Analysis of Technology in Movies

In my opinion cyberspace and the internet aren't as different as they are complementary. After all, it was said in class that, "the internet is a computer net work and cyberspace is that network visualized as a virtual space." Using these definitions it would seem that they work together to create a whole, a system, we use to create an "interface" to information. So, taking this into consideration I will discuss the parallels between both the internet and cyberspace and I will discuss what they lack when separated from one another.

"The problem of reality is always; social reality...The problem is always the difficulty or impossibility of coping with or recognizing social reality, that is, human reality, the reality of other humans." (Robins pg.77) One of the main differences between the internet and cyberspace is the fact that cyberspace allows you to visualize and personally experience your own perception of reality whereas the internet simply as a narrative or interactive space is used for the purpose of allowing you to see other peoples interpretations of the world around them. At the same time there is something that cyberspace loses in creating this personal narcissism. Further into the article, Robins emphasizes the significance of reality in the lives of society. Politics, responsibility, self-identity, and meaning are all explained as things that preserve our humanity, things that cyberspace cannot intrinsically supply but that the internet still has. Because cyberspace is less concrete and more an idea, somewhere out of nowhere, I cannot supply an example in that respect. However, to illustrate the want and/or need that people have to instantiate their own reality in an interactive space, one need only look to message boards on the internet. It is here where people discuss and most often argue about everything from instant oatmeal to intelligent design. Every person forcing their opinion, their perception of reality on the other, trying to present their opinions in such a way that any who oppose would have to eventually surrender and see it the other way. Cyberspace (a visualized space) is much more concurrent with human psychology; being that one doesn't necessarily have to see other people's view. They can closely experience their reality. "There is a common vision of the future that will be different form the present, of a space or reality that is more desirable than the mundane one that surrounds and contains us, it is tunnel vision." (Robins pg. 77) The tunnel vision is what the internet is when separated from cyberspace. The idea of cyberspace is utopia, a consensual hallucination, everyone agreeing on one representation of reality. (Robins pg. 77) Virtual communities are discussed, the focal point on the distinctiveness and recognition of such entities. Robins seems to propose that these communities could be a "societal renaissance", in the sense that virtual communities it bring people together. The internet separate from cyberspace blatantly exploits our differences and pits people against each other, a call for separation of people. This is easily seen in our technological advances. Every time the internet moves to an Ipod or a cell phone it travels further away from the traditional communal spaces of computer labs, cyber cafйs, and business workstations. "The fact that we need computer networks to recapture the sense of cooperative spirit that so many people seemed to lose when we gained all this technology is a painful irony."

Another instance, in which cyberspace and the internet lack full potential without co-existence, is the use of interfaces. The internet by itself as a mostly narrative space of websites with occasional pictures, photo-play, and interactive games along the way is strictly a human-machine interface. This can be seen by the language often associated to it "point", "click", "surf the web". For example you have to send someone "electronic mail", as if there weren't on the internet at the same time you were. Robins alludes to the fact that people don't understand that the internet "is" cyberspace if you let other people in. People almost take a selfish approach to it like they are the only ones logged on when there are millions surfing right beside them. It is with a social connection that cyberspace is laid over the network of computers we call the internet. When cyberspace is added to this equation for the purpose of social interaction and bringing people together, the language changes from something singular to something you experience with another person. With language like AIM "chat" and "face"book it is a much more human-human interface oriented language.

One example in which cyberspace and the internet totally differ is how they relate to technology. When the internet was created it cave the technology of the day (computers) new meaning. However cyberspace needs a technology to give it meaning. To clarify, cyberspace hasn't yet combined with a technology or phenomenon the accentuates it in such a way that everyone realizes that it is essential to on-line experience. For example, in the 13th floor you're given the impression that in the year 2024 cyberspace is the only way to have an online experience. You have no choice but to interact with other people in a consensual hallucination, that is the purpose of their virtual reality machines, the "social experience". As soon as we have a technology that makes society see that the internet is not just informational and sometimes social than we will see cyberspace and the internet as an "avatar" to a social utopia. Robins argues that virtual worlds cannot exist in a vacuum; that is, exclusive of the real world. Social constructs are the real world aspects that can create virtual worlds on the internet. "A virtual world exists in, and in relation to, everyday life in the real world."(Robins