(A Paper Presented to the PHAVISMINDA (Philosophical Association of Visayas and Mindanao) Conference, Cagayan de Oro City, 1995)
As a Philosophy and part-time English teacher, I always advise my students never to talk on a topic which is not to their liking and interest. This morning, I have followed my own advice but with a much greater difference: the topic I have chosen is not only to my liking and interest but it also has a tremendous impact on philosophy, particularly to us educators and philosophy teachers. The central question of my paper is: what are the philosophical implications of cyberspace that we need to address as philosophy teachers? This question has great importance to us because we really have no choice: we either have to tailor our teaching to the globalization of communication and information or risk obsolence.
My paper is a result of countless hours poured over much needed-books that are not yet found in the library, of dreaming about being in virtual space surrounded by chatting people in the Internet, and of literally reading all the Time and Newsweek magazines and of some Toronto Star newspapers from last year up to the last issue of this month. I have encountered valuable technical information about cyberspace but I haven't come across authors or articles that directly address the philosophical implications of cyberspace to our lives. I would have preferred to talk about any topic in philosophy which has been well-researched about in the past by great minds (at least my paper would have a certain semblance of greatness perhaps). A few articles have helped but to be honest with you, it's just me from beginning to end and a few articles thrown here and there. But again, my concern for the moment is the need to examine and assess an urgent and significant development in the area of human communications--the cyberspace and its philosophical implications to us, teachers of philosophy.
My paper will attempt to accomplish the following objectives:
First, to try to give a working definition of what cyberspace is all about, its features, and at the same time to give you some updates on the technological advances of cyberspace and what it does to people all over the world.
Second, I will attempt to give a philosophical analysis on the implications of cyberspace in terms of how we view reality and relationships.
And third, I will undertake to raise some ethical issues and problems related to cyberspace and through this we might be able to sort out some ethical concepts and integrate these into our Ethics courses as we incorporate cybertechnology into the educational process.
Eleven years ago, a young expatriate American science-fiction writer living in Vancouver, Canada, by the name of William Gibson, wrote his breakthrough novel Neuromancer (1984) on an ancient manual typewriter. Little did he expect that out from his novel another level of reality is about to unfold. This imaginary realm he called cyberspace and he used it in this novel as well as in the setting for his early novels and short stories. In his writings, "cyberspace is a computer-generated landscape that characters enter by 'jacking in'--sometimes by plugging electrodes directly into sockets implanted in the brain. What they see when they get there is a three-dimensional representation of all the information stored in 'every computer in the human system'." (Time, Spring 1995, p. 4). In the years that followed, a lot of names have been given to the shadowy space behind the screen which you can't see but you know is there: the Net, the Web, the Cloud, the Matrix, the Metaverse, the Datasphere, the Electronic Frontier, the Information Superhighway (Time, Spring 1995, p. 4). But Gibson's coinage may prove the most enduring. By 1989, cyberspace has become the term used by the online community to describe "not science-fiction fantasy but today's increasingly interconnected computer systems--especially the millions of computers jacked into the Internet" (Time, Spring 1995, p. 4). Cyberspace is an experience of being 'in the same room' with people you have never met or seen. "It is about people using the new technology to do what they are genetically programmed to do: communicate with one another" (Time, Spring 1995, p.8).
Cyberspace has been called the new universe made up of many "planets". Each plays an essential role in knitting together the vast network of modern communications. Increasingly, they are exerting a strong gravitational pull on our social and economic environment. Nowadays, the cyberspace is translated into E-mail address, from Hollywood to the Holy See; Billy Graham has preached on America Online; Clinton and Gore have a 24-hour autoresponder in the Whitehouse. Cyberspace also means being able to 'chat' to strangers all over the world from right in front of one's computer screen through the Internet Relay Chat; or to be able to play together as strangers in a game called LamdaMOO, where there are no objective rules but only indefinite creativity (Newsweek, Nov.7, 1994). Or one can post an announcement or question at the leading feature of the Internet, the Usenet, "a collection of bulletin board-like message areas where people around the world discuss subjects of common interest" (The Toronto Star, Nov. 10, 1994, p. G3, c.2). Or, through the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) one can transfer computer files from one spot to another (The Toronto Star, Nov. 10, 1994, p. G3, c.2). This is where one downloads a particular file to his computer. Of course, you also have other features like World Wide Web where information of almost anything is available and the Gopher, where one can obtain any information without having to type strange computer commands (The Toronto Star, Nov. 10, 1994, p.G3, c.2). In the States, shopping, as well as a host of bank transactions, is done through the Internet.
