Cybernauts Awake!

Actually entitled Cybernauts Awake!: Ethical and Spiritual Implications of Computers, Information Technology and the Internet, the book was written by the Church of England's Board for Social Responsibility. If you're interested in the social ramifications of information technology, click below to learn more.

Cybernauts Awake!: Ethical and Spiritual Implications of Comput
author	Church of England Board for Social Responsibility
pages	94
publisher	Church House Publishing, 1999
rating	9/10
reviewer	Ben Ostrowsky
ISBN	0-7151-6586-0
summary	Anglican geeks consider the relationships among technology, culture and spirituality

"But that trick never works!"

It's easy to write an encyclical about morality and cyberspace -- just read Usenet and you'll see what I mean. The hard part is writing about spiritual and ethical questions so as to invite a broad readership to think about it for themselves. The people of the Church of England's Board for Social Responsibility are not the first to consider these questions. In fact, their thoughtful discussion of the issues has almost certainly benefited from observing where other such efforts have gone wrong. While some references are made to a generic Christian perspective, for example, the authors avoid preaching. Rather than condemning piracy, for example, they simply note that "the fact that the copy does not appear to cost the original owner anything, nor to deprive the owner of anything, shifts many people's moral balance."

"This time for sure!"

Perhaps more than in other treatments, geeks and our responsibilities are addressed specifically. Coders are asked to 'love your user as yourself', to consider good design a moral issue, and to reflect on the general implications of the work being done. Similar encouragement is given to IT directors: listen to the geeks and try to understand them! General suggestions for users are also offered: "remember systems are dust", as one heading puts it. Some may be dustier than others, of course, but I found it a refreshing way of saying 'garbage in, garbage out'.

When not framing the broader picture, Cybernauts Awake! also touches on specific issues of interest to Slashdot readers. Shrinkwrap licenses, for example, prompt a discussion of the balance of power between the manufacturer and the consumer. Although many inexpert users are likely to blame themselves for the effects of bugs, the authors note, the market generally rewards new features but not added stability. Similar attention is given to the human-computer boundary (with an explanation of the Turing test), communities (defined by geography or common interests), globalization and cryptography.

"Whoops -- don't know my own strength!"

I appreciate that the authors have kept the perspective broad enough that very few toes are stepped on. Having said that, I must note a subtle but cheap shot. "There is a huge free-speech culture" online, the authors write, "and in the US provided you are not an anti-abortionist, it seems that you can post anything you like." The site they allude to certainly bears mentioning, but without knowing the details (people's names were put on a list and were then crossed off after they had been killed by opponents of abortion), many readers may simply conclude that US laws do not permit speech on one side of the issue. Fortunately, this is a rare exception to a well-balanced discussion.

Recommended Audience

Cybernauts Awake! will be enjoyed by most readers interested in the subject of cyberethics (e-thics?), and can serve as a thoughtful tour of technological issues for readers with more knowledge of Christianity than of the Internet.

Availability

Unfortunately, the major booksellers have yet to add this title to their catalogs. I had to order directly from Church House Publishing (the official Anglican publishing house). Happily, my copy arrived in Florida within a few days of my order; the £8.67 total was translated without a hitch by my bank as a $14.14 charge.

Table of Contents

1. Dream Machines
   So what's new?
   Good dreams, bad dreams
   Choosing our dreams
   What this book is for
2. What Is Cyberspace?
   Digital communications
   Virtual worlds
   On being digital
   Beyond physical limits
   Cyberspace: what lies ahead?
3. Into Cyberspace
   What is true?
   What are real relationships?
   Who has the power?
   What is a person?
   Concluding remarks
4. Space Probing
   Introduction
   The Christian story
   Christian response
   The continuing story
   Concluding remarks
5. Relationships in Cyberspace
   Friendship
   Neighbourliness
   Community
   Church fellowship
   Physicality as reality
   Summary
6. Living with Cyberspace
   Business and people in cyberspace
   Property
   Justice and accountability
   Exclusion
   Privacy
   Secrets and lies
   Implants: bringing cyberspace inside
   Deciding what we want
7. Cybernauts Awake!
   Implications for information technologists
   Implications for directors
   Implications for users
   Implications for parents and guardians
   Implications for Christians
8. Appendix: Annotated Bibliography

Links - book is online!

