Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture 9780822396765

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FLAME WADS THf OIS[OUHSf Of [YBfH[ULTUHf fOlTfO BY HRHK OfHY OUK( UHIU(HSITY PH(SS OUHHRM RHO LOHOOH 1994

© I994 Duke University Press Second printing, I997 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 00 "Flame Wars" and "Back to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose" both by Mark Dery; chapter I4 of Synners, by Pat Cadigan; "A Rape in Cyberspace," by Julian Dibbell; and the graphics in Mark Pauline's article, "Survival Research Laboratories Performs in Austria" are all reprinted by permission of the authors. With the exception of "A Rape in Cyberspace," by Julian Dibbell, and the index, this work appeared originally as volume 92, number 4 of the South Atlantic Quarterly.

Library of Congress Cataloging·in-Publication Data Flame wars: the discourse of cyberculture / edited by Mark Dery. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8223-1531'9 (acid-free paper) : $39.95 ISBN 0.8223-154°-8 (acid. free paper) : $13.95 I. Computers and civilization. 2. Artificial intelligence. 3. Internet (Computer network). I. Dery, Mark.

QA76·9·c66F55 1994 306.I -dC20 94-24517

[OHTEHTS

Flame Wars MARK DERY

New Age Mutant Ninja Hackers: Reading Mondo 2000 II VIVIAN SOBCHACK

Techgnosis, Magic, Memory, and the Angels of Information 29 ERIK DAVIS

A8rippa, or, The Apocalyptic Book

61

PETER SCHWENGER

Gibson's Typewriter

71

SCOTT BUKA TMAN

Virtual Surreality: Our New Romance with Plot Devices 91 MARC LAIDLAW

Chapter 14, Synners

113

PAT CADIGAN

Feminism for the Incurably Informed ANNE BALSAMO

125

iv Contents

Sex, Memories, and Angry Women

157

CLAUDIA SPRINGER

Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose 179 MARK DERY

Compu-Sex: Erotica for Cybernauts

223

GARETH BRANWYN

A Rape in Cyberspace; or, How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database into a Society 237 JULIAN DIBBELL

Virtual Environments and the Emergence of Synthetic Reason

263

MANUEL DE LANDA

Survival Research Laboratories Performs in Austria 287 MARK PAULINE

Taming the Computer 297 GARY CHAPMAN

Glossary

321

EMILY WHITE

Index

327

Notes on Contributors

347

HRHK D~HY

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