Douglas Rushkoff's reportage on America's cyberculture."Cyberia is an eye-opening and up-to-the-minute portrait of America in the age of digital highways, all-night raves, cyberliterature, and psychedelic renaissance -- by a young journalist, with a fresh voice and a remarkable skill for mapping the terrain of the new world in which we have all, somehow, found ourselves.
"For over two years, Douglas Rushkoff lived among the players who are creating Cyberia and delivering it to the rest of us. Cyberia is his vivid report. Written in a language accessible to those who've never tasted psychedelics or communicated over a computer modem, it is a journey into the thoughts and lives of people on the frontier of a great social experiment, people living -- or surfing -- on the very edge of culture.
"Cyberia's journey begins in Silicon Valley, home of the computer -- the humming heart of this electrically charged culture -- and takes off with vivid profiles of a host of Cyberians at the 'new edge' of computers, consciousness, and chaos theory. Rushkoff meets rave organizers, neo-pagans, virtual reality entrepreneurs, smart drug enthusiasts, underground computer hackers, psychedelic experimenters, and other pioneers who are foraging, both legally and illegally, into this dramatic new terrain. From mathematicians to self-taught punks, these are the minds behind innovations and ideas we now take for granted and those we can as yet barely imagine. Melding science and art, technology and pop culture, they are not just glimpsing the future, they are designing it.
"Rushkoff introduces us to Cyberia's luminaries, who speak with dazzling lucidity about the rapid-fire change we're all experiencing. Listen in on conversations with dozens of Cyberians, including Terence McKenna, dubbed the 'Copernicus of consciousness' by the Village Voice , whose writings have spearheaded the psychedelic renaissance; Ralph Abraham, 'Cyberia's Village Mathematician', a bearded technosage whose mathematical equations explain the shifting, hyper-dimensional Cyberian turf; William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, the founders of cyberliterature, who talk about the facts, fantasies, and fears behind their works; and former editor in chief of Mondo 2000 R.U.Sirius, who documents and determines the Cyberian zeitgeist.
"Cyberia is a graphic reminder of how rapidly our culture is changing. It wasn't long ago that MTV appeared on our televisions and automatic teller machines started dotting the landscape. Now, the aesthetics, inventions, and attitudes of Cyberians are becoming as critical and commonplace a part of our lives. Surf's up. Don't be alarmed. Ride the crest with Cyberia . [jacket blurb, US hbk, 1994]
"Doug Rushkoff gets inside of the vibrant New Edge culture at its peak moment and exposes the strange human beings lurking behind the virtual curtain. It's a colorful, funny, inspiring, and sometimes embarrassing story". --Ken Goffman (aka 'R.U.Sirius').
"Cyberia is a fascinating journey to the current boundary of human experience. These are the true stories about life on the very edge of what it means to be a sentient being at the turn of the millennium, told in a way that allows the reader to experience the moment-to-moment changing realities of the cyberdelic twenty-first century". --Dr Timothy Leary.
"What starts out with lots of promise, ends up in lots of confusion. Initial excitement gives way to ever decreasing circles. Fascinating topic, nonetheless. So, don't let me put you off. Great cover (US hardback edition). Worth a read". --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 1995).
