Production of Space and Identity

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In an interview with Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sirius points out the differences between the analog and digital spaces. "You're heard of an ecological niche, this would be sort of a psychological, ecological niche. It simply gives the psyche space to expand out into when there;s no free space let on earth. It is possible to locate an autonomous ungoverned wild space in cyberspace that you can't locate in the physical realm.

To which Lynn replies, "It's a pioneering/conquering of a territory that's still [untouched]".

The Automatic Production of Space

"It's a space being created by human beings, it's not something really eternal to us…" that, "it is not a space that is available until someone touches it...Technology isn't something that gets laid on us, it's an extension of the human imagination. It's space that we're creating, which is great, because when we go out and conquer hard space, the interaction of human beings with that hard space is generally pretty destructive".

Lynn then goes on to ask Sirius about image pollution. "How do you see this type of new reality," she asks, "altering how people what to see themselves?".

Disembodiment

"We're becoming disembodied;" Sirius responds, "we're becoming creates of media and communication technology. That's just an inevitable process that you can't really judge as good or bad. I see it more or less as being as a polyp to the corral reef or the ant to the anthill. We're somehow designed to create this species brain and nervous system made of information and communications technology".

"All you can do is try and guide its development and make it interesting and human, or postman, but in a human way; sexy and fun rather than just a large-sale accountant's dream (Facebook is like a giant excel spreadsheet game where we're monitoring the changes between sell and other cells). You know, we could be stuck in a future that's like accounting software or something. it's more of less what it's like now. That and violence" (Leeson, 56).

Lynn asks how computers will eventually affect the way humans relation to each other.

"There may be a great deal of alienation rom the human flesh", says Sirius, "It may seem very strange to actually o get out of your body suit and go out on the street. It could become a very delightful thing suddenly to re-experience nature and reality, like coming down from a psychedelic trip and gig out the next day and experiencing the world anew. That's one possibility. In terms of people interacting, one of the fundamental things of virtual reality is that it allows you to share…the contents of your mind and your imagination. You're describing to somebody the wild dream that you had last night, and you say, "Do you see what I mean?" and they say, "No" And you say, "Oh, well here", and then they actually see what you mean (see Hyperlinked Memories). So you have all the tools of saturated communication at your disposal, and you're passing them back an forth. Conceivably it should be possible for man beings to know one another better and better all the time. Whether they want to or not is yet another question" (Leeson, 57).

Additional Reading

Clicking In: Hot Links To A Digital Culture