Question 5: Cyber space (oh you know I had to ask at least one of these)

[davidbfpo]

Part of the reason why I consider disambigulation so important is that it lets us get to the underlying analogs more easily and, from there, to the underlying perceptual topology.

Marc,

That eludes me, what do you mean?

davidbfpo

[marct]

That eludes me, what do you mean?

Sorry, David....

Disambigulation = pulling a concept apart when the term has (potentially) multiple meanings.

Almost all human concepts are based around analogies with something in the perceptible world (I'd say "real world", but we can't perceive all of it...). Humans, being humans, don't always choose the closest real-world analog for a concept, we tend to choose one that satisfices ("works well enough"). Concepts that draw on the same analog tend to be culturally grouped together into perceptual topologies - think of those as sheaves of related concepts which are related culturally by the use of the same or similar analogs.

So, for cyber in the sense of human machine organism, the perceptual topology includes all sorts of cultural items; Gibson's stuff, the Borg, Frankenstein, the Golem, etc. When "cyber" is used based on a different analog, say to terrain, the topology is quite different.

Touch clearer ?

Cheers,

Marc

[Stan]

Hi Marc !

Whoa Nellie

Frankenstein...

Touch clearer ?

Cheers,

Marc

[marct]

Hey Stan,

Yup ! It tags back into a fear of the not-human / not-life / not "us" that seems to be a pretty universal human reaction (that's one of the emotional connotations in that particular topological sheaf). Scary, eh?

Cheers,

Marc