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Cyberspace is like the white triangle in the above image, appearing virtually, existing nowhere, while joining computers across the globe

Cyberspace is a domain characterized by the use of electronics and the electromagnetic spectrum to store, modify, and exchange data via networked systems and associated physical infrastructures. The term originates in science fiction, where it also includes various kinds of virtual reality experienced by deeply immersed computer users or by entities who exist inside computer systems.


Origins of the term

The word "cyberspace" (from cybernetics and space) was coined by science fiction novelist and seminal cyberpunk author William Gibson in his 1982 story "Burning Chrome" and popularized by his 1984 novel Neuromancer.[1] The portion of Neuromancer cited in this respect is usually the following:


Gibson later commented on the origin of the term in the 2000 documentary No Maps for These Territories:


Gibson also coined the phrase Meatspace for the physical world contrasted with Cyberspace.


The term Cyberspace started to become a de facto synonym for the Internet, and later the World Wide Web, during the 1990s, especially in academic circles[2] and activist communities. Author Bruce Sterling, who popularized this meaning,[3] credits John Perry Barlow as the first to use it to refer to "the present-day nexus of computer and telecommunications networks." Barlow describes it thus in his essay to announce the formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (note the spatial metaphor) in June, 1990:[4]



– John Perry Barlow, "Crime and Puzzlement," 1990-06-08

As Barlow, and the EFF, continued public education efforts to promote the idea of "digital rights," the term was increasingly used during the Internet boom of the late 1990s.

Cyberspace as an Internet metaphor

While cyberspace should not be confused with the real Internet, the term is often used to refer to objects and identities that exist largely within the communication network itself, so that a web site, for example, might be metaphorically said to "exist in cyberspace." According to this interpretation, events taking place on the Internet are not therefore happening in the countries where the participants or the servers are physically located, but "in cyberspace".


– Bruce Sterling, Introduction to The Hacker Crackdown

The "space" in cyberspace has more in common with the abstract, mathematical meanings of the term (see Space) than physical space. It does not have the duality of positive and negative volume (while in physical space for example a room has the negative volume of usable space delineated by positive volume of walls, Internet users cannot enter the screen and explore the unknown part of the Net as an extension of the space they're in), but spatial meaning can be attributed to the relationship between different pages (of books as well as webservers), considering the unturned pages to be somewhere "out there." The concept of cyberspace therefore refers not to the content being presented to the surfer, but rather to the possibility of surfing among different sites, with feedback loops between the user and the rest of the system creating the potential to always encounter something unknown or unexpected.


Although the more radical consequences of the global communication network predicted by some cyberspace proponents (i.e. the diminishing of state influence envisioned by John Perry Barlow[5]) failed to materialize and the word lost some of its novelty appeal, it remains current as of 2006.[6][7]

Some virtual communities explicitly refer to the concept of cyberspace, e.g. Linden Lab calling their customers "Residents" of Second Life, while all such communities can be positioned "in cyberspace" for explanatory and comparative purposes (as Sterling did in The Hacker Crackdown and many journalists afterwards), integrating the metaphor into a wider cyber-culture.

The metaphor has been useful in helping a new generation of thought leaders to reason through new military strategies around the world, led largely by the US Department of Defense (DoD). [8] The use of cyberspace as a metaphor has had its limits, however, especially in areas where the metaphor becomes confused with physical infrastructure.

Alternate realities in philosophy and art

Predating computers

Before cyberspace became a technological possibility, many philosophers suggested the possibility of a virtual reality similar to cyberspace. In The Republic, Plato sets out his allegory of the cave, widely cited as one of the first conceptual realities[citation needed]. He suggests that we are already in a form of virtual reality which we are deceived into thinking is true. True reality for Plato is accessible only through mental training and is the reality of the forms. These ideas are central to Platonism and neoplatonism.

Another forerunner of the modern ideas of cyberspace is Descartes' thought that people might be deceived by an evil demon which feeds them a false reality. This argument is the direct predecessor of the modern ideas of brain in a vat and many popular conceptions of cyberspace take Descartes' ideas as their starting point.

Visual arts have a tradition, stretching back to antiquity, of artefacts meant to fool the eye and be mistaken for reality. This questioning of reality occasionally led some philosophers and especially theologians[citation needed] to distrust art as deceiving people into entering a world which was not real (see Aniconism). The artistic challenge was resurrected with increasing ambition as art became more and more realistic with the invention of photography, film (see Arrival of a Train at a Station) and finally immersive computer simulations.

