CYBORG REALITY
Definition
Reality is the quality or state of being actual or true and once a person enters this imaginary world their mind creates through the use of the Internet are they able to lose touch with the reality they encounter everyday in the "real" world? When watching television a viewer can become so engrossed in a program that they forget or don't see everything that is happening around them and the Internet has the same effect on people. Another link between the two mediums is their perpetual nature. A traveler of the net can become a community member, or cyber-citizen, when interacting on MOOs and MUDs allowing their character to participate as long as they want. It is neverending, just like some television programs such as soap operas.
By weaving through the web a person both creates realities and continues old ones already established but the question is to find out what kind of realities are produced. Are they illusions, mere representations of reality, or are they the actual truth? This essay is not intended to directly answer these questions but to stimulate thinking and find if cyborg reality is actual, not actual, or just plain irrelevant. One way of discovering if cyber-reality is actual is to compare the cyborg to something that we know is real, such as the human body itself.
The Reality of a Cyborg Community