The matrix or core of cyberspace for now is the Internet. The Internet evolved from a Cold War experiment in a computer networking called ARPA-NET, 25 years ago. The U.S. defense department allowed different kinds of computers to interconnect and pass data. It was designed to withstand nuclear war. Fortunately, this network was never tested, and as the U.S. defense department moved out, civilians began to move in, like squatters inhabiting bomb shelters. Gradually universities and research facilities joined in and the rest is history. Estimates of the number of people who inhabit this place range as high as 30 million with growth rates of up to 100% annually (Toronto Star, Nov. 10, 1994, p. G3, c2). More and more of the world's information is centralized here; as the online population grows so is the Internet's content. And until better comes along, cyberspace is Internet.
The cyberspace, as experienced in the Internet, is like the Platonic world of Forms, "a metaphorical space, a virtual reality". It is that which is unseen but is nonetheless very real. It's like talking on the telephone with somebody close to you. You hear the voice "out there", it's a voice of that friend, but the friend is not seen. It is that "space" between you and the other which is electronically made possible by a personal computer, a modem, and a telephone line. It's "that parallel universe we travel to when we use our computer to communicate with other computer users around the world" (The Toronto Star, May 18, 1995). But some cyberspace enthusiasts would not call this unseen reality simply as virtual. It is more than that. For them, it is much less about space of a virtual reality than about a community (Time, Spring 1995, p. 8). As a community, cyberspace technology has made it possible to communicate person-to-person electronically in seconds or online simultaneously. One can reach out through the screen and affect other people's lives. There is a keener sense of connection than physical encounter. This sense of community is global, no longer regional, national or international. It is as though the world is made accessible anytime, anywhere by any one.
However, since it is virtual it is not real and still cannot compete with actual human interaction. Cyberspace technology is faceless and even the emotions associated with human interaction is almost non-existent except for a few signs that can be lifted from the keyboard. Signs such as '-) a wink, :'- a cry, :-O a surprise, or a :-p French kiss are not the same as an actual wink, an actual cry, an actual surprise, and an actual French kiss!. "One danger [of the current advances in technology]", says Fr. Ben Nebres of AdMU, "is that people can live in that virtual reality and mistake it for reality... Reality is always richer and messier than any computer simulation". And I must add more beautiful and painful. In cyberspace, there is not only less emotional content but also less beauty since one is limited to the keyboard and the computer screen and also less pain--if one doesn't hear from a friend in the Internet, he or she could always resort to substitution or what we might call as "surrogate friend".
In a world too divided by geography, race, beliefs, and economy, cyberspace offers equality. "Stripped of the external trappings of wealth, power, beauty, and social status, people tend to be judged in the cyberspace of the Internet only by their ideas and their ability to get them across in terse, vigorous prose. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" (Time, Spring 1995, p. 9). The only requisite is that everybody is afforded the same level of respect. If ever there is inequality in cyberspace it is found in the advances of computer technology which may not be within everybody's reach. Last week, US and Canada have vastly improved the Internet's chat mode by enhancing the computer with audio technology--it's very similar to a long-distance call minus the expensive fees. This newest Internet feature is aptly called Internet phone. As you can see, not all people in the world have equal access to this newest modification. There is inequality limited by financial and technological capability of the country or countries concerned. But the capacity to have access to anyone who is hooked up is unlimited. For as long as you are connected you can reach the highest official of the land or a lonely senior citizen. I get an average of 5 E-mail letters everyday from the Whitehouse, mostly speeches by the President. I subscribed to a few important items in the publications portfolio of the Whitehouse: healthcare, science and technology, environment, education and a couple of other relevant topics. I get to know the problems and the issues confronting not only the American people but the rest of the world. Some of our senators here in the Philippines are already hooked up to Internet and are willing to listen to the constituents through E-mail. You can call this cyberpolitics. But the real issue here is that cyberspace has obliterated the gap between the have's and the have not's, between those who-are-up-there and those-who-are-down-here in more than ways that can be imagined. It has eliminated geographical boundaries, time zones and made the world accessibly compact.
