Quotes: Cybernetics

(automatic electronic control systems; a cyberplague of electronic communications and miscommunications)


Quotations

“Cyber this” and “Cyber that” indicate the span and spam of cyberwords that are proliferating: cyberspace, cyberculture, cyberhype; will it end up in cybertedium?

People who work with words online are often called: cyberscribes, cyberpublishers, cybernovellists, cyberjournalists; resulting in cyberlibraries, cyberthrillers, (a piece of writing that uses computers as a means of generating action or thrills) and cyberzines, (a combination magazine and online World Wide Web guide). Also included in this category is cybercrud or obfuscatory tech-talk. Verbiage with a high MEGO (“My Eyes Glaze Over”) factor; the computer equivalent of “bureaucratese”.

Don’t forget electronic money and online trading provide us with: cybercash, cybereconomy, cyberbuck, cyberdollar; as well as, cybermoney, cybershopping, and cybercommerce. We can also include cyberfraud as an aspect of monetary activities or fraud that occurs online. The most common form of cyberfraud is online credit card theft.

Other related forms of cyberfraud include nondelivery of paid products purchased through online auctions, nondelivery of merchandise or software bought online, and data break-ins. In this connection, we also have cyberangels, an organization that assists victims of internet crimes; such as, online stalking, cyberfraud, credit card theft, or identity theft.

More and more cybernauts are coming on line all the time

Cybernaut refers to someone who "travels" in cyberspace—a person who uses computers to communicate [literally, "a cyber sailor"]; and then there is the cybersurfer who surfs the internet in search of interesting things. All are cybercitizens who are members of the cybercommunity or the worldwide online community. Netizen has the same meaning.

Then we also have cyberculture referring to a society of people linked by, and communicating through, electronic means; such as, the internet or the cyberworld. The cyberworld is either the whole of cyberspace, or that part of it relating to virtual-reality environments.

In a cybercafe or cyberpub, you may have refreshments while accessing the internet; a cybernightclub is also designed for enjoyment; but it’s a virtual space you connect to by using the internet.

Cyberians are a high-tech development of the 1960’s hippie culture, embracing technology rather than shunning it.

A cyberlawyer is either an expert on the law relating to online communications (cyberlaw), or someone who studies the implications of computers and communications for the practice of law. We need to be aware of the illegality of cyberpiracy or the purchase of an internet domain name that includes a company’s registered trademark name, with the intention of selling that domain name to the company.

Cyber words are being created just about every day!

So the word-element cyber may appear as a prefix (a word element denoting computers, computing or the internet or a word element applicable to futuristic robotics, technology, or science) or by itself; such as, an adjective and verb, relating generally to computer-mediated communications or virtual sensations. The adjective cyberish is sometimes found, as well as the adverb cyberly.

After all of this cyberhype, you may feel overwhelmed; however, you have just seen a very small sample of the many cyber words that are available. If you are not suffering from cyberphobia, a fear of electronic communications or of its technology; then you should visit this cyber list of words.

More definitions about cybernetics Extensive information about several cyber definitions is available here.


Illustration showing an abnormal fear of a computer

There are still too many people who have a cyberphobia or a dread of computers and the cyberspace they represent.


The most difficult reality a purchasing agent faces is that buying a computer for the company may result in his/her replacement.

—Anonymous

In a few minutes a computer can make a mistake so great that it would take many people many months to equal it.

—Merle L. Meacham

The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.

—Sydney J. Harris


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