Influenced by computers


American counterculture exponents like William S. Burroughs (whose literary influence on Gibson and cyberpunk in general is widely acknowledged[9][10]) and Timothy Leary[11] were among the first to extoll the potential of computers and computer networks for individual empowerment.[12]

Some contemporary philosophers and scientists (i.e. David Deutsch in The Fabric of Reality) employ virtual reality in various thought experiments. For example Philip Zhai in Get Real: A Philosophical Adventure in Virtual Reality connects cyberspace to the platonic tradition:




Main article: New media art

Having originated among writers, the concept of cyberspace remains most popular in literature and film. Although artists working with other media have expressed some interest in the concept, "cyberspace" in modern art is mostly used as a synonym for "virtual reality" and remains more discussed than enacted.[13]

Popular culture examples

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  • In the math mystery cartoon Cyberchase, the action takes place in Cyberspace, managed by the benevolent ruler, Motherboard. It is used as a conceit to allow storylines to take place in virtual worlds -- "Cybersites" -- on any theme and where specific math concepts can be best explored.
  • The CGI show, ReBoot, takes place entirely inside cyberspace, which is composed of two worlds: the Net and the Web.
  • In the computer game System Shock, the player can use a neural implant to "jack in" to cyberspace terminals, where they can collect data, fight security programs and trigger certain events in the real world, such as unlocking doors.
  • In the movie Tron, a programmer was physically transferred to the program world, where programs were personalities, resembling the forms of their creators.
  • The idea of "the matrix" in the movie The Matrix resembles a complex form of cyberspace where people are "jacked in" from birth and do not know that the reality they experience is virtual. See Matrix (cyberpunk).
  • In the EXE series of MegaMan, there is a place where A.I. programs called NetNavis can "jack in" to Cyberspace from about any electrical appliance.
  • In the Japanese anime series Lain, the main character begins to learn of a new dimension of reality taking place in cyberspace.
  • Irregular Webcomic!'s Space theme frequently involves the characters going into Cyberspace.
  • In the Xenosaga video game series on the PlayStation 2, there is virtual reality called the U.M.N. ("Unus mundus network") that uses the human collective unconscious as an interstellar, cyberspace network. It is similar to the matrix mentioned above, but also facilitates hyperspace travel for spacecraft and can create a virtual reality representation of human memories.
  • In the Ghost in the Shell fictional universe, there is an extrapolation of the Internet (called "The Net") which a large section of society seems to be able to access. The interface can range from simply visual (through conventional displays or implants) to full-sensory immersion via neural jacks, where (as in William Gibson's Cyberspace) data is shown as visual constructs such as objects that present servers or databases, with graphical depictions of security mechanisms and information stores. Entering and/or traveling The Net is referred to as "net diving", which is an activity with the potential to be physically dangerous.
  • In the video game Shadow the Hedgehog, two cyberspace levels were made: Digital Circuit and Mad Matrix.
  • In the Game Boy Advance game Sonic Advance 3, the sixth zone "Cyber Track" is set in cyberspace.
  • The Air Force Cyber Command (Provisional) (AFCYBER) is the newest United States Air Force major command whose development was announced by the Secretary of the Air Force on November 2, 2006

See also

Look up cyberspace in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.


  1. ^ Po-Mo SF "William Gibson's Neuromancer and Post-Modern Science Fiction"
  2. ^ Vanderbilt University, "Postmodernism and the Culture of Cyberspace", Fall 1996 course syllabus
  3. ^ Principia Cybernetica "Cyberspace"
  4. ^ John Perry Barlow, "Crime and Puzzlement," June 8, 1990
  6. ^ White House, "The National Strategy To Secure Cyberspace"
  8. ^ Cyber Conflict Studies Association, "CCSA"
  9. ^ Alexander Laurence, An Interview with John Shirley, 1994
  10. ^ "Burroughs/Gysin/Throbbing Gristle", retrieved December 31, 2006
  11. ^ "Internet will be the LSD of the 90's", quoted by an on-line biography
  12. ^ Douglas Rushkoff, "Godfathers of Cyberspace"
  13. ^ Eduardo Kac, "Telepresence Art"


  • Gibson, William. Neuromancer:20th Anniversary Edition. New York:Ace Books, 2004.

External links

v • d • eThe worksof William GibsonThe Sprawl trilogy: Neuromancer · Count Zero · Mona Lisa OverdriveThe Bridge trilogy: Virtual Light · Idoru · All Tomorrow's PartiesOther novels: The Difference Engine(with Bruce Sterling) · Pattern Recognition · Spook CountryBurning Chrome
collection Johnny Mnemonic · The Gernsback Continuum · Fragments of a Hologram Rose · The Belonging Kind · Hinterlands · Red Star, Winter Orbit · New Rose Hotel · The Winter Market · Burning Chrome · DogfightOther short stories: Skinner's RoomMiscellanea: Neuromancer video game · Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) · Johnny Mnemonic film · New Rose Hotel film · No Maps for These Territories · Node Magazine · The X-Files episodesStory elements: Molly Millions · Cyberspace · Megacorporation · Tessier-Ashpool · Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics · The Sprawl · Raygun Gothic · Gender-bait · Hubertus Bigend Categories: Cyberspace | Internet history | Virtual reality | William GibsonHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since December 2007 | Articles with too many examples

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