Another philosophical implication of cyberspace is its grass-roots structure. It is open to everybody, young or old, rich or poor. It is rabidly democratic. No single organization controls it. It is run like a commune with 4.8 million fiercely independent hosts (i.e., PhNet) as of this writing. It crosses national boundaries and answers to no sovereign. It is literally lawless. Although globally Internet is like an open market with no boundaries, just like "space" in the universe, it is too open to be trusted. There is a lot of dishonesty and junk there. In the real world, the counterfeiters are usually easy to spot. If proven guilty, the full force of the law is applied to them. In cyberspace, one cannot easily prosecute a hacker or an impostor. You may have heard about cyberporn or X-rated materials that are accessible to any one, young or old. Or of the dangers of international espionage. Or the possibility of electronic theft. It is difficult to trace a hacker, a thief or a sex deviant in cyberspace. There are no clear-cut laws in the Internet. There is so much freedom and so little ethics.
The cyberspace is perhaps one of the most mind-expanding technologies in this century in terms of offering unmatched creativity. If one logs in to LamdaMOO, one can build rooms, extend rooms, create objects inside the room and be seduced by strangers with only their login names. In this global game, a kind of virtual or artificial seduction occurs here--this game is giving people a kind of computational seduction--extreme depersonalization. In this cyberspace game, one can actually create a self and an alternate view for that self (Newsweek, Nov. 7, 1994, p. 45). People are able to express who they are and who they are not, without fear of prejudice, in this game. This might not be real but people are able to choose their personality and choose how they would interact with one another, something that does not happen in real life. A lot of people prefer the anonymity found in this game because it provides them with a sense of invulnerability (Newsweek, Nov. 7, 1995, p. 45). As such, it may not be a vehicle for creativity for all but as a means of escape for some. It is easy to hide behind the cloak of anonymity, when you can invent a name, a self or a personality. Psychologists might want to study the psychological profiles of cyberspace users. But as philosophers, we have to reflect on whether cyberspace improves creativity, improves and develops the human person or merely acts as a cover-up and a facade for some, if not for all.
The heart of the cyberrevolution is the personal computer. If one has at least a computer, a modem and a phone, he can access the primary school-work sources, such as images of original works of art, documents prepared by experts, even possible exchanges of E-mail with the experts themselves (Time, Spring 1995, pp. 30-31). "The world's storehouses of knowledge would become instantly available to young minds. Captivating digital landscapes would bring history, geography, and science alive on a screen" (Time, Spring 1995, p. 49). The cyberspace shifts education from adults giving answers to students seeking answers (Time, Spring 1995, p. 50). The biggest satisfaction of the teacher is to realize that one's students have knowledge that they can deploy, as opposed to simply passing a test.
If cyberspace is really an enhanced means or tool of raising the quality of education, are there ethical issues that need to be raised by us teachers? As educators and philosophy teachers, we have to ask ourselves these questions: what kind of ethics should be used in the electronic communication system such as in the Internet? Are the ethical principles that we have always considered universal and binding applicable to cyberspace? Or do we need to create a different set of ethics tailored to the electronic communication? Regarding international laws, what sort of laws need to apply to cyberspace users?
Last June of this year, the U.S. Senate approved the Communications Decency Act to protect cyberspace users from cyberjunk or obscene materials like cyberporn. This Act imposes fines or prison terms to anyone in the U.S. distributing obscene materials over a computer network. However, no law will make obscene material go away. It is too easy to put this kind of material on the Internet and too hard to police it (Newsweek, June 26, 1995, p. 35).
In today's cyber-education, "access to unlimited information is synonymous to access to unfiltered, uncensored information" (Features, AdMU, April 1995 p. 13). This means that pornography and other objectional materials are within reach by any one who can log-in at the Internet. The strength of the Internet --- its open and free system --- is also its weakness.
Thus, as educators and philosophy teachers, we need to develop a whole new system of ethics for our students that will compliment today's emerging information society. We should work on the ethics of communication or the ethics of information dissemination. We need a new kind of honesty, a new kind of self-discipline, a new kind of respect, a new kind of critical thinking, and a new kind of educational approach. Hopefully, as we confront the 21st century, we might be in the position to become cyber-teachers teaching cyber-philosophy!
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