Cyberspace Notes by Dave Benore

Cyberspace—what is it? It’s the world of interconnected computers—The Internet!

Or;

“Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children learning mathematical concepts...a graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind. Clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights receding...” (from William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer) (If you follow this you’re smarter than I am.)

Or;

Cyberspace is the total interconnectedness of human beings through computers and telecommunication without regard to physical geography. (True, but more boring.)

Or;

You know, the Net, the Web, the Information Superhighway. Humans use spatial metaphors to describe a realm where actual geographic locations and physical dimensions are more or less irrelevant. Kinda twisted, huh? (Yea, a bit twisted.)

Or;

Cyberspace—a real world of electrical impulses zipping down wires, optical cables, and radio waves, banging into computers and people, and somehow making sense. (My definition.)

Whatever it is, it is email and the web, and it’s worth learning how to use. It is having the knowledge of the entire world at your fingertips. And knowledge is power, we know.

It starts with learning to use a computer. Buy one, take lessons, or have a friend teach you. Too old you say? To paraphrase my wife, “I can be 80 and know only what I know now, or I can be 80 and know a heck of a lot more. Either way, I’ll still be 80.” Which would you like to be?

Future columns will discuss details of owning and using a personal computer, geared toward a novice user. Please tune in!