From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (scooby dooby doo)
Subject: Bruce Sterling & Cyberhemian Rhapsodies
Followup-To: alt.cyberspace
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 92 05:29:48 GMT

  "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been", the all-too familiar statement by
the Grateful Dead, has probably been heard countless times in the echoes
of cyberspace.  Probably moreso than in any other forum aside from
Classic-Rock radio stations, and this is no accident.
  Cyberspace has indeed been a long, strange trip, but more appropriately
we might rephrase the stament to read "what a long strange trip it's going
to be if we don't take a step back and look at ourselves, damnit."
  Bruce Sterling, noted cyberpunk author and purveyor of sociological
possible futures and realities, has begun to take that step back, as
evident in his recent contribution to SF Eye #10, also appearing in
EFFector OnLine #3.06.  He writes passionately about the current states of
cyber-realities, about where we seem to be headed, his contributions and
role in the whole grand scheme of things, and all within the deeply moving
realm of Sterling's philosophical mind where moral questions remain
unresolved about all these issues.
  And well they should.  Cyberspace, bohemia that it is, is still fairly
anologous to any other notable social movement in history.  In one area of
the movement, you have the deeply frightening individuals who proclaim to
have all the answers.  On the other end of the spectrum you have, in this
case the "cyberpunk" hackers, those individuals basically saying "fuck the
answers and fuck the questions".  Rarely, though, do you find those
individuals in the midst of the movement willing to step back and say
"what's it all about....what kind of trip are we on, anyways?"
  This is what Sterling has done in the article, basically presenting on
paper (or monitor) philosophical questions applicable to any society:
 
  "What is a 'crime'?  What is a moral offense?  What actions
  are evil and dishonerable?"
 
  Obviously, if a society does not answer these questions, if it does not
agree upon (at least to some basic extent) these issues, the society will
die.  It is my impression that Mr. Sterling is saying:  'We, the residents
of cyberspace, whether we liken ourselves as punks, hackers, hippies,
administrators, frontiersman, virus writers, programmers, information
freaks, our simply bystandards, we are all residents of a very large
community.   We coexist fairly complacently, yet we coexist without the
degree of self-analysis and self-criticism present in most other
successful societies.'
  Now, of course this is my interpretation of the article, and in fact I'm
probably off in my own lttle corner of this reality, but, suffice to say,
whether or not this was Sterling's intent, these are facts we must face up
to.
  Bruce Sterling has been fairly outspoken on the question of information
as commodity, and the idea of knowledge as power.  What we, the citizens
of cyberspace, fail to realize is that we as a collective group have the
means of storing, analyzing, regurgitating more information than ever
before.  Thus, we should be the richest, most powerful community in the
world.
  But of course, being a *fairly* democratic reality, whoever might wish
to obtain this power is struck down by the opposite extreme.  Ie:  Joe
Hacker consciously or unconsciously believes he has power via his skills
at penetrating information until he is taken off to jail by Ms. S.S.
Agent.  Ms. S. S. Agent believes she has power until the hacker community
strikes back at her individualy, or grows to the point where their values
and morals infiltrate the norms of the cyber-society to the point where
they are acceptable to some degree.  And so, the debate rages back and
forth constantly, to no end.  One of the victims is information.
  Bruce Sterling wrote a little note to me in his wonderful collection of
short stories, _Globalhead_, that says "Information *wants* to be free".
Information is the battleground upon which we, the entire cyberspace
student body, wage our war.  Sterling writes that he is distrustful of a
society that seeks to control, encrypt, restrict information, likening the
results to building a sand castle.  What a wonderful metaphor, since on
the surface the fortress we have created seems impenetrable, yet it
quickly crumbles under its own weight when the uncontrollable forces of
nature have their way.  Information is infinite in scope.  It has no end,
thus there is no possible way a society can really control information to
any degree of success.  Certain information can not be used as commodity,
for, as I believe Bruce Sterling has himself stated before, if I give you
information, I am not really losing anything, but you are gaining.  In
monetary terms, it's like giving someone a $20 bill and somehow keeping
the bill for yourself.  Thus, information is infinite and would quickly
devalue in a world where it is abundant.
  In our society, we do not realize the abundance of information.  Each
new day, new resources are available to receive various types information
at a relatively low cost:  new television stations, newspapers, magazines,
radio stations, underground zines, BBSes, FTP sites, Usenet newsgroups....
  When the majority of the inhabitants of the entire global virtual
community realize this, we can begin to step forward back into the realm
of cyberspace.  We will have analyzed "the hacker problem", seen it as a
necessary subset of our new society, and to accept it, not criticize it,
for what it is.  We will have set forth standards of behavior, folkways
and mores, manifestos and constitutions, apllicable to a society of the
future, the society of the infinite realm of cyberspace.
  There is no doubt in my mind that the civilization of cyberspace is
going to be a long, strange trip.  It already has been, and it will
conitnue to be.  As it stands now, there are few worthy pieces of
e-literature we can look to as timeless watermarks of this infant realm,
but I would certainly have to place Bruce Sterling's contributions as
integral to the healthy development of this society.
--
 ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu   FutureCulture E-List: [future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu]
 andy (hawkeye)         new edge, technoculture, cyberpunk, virtual reality,
                        raves, etc. Home of the famous :) FutureCulture FAQ!
 
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