With this, Cyberspace Odyssey offers a surprising interpretation of what is happening right before our very eyes: from the furtive advent of transhumanism to the criticalemancipatory potential of the computer game SimCity.Sitting down with her leads to some dialogue and, eventually, Johnny will tell you to make a decision on how to finish Cyberpunk 2077’s storyline.

Perennial philosophical questions are placed in an entirely new light, and hypertechnological developments appear to be difficult to comprehend without reference to the history of reasoning. Polytheism fits the fragmentary character of cyberspace and the Internet better, and will probably displace the single God of the single book.īased on his wealth of cultural knowledge and expertise, De Mul defines the cybernetic revolution as an all-embracing phenomenon. Nonetheless, the nature of religion itself will alter under the influence of the digital media. Although he does anticipate a new dawn in human development, he does not believe that humanity can deify itself by means of the computer.

What happens to human identity when the world becomes virtualised? How real are the expectations of a new stage in evolution, in which humanity can generate unprecedented contingencies with the aid of digital techniques? Could we live forever and be liberated from all our bonds?Ĭalling upon the ideas of such great thinkers such as Heidegger, Baudrillard, Plessner, and McLuhan, De Mul attempts to untangle expectations, to separate the realistic from the fantastic. It is towards this point that De Mul addresses his most penetrating inquiries. The visual arts are changing because our sense of reality itself is changing. The novel has become interactive, and has entered into a symbiosis with the computer game. In turn, new technological capabilities have raised developments to new levels. Biological evolution will be supplemented by technological evolution in which art, politics, and even human beings will be given a different face.ĭe Mul eruditely demonstrates how literature and the visual arts have, for some time, been nourishing the roots of this process. In De Mul’s view, the digital revolution will drastically modify our entire culture and will alter humanity itself.

A casino odyssey in cyberspace