A History of Space From Dante to the Internet
In this bold imaginative book Wertheim shows us that cyberspace in recent years has become a repository for immense spiritual yearning. The perfect realm awaits, we are told, not behind the pearly gates but behind electronic gateways labelled "com." and "net.".
Seeking to understand this mapping of spiritual desire onto digitised space Wertheim takes us on an astonishing historical journey, tracing the evolution of our conception of space form the Middle Ages to today. Wertheim suggests that cyberspace returns us to an almost medieval position: once again we have a physical space of body, and an immaterial space that many people hope will be a new space for soul.
By linking the science of space to the wider cultural and religious milieu, Wertheim shows that the spiritualising of cyberspace fits into a long history of imaginative spaces. In particular, it can be seen as an attempt to realise a technological version of the Christian space of Heaven.
