Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate contemporary computer and Internet culture, what is often called "cyberculture," using insights from Arthur Schopenhauer, Emile Durkheim, and Karl Popper. These three thinkers in particular are chosen because they offer an alternative to both stereotypically "neo-modernist" and "postmodernist" positions concerning cyberculture. In contrast to using a "neo-modernist" or "deconstructive postmodernist" approach to cyberculture, I have chosen to employ Griffin's term "constructive postmodernism," which underscores that I am neither interested in defending status quo "modernism" or in nihilistically debunking it. Hence, my position is "a constructive postmodernist approach to cyberculture." Chapters 1 and 2 focus primarily on theoretical issues concerning cyberculture and explain why I have chosen my alternative theoretical position. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 focus on the general elements of cyberculture 5md how they have changed over time. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on cultural artifacts associated with cyberculture from food and drugs to literary expression