William Gibson's Neuromancer: Cyberspace

William Gibson's Neuromancer: Cyberspace

As described by William Gibson in his science fiction novel Neuromancer, cyberspace was a "Consensual hallucination that felt and looked like a physical space but actuallly was a computer-generated construct representing abstract data." Years later, mankind has realized that Gibson's vision is very close to reality. The term cyberspace was frequently used to explain or describe the process in which two computers connect with each other through various telephone lines. In this communication between the two systems there seems to be no distance between them. There are now four categories that describe the major components of todays cyber space. One oof those is commercial on-line services.
Most of the online systems have chat rooms where users can chat in real time with one another. some users even think of on-line services as a community. The second category involves Bulletin Boards or (BBS's). These services allow the user accounts like their larger on-line service cousins. These BBS's have less users because they run on smaller computers. The system operators, more commonly known as sysops, are running the boards. Since most BBS's are hobbies there is usually no charge for an account. The same as on-line services, users use BBS's for trades, games, and to chat among other users. Since bulletin boeard are so easy to set up there are thousands of them located around the world. Each board has a theme. These themes range from astronomy to racist neo-nazi crap. A boards theme helps users in their search for a board that will satisfy their personal preference. A third category is the Private System. These private systems sometime run bulletin boards privately, not letting the public acess. In these private systems users can perform specialized computer operations, or access to
One of the most well known is the internet. The internet is the so called "network of networks."
Through the internet a user can transfer files to and from systems. The program that allows this is called (FTP) File Transfer Protocol. This program allows users to send anything from faxes to software from one to another. The progam is taken from one computer and sent across the phone lines to the recieving computer which compiles the information. In cyberspace their are a number of tools a user can use. E-mail is a popular tool which allows the transfer of electronic mail between users. This mail more convenient than postage mail because it travels over phone lines.
Software exchange is also a popular tool. Some systems sell software while other times it comes free of charge. The FTP program is the reason for the speediness between transfers. Games and entertainment are another resource. A user on-line can play a game against someone who is hundreds of miles away. It is now possible to go shopping from the privacy of your own computer not even having to leave your home. The chat rooms that are mostly found on-line allow users to communicate with a variety of people together in a virtual