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digest 1996-08-06 #001

11:24 PM 8/6/96 -0700
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 

Daily SLS Email Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6 Aug 1996 08:13:48 -0700
From: "C. Jason Smith" 
Subject: Re: earliest concept of "cyberspace?"
A quick addition to the "cyberspace" Q&A.  The Internet
was already being
formed when Gibson wrote Neuromancer, so the ide of "space" in
the
Internet was already in place.  What Gibson did was to combine the
concept
of the Internet (and interconnected memory/storage space) with
another concept: virtual reality.  Cyberspace in Gibson's terms, then,
is
Internet plus virtual reality.  The question, then, becomes whether or
not
there was a concept such as this Internet+ before Gibson.  From the
literary side Gibson credits Burroughs (and he does call his cyberspace
a
"concensual halucination").
Jason.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6 Aug 1996 08:14:19 -0700
From: "C. Jason Smith" 
Subject: Re: earliest concept of "cyberspace?"
A quick addition to the "cyberspace" Q&A.  The Internet
was already being
formed when Gibson wrote Neuromancer, so the ide of "space" in
the
Internet was already in place.  What Gibson did was to combine the
concept
of the Internet (and interconnected memory/storage space) with
another concept: virtual reality.  Cyberspace in Gibson's terms, then,
is
Internet plus virtual reality.  The question, then, becomes whether or
not
there was a concept such as this Internet+ before Gibson.  From the
literary side Gibson credits Burroughs (and he does call his cyberspace
a
"concensual halucination").
Jason.