Abstract
Cyberspace was originally a term coined by Canadian writer William Gibson in his Neuromancer, a science fiction published in 1984 [William Gibson said in an interview with the editor of the Encarta Reference Library 2004 that “the original title of Neuromancer was Jacked In, and the editor didn’t like it. Neuromancer was my second choice.” He explains the origin of this word by saying, “it occurred to me that if I changed one letter in the word necromancer I would get a really mysterious word.” According to the Study Guide for William Gibson: Neuromancer, “The name ‘Neuromancer’ is a variation on ‘necromancer,’ a magician dealing in evil spirits and death (‘neuro’ = nerves, artificial intelligence, ‘mancer’ = magician)” (see http://www.wsu.edu:8080/˜brians/science_fiction/neuromancer.html).]. Along with the development of the internet, cyberspace as literary invention has gained new connotations and powerful vigor, and thus entered academic discourse. Many discussions have been made around the term and the new perspective effected by the term.
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Notes
- 1.
William Gibson said in an interview with the editor of the Encarta Reference Library 2004 that “the original title of Neuromancer was Jacked In, and the editor didn’t like it. Neuromancer was my second choice.” He explains the origin of this word by saying, “it occurred to me that if I changed one letter in the word necromancer I would get a really mysterious word.” According to the Study Guide for William Gibson: Neuromancer, “The name ‘Neuromancer’ is a variation on ‘necromancer,’ a magician dealing in evil spirits and death (‘neuro’=nerves, artificial intelligence, ‘mancer’=magician)” (see http://www.wsu.edu:8080/˜brians/science_fiction/neuromancer.html).
- 2.
See “An interview with the editor of the Encarta Reference Library 2004”.
- 3.
Steve Mizrach, Lost in Cyberspace: A Cultural Geography of Cyberspace. See http://www.fiu.edu/˜mizrachs/lost-in-cyberspace.html.
- 4.
Howard Rheingold, Virtural Reality (London: Mandarin, 1991) p. 154.
- 5.
Chris Chesher, “Colonizing Virtual Reality: Construction of the Discourse of Virtual Reality, 1984–1992,” in Cultronix, Issue One. See http://eserver.org/cultronix/.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
Plato, Timaeus 19d, Republic X 597.
- 8.
Aristotle, Poetics, 1451.
- 9.
Song Nian, “A Comment on Painting at Yi Garden,” in Yu Jianhua (ed.) Zhongguo Hualun Leibian (Classified Compilation of Writing) (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1957. Reprint. Hong Kong: Zhonghua Shuju, 1973) p. 536.
- 10.
Guo Xi and Guo Si, “Li Quan Gao Zhi”, in Yu, p. 632.
- 11.
Jos de Mul, “Welcome to Cyberspace: Another Possibility of Discussing Human History.”
- 12.
Michael Heim, “The Feng Shui of Virtual Reality,” Crossings: eJournal of Art and Technology, Volume I, Issue I. See http://crossings.tcd.ie/issues/1.1/Heim/.
- 13.
John Perry Barlow, “Being in Nothingness,” Mondo 2000 (1990) p. 37.
- 14.
Cf. Bany M. Leiner, Vinton G. Cerf, David D. Clark, Robert E. Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C. Lynch, Jon Postel, Larry G. Roberts Stephen Wolff, “A Brief History of the Internet,” in http://www.isoc.org/.
- 15.
Chris Chesher, “Colonizing Virtual Reality: Construction of the Discourse of Virtual Reality, 1984–1992,” in Cultronix, Issue One. See http://eserver.org/cultronix/.
- 16.
Cf. Chesher, “Colonizing Virtural Reality.”
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
“William Gibson” in Encarta Reference Library 2004.
- 19.
“Study Guide for William Gibson: Neuromancer,” in http://www.wsu.edu:8080/˜brians/science_fiction/neuromancer.html.
- 20.
William J. Mitchell, City of Bits, 2.6 in http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/welcome.html.
- 21.
Ibid.
- 22.
Howard Rheingold, Virtual Community (New York: Harper Perennial, 1994) p. 3.
- 23.
Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach.” Quoted from Robert C. Tucker, ed. The Marx-Engels Reader (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1978) pp. 143–45.
- 24.
Adrian Mihalache, The Delightful Diversity of Cyber-Images, in http://www.spark-online.com.
- 25.
Ibid.
- 26.
Rheingold, Virtual Community, p. 3.
- 27.
See “The History of the Internet in China”, in http://www.blogchina.com/.
- 28.
See “Statistical Reports on the Internet Development in China (1997/10)” and “Statistical Reports on the Internet Development in China (2004/7),” in http://www.cnnic.net.cn/.
- 29.
“The Timeline of the Development of Chinese Domains,” in http://www.cnnic.net.cn/.
- 30.
“Surveying the Internet and Impact in 12 Chinese Cities,” in http://www.wipchina.org/.
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Gao, J. (2018). The Growth and Construction of Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace. In: Aesthetics and Art. China Academic Library. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56701-2_14
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