Present incarnation: the 'Internet'. Also known as: the 'Net', the 'Web', the 'Matrix'.

A term coined by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer (1984).

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"Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data..." --William Gibson (in Neuromancer , page 51)

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"Assembled word cyberspace from small and readily available components of language. Neologic spasm: the primal act of pop poetics. Preceded any concept whatever. Slick and hollow -- awaiting received meaning." --William Gibson (in "Academy Leader", Cyberspace: First Steps , edited by Michael Benedikt, 1991).

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"The space of interactivity between communication media. For example, the point of personal contact between two telephones.

"The mutual connective fabric of the conceptual universe. An encounter halfway between here and not-here. Can be visual, acoustic, or conceptual.

"A community linked through electronic media, experimenting with new forms of social organization.

"Soon to be a major virtual reality near you.

"The universe next door." --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 1994).

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"The name some people use for the conceptual space where words, human relationships, data, wealth, and power are manifested by people using CMC technology." --Howard Rheingold.

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Virtual worlds controlled by human experiment.

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"A new universe, a parallel universe created and sustained by the world's computers and communication lines. A world in which the global traffic of knowledge, secrets, measurements, indicators, entertainments, and alter-human agency takes on form: sights, sounds, presences never seen on the surface of the earth blossoming in a vast electronic night." --Michael Benedikt (in Cyberspace: First Steps ).

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"Cyberspace is where most of your money is, most of the time." --John Perry Barlow.