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No 8 December 2003 Earthspace and Cyberspace - It's with us nowAn interesting date in literature was Nineteen hundred eighty four. Why, well probably two reasons and the two words that literature leaves with us. Firstly, 1984 is the title of George Orwell's 1949 futuristic novel about what the world might look like in 35 years. How much of what Mr. Orwell wrote was foresight, has been the subject of school assignments and intellectual debates ever since. Secondly, 1984 was the year William Gibson's futuristic novel, Neuromancer, was first published. What's the connection? Well, besides the futuristic angle of both books, and my play-on-dates, both of these novels gave us terms that have become part of our popular langauge of today:
In the mid and late 80s, you could "jack" into Compuserve, Prodigy, and a few other bureau, but it was much later before even the concept of cyberspace, let alone the reality, was very well developed in the minds of most of us. For example, in 1988 you could find Orwell's "Big Brother" in the dictionary, but not "cyberspace". But by 1995, Webster was defining cyberspace as "the online world." A Brand New Dimension The cyberspace we know now is a reasonably new dimension. If not already, sooner rather than later, we will be able to do virtually everything in cyberspace that can be done in earthspace, except one: physically inhabit it. But even though humans can't go to cyberspace, we have created infrastructure there, and surrogates - "packets" of digital data - to represent us. The Mother Of All Paradigm Shifts The things that are happening in cyberspace are shifting virtually every paradigm you and I have come to know and love. And they're shifting in ways that were the stuff of fantasy less than a score of years ago. Never mind the marketplace, name any sector of your life that hasn't been directly or indirectly affected, if not turned upside-down, by what's going on in cyberspace. We should realise that the cyberspace shift has already happened. And while we are still in the cyberspace Model T years, for a long time to come, new innovations are just going to be variations of what we now have. With my tongue only somewhat in my cheek, I predict the next shift that will compare with the advent of cyberspace will either be when we can ask Scotty to "beam us up", or when we start doing business with Vulcans from Xerxes 9. What About Electricity? Cyberspace is more than a tool that is changing our world. As Webster put it, cyberspace IS a world. A Truly New Market In the marketplace, the shift to which I compare cyberspace goes back thousands of years to what Adam Smith identified in his 1776 book, The Wealth Of Nations, as the "division of labour." Markets were born when people started specialising in one craft or trade, and bartering with other craftsmen and traders, rather than making, or hunting and gathering, all the things their families needed. Cyberspace is the dimension where lives the first really new marketplace since humans adopted the division of labour. The "little i" internet was developed by the government for national security and military purposes sometime around 1969. It didn't become the "big I" Internet, with commercial applications, until around 1990. The Internet and associated applications are truly awesome - almost magical - but like electricity, they are just tools. The World Wide Web, for example, is just one of, but a very important, feature of the Internet. New tools are being developed all the time, and even alternatives to the Internet are being studied. But all will be functioning in the dimension we are now calling cyberspace. What About Us? Life-on-earth is the dimension we live in physically. But whether you like it or not, more and more, cyberspace is the dimension in which we will conduct a lot of the aspects of our lives. Think of all the cyberthings you can do today: Buy, sell, communicate, see, listen, learn, create, have relationships, be entertained, even bind a contract with your own digital signature. And yes, we still have to keep our eye on "Big Brother" as he operates in cyberspace with us - or against us. Judgment Day To which the curator replied, "Sir, it is important for you to understand that this masterpiece is not being judged today, you are." The division of labour transformed our existence and changed the world. And since it took thousands of years to really understand what was happening, earthlings had plenty of time to absorb the changes, adapt, and find ways to be successful with it. Electrification transformed our existence and changed the world, but it took a few decades to fully appreciate the impact, which gave modern earthlings plenty of time, relatively speaking, to absorb the changes, adapt, and find ways to be successful with it. Some of us still have clothes older than cyberspace as we know it, but already it has changed virtually everything in our world as we have known it. Time to absorb the changes? Can you say nanosecond? Adapt? Yes, you still can. But it won't happen if you're shaking your head disapprovingly. Find ways to be successful? It's being done right now by many others. What's your cyberplan? It is important to understand that cyberspace is not being judged today. You are! What will be the verdict? . The NEWORKer can be viewed online at the Work & Age Website |
© 2003 The Nework Centre | email neworknz@yahoo.co.nz |
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