There was a "Press Release"-type document about this book on the church paper's web site [churchtimes.co.uk]. It has disappeared, but still appears in the Google cache [google.com].

The PR says that the entire book can be found online at www.cybernautsawake.net [cybernautsawake.net] For me that site redirects until I get to here [starcourse.org].

--

Some interesting thoughts from the book.

Lots of familiar themes here. Lots of high tech topics in the "Into Cyberspace" chapter. On the subject of relationships, it talks about tribes. Tribes used to be formed by geographic location. Today, we have a choice of neighbors in a virtual tribe -- such as Slashdot. Elsewhere in the book it talks about the "death of distance".

A few interesting quotes:
"Technology has the power to change relationships between people. It is not neutral."
"If a standard is 'owned' by one company... then the company ends up with something very like a monopoly."
"People 'in' cyberspace and deeply experienced with it tend to overrate it."
"Money has always been somewhat virtual..."

Most useless chapter: Cyberspace: what lies ahead?

I wouldn't take this book as an authorative reference on cyberspace, but it does point out a lot of interesting things.

Nerds only read cyber / sf / computer books?

This isn't intended as flamebait but I was curious to know why don't have any other types of books reviewed? I mean I'd particularly like to see reviews of science books for non-sciencetists.

For example, Alice in Quantum Land or a A brief history of time should be required reading IMHO.

The Church: protector of freedom and progress :-)

While I don't doubt the fact that this book raises a number of good/valid points, the source (Church of England) makes it (in my eyes) highly suspect. I don't want to get into another Church vs. Religion debate, but generally it seems the organized religion is generally more interested in controlling (some might even say censoring) information rather than promoting the freedom of ideas.

I'm sure that from their relative point of view their points are valid and important, but chances are that once you get past the obvious (technology makes distances 'shrink', etc.), their fundamental premises will be very different from my own; something I frequently encounter when reading arguments from many groups who adhere to a less libertarian point of view than I do.

This is not to say that this book is automatically bad because it stems from the CoE, but even if I would read it, I would read it with the following thoughts in the back of my mind: "What do they want? How do they want to use the medium (internet) to their advantage? What do they see as a threat and how does all of this influence their views?" Whatever you do, consider the source of your information and the biases (sp?) this (source) introduces. This of course doesn't only apply to religion and politics but to just about anything else as well.

I find this sort of thing fascinating

The Church of England has often accused of being irrelevent or even athiest (York Cathedral, and the former Archbishop of Durham spring to mind).

However, this seems to be a genuine attempt to say something useful and constructive. It's only my opinion, but I hope EVERY Slashdot reader, regardless of personal belief system (including agnostic or athiest) recognises the positive side of trying to be constructive, regardless of the source.

There is the question of whether the Church should "interfere" with the State/Internet/Corporations. However, both the Jewish and Christian faiths have done nothing BUT interfere, since their respective foundations. (So have many others.) Sometimes that interference has been one of trying to seperate two warring sides, othertimes it's giving someone an often well-deserved piece of their mind.

I honestly can't see the Biblical character of Jesus ignoring the Internet, and saying "I can't go there. It's full of... GEEKS!" IMHO, he's more likely to preach tolerence on BOTH sides, and encourage co-operation, rather than antagonism.

In short, faith can be a friend of "Open Source", "geeks" and net denziens. There is nothing inherently contradictory about that. It doesn't have to be, either. Plenty of coders have no faith in anything. It's just not mutually exclusive.

A better take on the Internet and the Church

This book has been rightfully lambasted as being long on cyberjargon and short on content. A response to this book was prepared by Dr. Brian Reid [anglican.org], one of the designers of Altavista and long a presence behind the scenes of the Internet. He is one of the founders of The Society of Archbishop Justus [anglican.org] a non-profit organization which maintains the anglican.org domain in trust for the world's Anglicans. Their excellent site, Anglicans Online [anglicansonline.org] is a weekly must read for Anglicans.

His response to Cybernauts Awake!, The Church and the Internet [anglican.org], while written for a non-technical audience, is definately worth a read.

After having personally participated in a large, worldwide Anglican mailing list for several years and running my own list for Clergy Spouses, I know that the Anglican Church is alive and well on the Internet.