Chun by Ben, Duy, Scott, Kevin

The Internet has gone through the process of metamorphosis to become some thing much more transcendent and abstract called the Cyberspace. In this cybernetic space, virtually no rules and no limits exist. Even human attain an ever ability to escape from the prison of the bodies and be free. Different from its sci-fi origins, cyberspace embraces ambiguity and contingency, one can navigate and control the interface but not the space, and the path they take in cyberspace. Cyberspace allows for an “imitation indistinguishable from the ‘real thing,’ yet completely separate from it.” Compensatory heteropias are ordered, perfect, and meticulous. Cyberspace does not adequately protect users from becoming spectacles; rather, it focuses their “gaze away from its own vulnerability and toward others as spectacle.” Whereas the flâneur is an impartial, unobserved observer, independent from the scene he/she witnesses; the gawker is not independent, “disappears, absorbed by the external world,” and becomes an impersonal being. TCP/IP is now a technical cornerstone of global telecommunications networks, as it makes it possible for networks that run on different physical media, and that use networking standards to communicate with each other. The Internet cannot be completely censored; however, its censorship depends on local configurations and routing protocols. Both of these are affected by the privatization of the Internet backbone.

As place is defined while space is undefined and contingent, getting lost in the cyberspace is like wondering in a jungle of black holes. Indeed, will this cyberspace is an exact replica of our bigger universe and consequently will inherit its charateristics? Our discussion led to whether informed emersion into Cyberspace should warrant the ability to see without being seen, or whether being seen is simply part of the agreement. The reason for this question is because it is arguably not mandatory to connect to this space, despite there being advantages.