|
C.h.a.p.t.e.r 1: Recommended Links
|
|
What follows are suggested links to the authors and themes--Cyberspace and Virtual Reality--discussed in chapter 1 of CR2.
(If you should need additional help with using the search engines referred to below, then turn to Appendix A in CR2 and to the Appendices on line. And if you should have any questions or suggestions, simply drop me a note at VVitanza@aol.com and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.) |
|
|
|
Here are some additional on-line networks of links
(the authors' home pages, with archives):
 Benjamin Woolley, Welcome to Ben's Home Page. BW has links to a number of his projects, e.g., the New Middle Ages.
If you recall, BW mentions the Friday the 13th Virus, which was a hoax, but nonetheless a virus. Here's another
hoax, The Good Times
Virus, still making the rounds on discussion groups. Wes Thomas, who created the Friday the 13th virus hoax (see reference to his article below), gave a lecture at Berkeley, which can be downloaded as a Video
Clip.
Woolley discusses Richard Dawkins'
Memes and "Viruses of the Mind."
It might help you to go through Woolley's article and circle the names of people and the topics/themes and then search for them on the Web.
|
Michael Heim: Project Metaphysics Home Page: This site includes seminars on virtual reality taught by Heim, a list of Heim's books (Electric Language, The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, and his latest book Virtual Realism). Here's Heim's article "The Essence of VR" on the Web. (How about a comparison: How does reading Heim's article on paper differ from reading it on the Web?) Here's another article, "The Erotic Ontology of Cyberspace".
Douglas Rushkoff's Home Page: What you will find here immediately are some links to information about Rushkoff's books: Cyberia, The GenX Reader, and Media Virus. When you click on Cyberia, you will get the preface to the book.
Richard Thieme's Home Page, ThiemeWorks, The Wave of the Future. Check out the The Roswell Home Page, which has been established to get the Government to tell all || the International UFO Museum and Research Center, Roswell, NM.
More References for surfing the Web
(that supplement the readings):
| The Synthetic Pleasure Website has undergone a major restructuring
since I first referred to it in CR. Initially, it began (and I quote the full statement)
"with a montage of images which takes the viewer on a high-speed trip
through natural landscapes, cultivated landscapes, simulated theme park
jungles, indoor beaches and ski slopes, etc., before finally penetrating a
computer screen to reveal a digitally-enhanced virtual landscape, a
glowing simulation of the natural forests and beaches which initiated
the sequence" and then "considers the human drive to control nature and
to overcome the limitations it imposes upon us."
There are examples of "synthetic environments" (Seagaia [an
indoor beach] and ski slopes [SSAWS]); synthetic bodies (Orlan);
synthetic identities (smart drugs)--well worth a visit! Most of these
images and stories are no longer available, since the site has changed. What
for the most part remains is the schedule of showings. If you have a chance
to see the film do so. In the meantime, you can go to my Cyber VR site where
you will find links to Orlan! Also, why don't you search on Alta Vista for some of the other
personages and topics mentioned in the original description? Don't rely on me or others to make your links! Remember what Tim Leary says: TFYQA ... Think for yourself ... question authority! |
|
 Sean Morgan's
Nanotechnology Page.
Nanotechnology in Sci Fi.
Nanotechnology, books, journals, conferences, articles on W3, FAQs, etc.
|
"Nano-" is a prefix meaning a billionth. (Right now, this is all considered a "fringe" science.) Eric Drexler in Engines of Creation coins the term and discusses this future technology. The implications of this technology of engines that are the size of a virus are staggering. These micro-machines, once injected into the body, could completely rebuild the human body by, for example, clearing away arteries of placque deposits, correct errant cell behavior, etc. Check out these Websites and take a glimpse at the future. |
EnviroLink. With all this talk about technology, we should not forget about the other environment. EnviroLink is the best and most complete list about the environment and with links to other webpages. Be sure to visit this site regularly.
C-Theory has a number of articles on cyberspace and virtual reality. Take a look at the ones on Star Trek.
"Panic Cyberspace" from the Krokers's book Panic Encyclopedia.
Extropy Institute || Extropians FAQs.
| Here you will discover:
Extropian interests include transhumanism, futurist philosophy, life extension, cryonics, robotics and artificial intelligence, smart drugs, intelligence-intensifying technologies, personality uploading,
and other practical applications of neuroscience, artificial life, nanocomputers and molecular nanotechnology, memetics (ideas as replicating agents), experimental free communities in space, on the oceans, and in cyberspace, effective thinking, information filtering, life management, self-transformative psychology, spontaneous order (free markets, neural networks, evolutionary processes, genetic algorithms, etc), cryptography and other privacy technologies, electronic markets, digital cash, critical analysis of environmentalism, and explorations of the ultimate limits of physics, among other things. |
Once again, the Search Engines:
|| HotBot || AltaVista || Yahoo ||
|
|
|
|
Introduction to Researching
