From: pd@x.co.uk (Paul Davey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: origin of c-words (was Re: Gibson's _agrippa_: Not A Hoax
Date: 28 Jul 92 17:06:42 GMT
	<1992Jul27.110032.15028@techbook.com>
Organization: IXI Ltd.

>>>>> On 27 Jul 92 11:00:32 GMT, dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque) said:

Dan> Great.  Now can anyone tell me the origin of the word "cyberspace"?  Not
Dan> the origin of the concept which is aleady being discussed, but the first
Dan> use of the actual word.  Was it in Gibson or did someone else beat him
Dan> to it?  Also, what year did Bethke publish his story?

Dan> I'm making a list of words coined in sf&f works which I'll post as soon
Dan> as I can put it in a decent condition.  Ideally, I'd like the author,
Dan> story name and year of publication.  Generally, I've been concetrating
Dan> on words that have made it into dictionaries.  Cyberspace and
Dan> cyberpunk have not made it into any dictionary I know of, but I figure
Dan> it's only a matter of time that they do.

Jargon File VERSION 2.9.9, 01 APR 1992
	(see also  `The New Hacker's Dictionary',
	 MIT Press 1991, ISBN 0-262-68069-6)

:cyberpunk: /si:'ber-puhnk/ [orig. by SF writer Bruce Bethke
   and/or editor Gardner Dozois] n.,adj. A subgenre of SF launched
   in 1982 by William Gibson's epoch-making novel `Neuromancer'
   (though its roots go back through Vernor Vinge's `True Names'
   (see "{True Names ... and Other Dangers}" in
   appendix C) to John Brunner's 1975 novel `The Shockwave
   Rider').  Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the
   present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role
   of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since
   found both irritatingly na"ive and tremendously stimulating.
   Gibson's work was widely imitated, in particular by the short-lived
   but innovative "Max Headroom" TV series.  See
   {cyberspace}, {ice}, {jack in}, {go flatline}.

:cyberspace: /si:'ber-spays/ n. 1. Notional `information-space'
   loaded with visual cues and navigable with brain-computer
   interfaces called `cyberspace decks'; a characteristic prop of
   {cyberpunk} SF.  At the time of this writing (mid-1991),
   serious efforts to construct {virtual reality} interfaces
   modeled explicitly on Gibsonian cyberspace are already under way,
   using more conventional devices such as glove sensors and binocular
   TV headsets.  Few hackers are prepared to deny outright the
   possibility of a cyberspace someday evolving out of the network
   (see {network, the}).  2. Occasionally, the metaphoric location
   of the mind of a person in {hack mode}.  Some hackers report
   experiencing strong eidetic imagery when in hack mode;
   interestingly, independent reports from multiple sources suggest
   that there are common features to the experience.  In particular,
   the dominant colors of this subjective `cyberspace' are often
   gray and silver, and the imagery often involves constellations of
   marching dots, elaborate shifting patterns of lines and angles, or
   moire patterns.

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