An introduction to duality in cyberspace

Wertheim, Margaret. The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: a History of Space from Dante to the Internet. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.

I would like to start these blog posts (and future paper) with a discussion on dualism and how it functions in our conception of cybercultures and cyberspace.

Margaret Wertheim, in her book “The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace,” discusses how cyberspace exists as a conceptual space. Drawing from chapter six, she argues that the cyberspace realm, as conceptualized in William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” and found in the modern internet, is an actual realm, though it is one contained purely in the mind. She draws parallels between this and the spatial dualism of the Middle Ages, where “Christians believed in a physical space described by science […] and a nonphysical space that existed ‘outside’ the material domain” (p. 227). To carry this further, she goes on to say “cyberspace has become a new realm for the mind” (p. 230).

She briefly mentions Freud and the concept of the mind itself as being its own space or landscape before quickly transitioning to the topic of MUDs. MUDs, or multiuser domains, act as playgrounds for role-playing and social interaction. Because changing personas is so easy in this environment (i.e. the famous case of Joan/Alex mentioned later in the chapter) MUDs allow for the exploration of the psyche in open and direct ways that Freud could only dream of. While Wertheim never directly makes this argument, it would not be a big leap to claim, based on this, that the emotionally honest world created by the mind online is more representative of a person’s true self than the construct shown to people in the physical world – that the masks shown in the nonphysical realm better reflect a person’s nature than the masks shown in “real” life. As Wertheim quotes from Turkle’s “Life on the Screen,” one MUDer claims that “this is more real than my real life” (p. 240).

While she treats cyberspace as a real, even if contained within the mind, she draws a distinction between that world and “reality.” This is done chiefly though listing limitations found in reality and not in cyberspace. These limitations include the permanence of death in reality, the inability to easily change identities, etc. Because of the distinction, one reality must remain primary (the physical) while the imagined world of cyberspace is not able to exist independent of this physical space.

Overall I would recommend this reading to someone interested in the basics of the dualism argument regarding cyberspace. The chapter not only talks about the real-world internet but draws parallels between our cyberspace and the cyberspace conceived of in fiction. For those interested in an introduction to the philosophical aspects of cyberspace (Wertheim mentions Descartes a few times in reference to dualism) this reading is a great place to start. However, while this is a good place to start a conversation, go into this knowing that the reading lacks a certain amount of depth on some topics that is found in other articles and is itself only a chapter from a larger work.