The Cyber Space-Time Continuum: Meaning and Metaphor

Various spatial metaphors related to cyberspace suffer from two major deŽ ciencies. First, they do not take into account that cyberspace is not a preexistent territory, but an entity that emerges in the process of its development. Second, cyberspace is not a metric space, so that most of the ready-made constructs, like the topologic spaces, cannot be of much use. An interpretation of Blake’s works helps one to understand that cyberspace is not a purely spatial entity; it also involves time, but not in the sense of Einstein’s special relativity theory. The cyber space–time continuum is not a void waiting to be Ž lled, but an aggregation of places (sites) that, similarly to Blake’s plates, are multimedia architectures resulting from the blend of space and time.