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: dihde@notes.cc.sunysb.edu