cyberspace reading

I think that this is a stupid argument. The internet is a thing it's not a place. You can go to different sites and communicate to other people in other places but the internet itself is not a location. In Koppell's No "There" There essay, he makes it seem like he believes that "cyberspace" is an actual location; however, he points out himself that the phone and the postal system can do the same communication and neither or them are considered to be places. He just proved that his point is wrong right there. People can definitely get wrapped up in "cyberspace" and I can see how certain people could see it as another world but I just don't feel the same way. You could then make the argument that video games, movies, cell phones, i-pods, and so many other things are other world's then as well. I think that having regulations and a government-like management of the internet is ridiculous. Obviously there are special cases in which what you look at should be regulated (i.e. child pornography sites, hate crime sites, etc.) but to say that those sites being regulated is like having a government for the internet, is way over the top. I can see how people who play games like "second life" would see the internet as another world, but it's just like playing a video game. You might meet people in the game, but it's not really them it's their avatar there's no reality it's all pretend. When your done you log off and your back to your actual world there's never a time that you leave and go somewhere, it's all just a mental state. That's like saying when you dream you go into another world. People are too reliant on their computers if this "cyberspace" idea get's any more in depth, eventually our world is going to turn into everyone being inside on a computer, only interacting with people playing this "second life" game and real human interactions will disappear. I don't really even understand why it matters so much if some people say that being in "cyberspace" is like being in your own world, I might disagree but you can call it whatever you want it doesn't affect me. I don't understand why that's a debate or issue unless it gets so extreme that our world becomes like how I mentioned. If some people can't meet other people in real life and feel better doing it over the computer and think that that's their real world go for it.