/web did not exist, than this need to 'control' it would not exist. The pure existence of the internet opens doors for people, governments, companies etc. to control, censor, regulate, and restrict the level of access that others have.

Let's talk about the 'misery' aspect of 'dystopia'. Social networking sites, such as Facebook, are causing anxiety and misery for some who are concerned about privacy issues. People, unfamiliar with personal privacy settings etc., are experiencing anxiety about the level of information others can see about them. Many employers are using social networking sites to view the pages of potential candidates. If someone tags a questionable photo of you on facebook and an employer comes across it and finds it offensive, then that persons job opportunity may become jeopardized....causing misery.

To me, each time a new media is created, it creates new problems to be solved. To say that the web is all peachy and wonderful is to be ignorant. While the internet can be a wonderful thing we must not overlook the issues it in turn creates.