The spatial seems more than metaphor. Despite the fact that data networks transmit buzzing electronic signals that are nonsense to the unaided human ear, and despite theoretical objections, we continue to use the spatial term cyberspace because we sense in the Net a location, a locus for projecting human presence. The term cyberspace suggests a real-time shared location, even if the location cannot be measured by physics. The presence of other presences, in chat or avatar shapes, confirms our telepresence in place after virtual place. We exist increasingly online.
Spatial metaphors run through the language of networks.
The word cyberspace itself springs from Gibson's dystopian fiction, from a skepticism that throws into doubt the utopia of cyberspace. Utopia means literally nowhere . The empty screen elicits flickers of many imagined places that seduce with the lure of what does not but which might exist. Visions of how things might be someday can unleash potential, foment revolution, or even provide warnings to take our measure. Today's software offers something different from the utopias of scripture, reason, or science fiction.