Cyber Culture 2

After watching the Lawnmower Man, the first thing jumped to my attention was in some ways how far ahead of its time the film was. Sure the graphics are a little primeval, and some ways very outdated, but the key thing is to understand that the film was only released in 1992. Virtual Reality in the form shown in the film was only really in existence by the mid 1980s, so it wasn't long before the film started to dramatize a ideas already in motion about the pro's and con's of VR.

One interesting point that is made in by N Hayles is "No man steps twice into the same river not because the river changes, but because he does". This is a very interesting statement to make when we now know the technology we posses. Assuming that the technology that drives VR and cyber-space environments hasn't changed much (which ti hasn't really), then it is strange how these technologies have been utilized for security and yet pleasure. The statement is to suggest we as humans have changed, our perception on how to appropriately use a technology has changed. Perhaps Lawnmower man is displaying a fear in the early 1990s that these technologies will bring impending doom to the human existence. In some ways it is right, we can learn so much from technology now - think of all the eJournals we have access to, the educational brainteasers on Nintendo DS', electronic IQ tests. It is already happening we are enhancing our knowledge of the world almost artificially through technology. I find that interesting, for me its what I primarily took from the lawnmower man.

Both texts to some degree bring up the idea that to participate in a cyberspace environment is to have "... everything amputated". Which in some sense is true. When engaged in a cyber environment we are not limited by our bodies, our strength, or our physical weaknesses. We are purely using our minds. We become unattached from the tangible world in essence 'floating' from escapism. Lawnmower man confirms this phenomenon with Brosnan's character being obsessed by the 'capabilities' of this new technology!

We have also seemingly moved on from this 'unattached' phenomena as now we are able to create our own avatars and choose how we would wish to talk, or simply to experience another point of view. For example, MMORPG's allow avatar's to be created, like World of Warcraft, whereby we can choose to be who we want, and to a certain degree do what we want. Is it all just a backlash to authority? or is it that we truly feel limited by the 'real' world? Our human minds are capable of so much, we know this. So is it almost inevitable humans developed VR? a platform for our minds and brains to expand ever further.