Is the Internet a place? Could someone become a citizen of say the nation state of Cyberia? Seems to me that this was talked about in Snowcrash.

Wikipedia: Place
So not in the main meaning of place, but probably yes in some meanings:

No. Not if legal standing matters.

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Only if your existence is entirely on the Internet, I would think.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

The internet is a "place" in much the same way that the "mind" is a "thing".

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The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

It IS a place. But it is also a thing.

No. Place is either a noun having to do with location, or a verb having to do with putting something somewhere (which gets back to location).

There is a tendency in these modern times to allow revisionist interpretations to mean whatever anybody wants.

All opinions are not of equal value. Often wrong is just wrong, regardless of feelings.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I go to a place.

I go onto the internet, I dont go to it .... but I do go to places on the net.

Is a container of places a place?

I think you go to a chair in front of a computer and view images on your screen. The information providing those images is in a certain place. It is transported via airwaves or hard connection to other places; the computer in front of which you sit being one of them.

It really is that simple, but isn't nearly as glitzy as marketing "cyberspace" or "virtual reality" or whatever funky misleading over-hyped terms can be devised to make "sitting in front of my computer" seem way over-the-top cool.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Ah, but I wonder,... how many "revisionist interpretations" have made it into the dictionary after a time? Do you realize How a dictionary is made? It's not some ultimate definition of truth. Rather it's like a compendium of definitions based on surveys of important or otherwise supposed experts on language, and it's really only a listing what what people "Think" a word means. And that changes, all the time! I remember when it was not proper to use the word aint. First it was defined as improper, then it was slang, now it's at least "informal".
Even though we might currently depend on current dictionary definitions to carry on a discussion like this, my bet is the Internet will be considered a place sooner or later if only because so many people are referring to it as a place. Right or wrong doesn't seem to be a judgement that takes priority over common and popular usage.

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Oh, by the way, a bit off the beaten path, but... I once looked up whatchamacllit (I don't remember the actual spelling) because I had too much time on my hands some years ago. The entry said "See thingamajig". And, I am NOT kidding (the dictionary was an old college dictionary of some kind), the Thingamajig entry said "See Thingumajig"!
And then Thingumabob, thingumbob, back and forth, back and forth. Ha, ha! Somebody obviously slipped those entries in under the covers.

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Arguable. Semantics.

What is the state of Cyberia, and which other states have officially recognised its existence?

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"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire.
"All your bias are belong to us" Ara Pacis.

I don't think of the internet as 'place' any more than I do power transmission lines. The power comes from 'place' (the plant) and goes to another 'place' (your home) but the lines themselves are just a 'thing'.

The internet is similar -- the web pages you view are stored in a place somewhere, and you view them at your place. In-between they are transmitted as data and aren't anyplace. So to me the internet is less of a place and more of a thing or an entity. You can't stay there any more than electrical power can 'stay' in a transmission line.

That being said, if there were a way to live on the internet, or in it -- I think I would. I have a much easier time escaping the stupidity of my peers that way. =)

Seems to me that "place" can be used to refer to metaphorical locations rather than physical ones.

"She has a special place in my heart."

Wouldn't the Internet similarly be a metaphorical "place"?

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SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

I'd say so. If you can't find info at home, you can go to the Internet (could be a metaphorical thing here too), or you can try the Internet, surf cyberspace "there", participate in forums there. It really does appear that many of us, in everyday language, probably without realizing it, are referencing the Internet as a "there" which implies "place". Yeah, I think the Internet can be a really cool place to hang out. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

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