Kevin
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> From www-vrml-owner@wired.com Tue May 16 13:36:32 1995
> From: Jan Hardenbergh <jch@nell.oki.com>
> To: www-vrml <www-vrml@wired.com>
> Subject: CFP: Theories and Metaphors of Cyberspace (Vienna, April'96)
> Date: Tue, 16 May 95 16:40:00 E
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>
> Forgive me if this is too philosophical for the list. But it seems like
> a good chance for some of us who never tire of discussing the
> potential topologies, or lack there of, of Cyberspace.
>
> -Jan
>
> Symposium URL: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/cybspasy.html
>
> [abridged -jch]
>
> CALL FOR PAPERS
>
> ************************************************************************
> * Symposium : *
> * THEORIES AND METAPHORS OF CYBERSPACE *
> * *
> * modelling the cognitive and social implications of global networking *
> * *
> ************************************************************************
>
> as part of the
>
> 13th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research
> EMCSR'96, Vienna, April 9-12, 1996
>
>
> A symposium organized by the Principia Cybernetica Project (PCP) will be
> held at EMCSR'96. Chaipersons are F. Heylighen and S. Umpleby. The
> objective is to better understand the implications of the present explosive
> growth in global computer networks, like the Internet or the World-Wide
> Web. We wish to develop models of how these networks will further develop
> and how they will affect individuals and society on all levels.
>
> Soon, the whole of human knowledge will be directly available to any person
> with access to a networked computer. Moreover, communication between
> individuals will become much easier, faster and more transparent. "Smart"
> computer systems will allow novel applications (virtual reality,
> intelligent agents, distributed processing, automated indexing...) that no
> one before ever would have dreamt of. These changes will affect and deeply
> transform all aspects of society: education (distance learning, electronic
> universities), work (telework, groupware), commerce (electronic cash and
> banking), the media, government (electronic democracy), health, science and
> technology... It seems as though society's collective intelligence will
> increase manifold, perhaps producing an evolutionary transition to a higher
> level of intelligence.
>
> As these developments are so fast, and so difficult to predict, precise
> models are usually not possible. In that case, comprehension may be helped
> by using analogies. Examples of such metaphors for global network functions
> are the "Information Superhighway", the network as a "Super-brain", which
> emphasizes the collective intelligence of all users and computers connected
> by the network, Jacques Vallee's notion of an "information singularity",
> which notes that networked information becomes instantaneously available
> everywhere, and "Cyberspace" itself, which visualizes networked information
> as an immense space through which one can "surf".
>
> Metaphors, however, only express one or a few aspects of a multidimensional
> phenomenon. Therefore, we should move to more detailed and comprehensive
> models, which can be tested by observation, implementation or simulation.
> Cybernetics, as a theory of communication, information and control, seems
> most directly applicable to such model-building, but valuable insights may
> come from the most diverse domains: sociology, futurology, AI, complex
> systems, man-machine interaction, cognitive psychology, etc. Our emphasis
> is on concepts, principles, and observations, rather than on technical
> protocols or implementations, although existing systems may provide a
> concrete illustration from which more general implications can be derived.
>
>
> [all the rest deleted, follow the URL at the top for more -jch]
>