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Authors:

 Anders , Peter.

Title:

 Anthropic Cyberspace: Defining Electronic Space from First Principles

Keywords:

 space, cyberspace, consciousness

Abstract:

 The field of cyberspace design is populated by those working at the boundaries of their professions as artists, designers or engineers. Distinguishing nascent principles of cyberspace design from those of its tributary disciplines is difficult, for cyberspace depends on the vision of contributors ­ each working within their own fields. Instead, it may be more useful to address cyberspace at its root level, understanding cyberspace to be an extension of our consciousness. Doing so allows us to discover principles innate to cyberspace rather than prejudicing its development with values of pre-existing disciplines.

Thesis:

This paper proposes that cyberspace be viewed from first principles rather than solely those inferred from its contributing disciplines. This requires an examination of what cyberspace is and how it supports human activity and aspiration. If we characterize cyberspace as the spatial reference used in electronic media, we are still left with defining space itself. This paper will argue that space is the product of complex mental processes. This product, the dimensionalized environment of thought and experience, is a powerful tool for thought. It presents a relational array of sensory impressions and thought in a matrix of our own making.

As such, space only contains products of mental processes. Even concrete objects undergo cultural and linguistic manipulations before we recognize them. All objects of our attention are imbued with meaning, whether as the deliberate signs of our culture, or through our inference in constructing the mental image. This assignment of meaning transforms all objects into subjects of our awareness. Distinctions between physical and symbolic artifacts are leveled out in such an analysis of meanings and media. The difference between a brick and the image of a brick is described in terms of perceived and cognitive content rather than a biased polarity between reality and simulation, real vs. virtual. Only by understanding the human-based (anthropic) relationship between space and information can we begin to see cyberspace as a means for managing and appreciating information ­ turning it from data into knowledge.
Peter Anders has a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.
As an architect in the USA, he has won numerous awards and has been published internationally for his professional and academic work ­ notably work that examines the influence of information technology on our built environment. Anders presently devotes all his energies to the growing discipline of cyberspace design, the subject of his new book, ³Envisioning Cyberspace². This book will be available in December of this year.
Anders is a professor of design at the New Graduate School of Architecture, the first entirely Web-based school of architecture and design. He is also founder and director of MindSpace.net, an information resource and community for the designers of cyberspace. He has taught at the graduate schools of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and at the University of Michigan. He has conducted several computer based design studios dealing with the role of information technology and architecture.
He has conducted several studies on the design of cyberspace communities and their application to the physical environment. He has presented his work internationally at several venues including ISEA, ACM, ACADIA and CAiiA.