BOOK:

The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet

What do we mean by the word ‘space’? This seemingly basic concept – a partner to ‘time’ in science’s description of the world – has meant different things to different people in different eras. In this ground-breaking book, Margaret Wertheim traces the history of Western thinking about space from the Middle Ages through the rise of modern science, and finally on to the concept of ‘cyberspace’ which underlies the emerging technologies of ‘virtual’ worlds and the so-called ‘metaverse.’

Prior to the scientific revolution, Europeans saw humanity as existing at the center of an angel-filled cosmos with everything connected to God. But in the 16th and 17th centuries a radical transformation occurred in our thinking about the cosmological scheme in which we humans are embedded. We shifted from seeing ourselves at the center of the universe to being the inhabitants of a small chunk of rock orbiting around a mundane star in a potentially infinite void. First came the revolutionary ideas of Descartes, Galileo and Newton, whose conception of space as a geometric void set the stage for the emergence of modern physics. Then, in the 20th century, this simple description was replaced by Einstein’s relativistic ‘spacetime,’ and then a vision of space as a 10- or 11-dimensional matrix in which everything, including matter, is enfolded.

Wertheim argues that as concepts of space change, so too does our conception of what it means to be a human ‘self.’ The book reveals how indeed concepts of space and concepts of self are inextricably entwined, and that how we see our selves is intimately bound up with the question of how we understand where we are in space.

In the final section of the book, she turns her attention to cyberspace and asks how this new development reflects on our understanding of personhood today. Here, she suggests, we are seeing a return to a kind of medieval dualism in which physical space is regarded as just one aspect of the real. Now, as we increasingly engage with virtual spaces, we are directly experiencing something other than the space of material being. For some people this non-physical space is being cast as a new area for spiritual experience; a claim Wertheim examines and finally rejects.

“A masterly exploration of the geography of space, a subtly argued remonstration against the totalizing ways of science that is lent essential authority by Wertheim’s effortless command of vastly difficult subjects.” – New York Times Book Review

“An eloquent, powerful, startling and original book.” – Oliver Sacks

“Wertheim focuses on the history of space in the human imagination rather than on the technological story, The result is a vigorous. pertinent book, all too rare in cyberspace literature.” – Literary Review

“What is most interesting about her thesis is that through her reading of literary and philosophical texts, cyberspace can be see and the latest expression of the human desire of a spiritual life that takes place within a codified site.” – Financial Times

“The digital re-enchantment of the world – as Wertheim points out in this brilliant and troubling book – could as easily be the path to hell ad the portal to paradise.” – Mike Davis

“An intellectual history of the concept of space from the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of the Information Age … Wertheim does a fine job of leading us through sometimes tough intellectual terrain, making deft use of Dante, Giotto and Raphael (together with various scientists, theologians and philosophers) to illuminate the way.” – Times Literary Supplement

“Stephen Hawking has done it for time; Margaret Wertheim has done it with space, writing a brief, and in this case, compelling history of it.” – Tablet

“A fascinating sweep of ideas with thoughtful research and novel insights.” – Nature

“Tells with lyrical clarity the story of how Western culture lost its soul to science.” – LA Weekly

“A fascinating historical tour through human conceptions of space …. The Lucidity and passion of her prose both illuminate and entertain.” – Daily Telegraph

“From where we stand time and space seem to have only one conceivable shape; but Wertheim traces how our conceptions of space, and of the universe and religion, have co-evolved. The first half alone of this excellent book is reward enough. The second half on unacknowledged religious aspiration in the new space, cyberspace, will delight, scare, or infuriate you, depending on where you live in the digital domain.” – Rodney Brooks, MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab

“The Pearly Gates on Cyberspace” has accrued more than scholarly 800 citations on academic.edu and is widely cited in literature on virtual engament, virtual environments, and techno-utopianism.