Multistability in Cyberspace
The diverse technologies of communication and information have stimulated much speculation concerning ‘virtuality,’ the spatiality of ‘cyberspace’, and the role of phenomena such as ‘avatars.’ Beginning with a phenomenology of multistability in the way various technological media are perceived, I shall examine the roles of human embodiment, perception, and spatial transformations within communication and information media. My analysis will have two dimensions, the one descriptive, in which I shall attempt an outline of the possibility structure of such media, and the other side, critical, in which I shall attempt deconstructions of much ‘hype’ which accompanies discussions of these technologies.
Screen Space: Although ‘screen space’ is perhaps the simplest, concrete situation for users of communication and information technologies, it already presents a multistable phenomenon. Screen space can be perceived as as urface, as a depth, as a special ‘virtual space’, each variant of which presents a different set of possible experiences. By drawing from a phenomenology of multistability and some earlier examples in technological history, I shall show how thse possibility structures impact upon some of the present fantasies surrounding ‘virtuality’ and ‘cyberspace.’ Examples will include internet, video game, and other popular technologies.
Non-neutrality: Drawing from earlier work on the ‘magnification-reduction’ or selectivity structures of communication and information technologies, I shall analyse the masking and fantasy possibilities of media technologies. Of particular interest in this context is the shaping of what I call ‘list serve wars which are conducted through various social contexts.
Virtual/”real” Alternations: Contemporary academic and other communication has also enabled the emergence of ‘virtual/real’ travel and community possibilities. Of particular interest in this context is the role of multi-or pluricultural contact which, at its extremes, is evidenced by severe ethnic conflict and on the other the promotion of a cyber-cosmopolitanism.
The overall focus will be upon the transformations of experience through the mediation of the technologies involved.
Don Ihde, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy, SUNY at Stony Brook, NY 11794-3750 USA
Email: