Cyberspace
“Cyberspace” is the digital world created by computers and other network-connected devices. It encompasses everything from local data storage to global communication over the Internet. Whether you’re viewing photos on your computer, sending an email, or browsing the web, you are operating within cyberspace.
Origin of Cyberspace
The term “Cyberspace” was popularized by science fiction author William Gibson in his 1984 novel Neuromancer. Gibson depicted cyberspace as:
“a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught 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 non-space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data.”
A visual depiction of cyberspace
Though a novel concept at the time, cyberspace is now an integral part of everyday life. In fact, it is so ubiquitous that people rarely use the term anymore. Instead, people use terms like social media, e-commerce, and the metaverse to describe more specific aspects of cyberspace.
Updated July 31, 2024 by Per C.
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