REVIEW: by David Modjeska, Computer Science Department, University of Toronto On Wednesday evening, March 8, TorCHI presented an evening of discussion with Derrick de Kerckhove and Michael Heim. The discussion was held at the Faculty of Information Studies (FIS) at the University of Toronto (U of T), with Michael Heim participating via videoconference from Santa Monica, California. De Kerckhove is Director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at U of T; this program is a research unit in the FIS dedicated to exploring new media in both theory and practice. Michael Heim is the author of Electric Language and The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality; he lectures in philosophy at California State University at Long Beach. Supporting Heim technically was Kit Galloway, a media artist who (with partner Sherry Rabinowitz) has produced several well-known media installations, including "A Hole in Space" between New York and Los Angeles, and "The Electronic Cafe" in Los Angeles. The evening featured a lively, wide-ranging conversation between de Kerckhove and Heim. Appropriately enough, the medium was part of the message, due to the interesting video link between Toronto and Santa Monica. During the early part of the evening, sunlight was visible through the windows of Heim's home. Later, Galloway manipulated both the background and foreground of Heim's image with striking computer graphics. These manipulations were vivid and entertaining: Heim commented that he might never feel quite the same again. While awaiting Heim's students in California, the two principals discussed time in cyberspace. As Heim noted, the conversation occurred in a "nonbiotemporal zone." This distinction between two realms, one natural and primal, the other intellectual and abstract, provided one of the continuous threads of discussion for the evening. Both de Kerckhove and Heim speculated about the limits of human biology, as electronic technology forces a human mutation of sorts (or at least some adaptation). De Kerckhove noted the work of several relevant artists, as well as the activities of the EcoInfo group in Amsterdam. This latter group strives to connect information technology with an ecological sensibility. As the discussion continued, de Kerckhove explored the relationship between art and technology, claiming that all art is ultimately grounded in technology. He reiterated a key idea of Marshall McLuhan, that society requires art to interpret and reveal the effects of technology. Continuing in the spirit of McLuhan's work, de Kerckhove noted that all past technologies have extended the body in some way. The new information technologies, in this sense, extend the nervous system. Unlike books, which emphasize one's private self at the expensive of the collective, electronic technologies involve both the self and the larger social group. On the subject of art, Heim noted the tendency of virtual reality (VR) to emphasize entertainment over art, due to VR's industrial focus. Unfortunately, entertainment lacks the sense of mystery and primal probing necessary to return humans to an understanding of our origins. De Kerckhove commented on art's occasional volcanic eruptions, much to the horror of some art patrons. The audience started interacting with the principals on the opposition between art and engineering. An audience member suggested that engineers have a goal orientation, while artists have a process orientation. Some consensus was reached about the overlapping skills and agendas of these two groups. On the subject of cyberspace, Heim remarked on the general tendency to think of it as a Platonic world, a sort of Gnostic heresy, distant from primal space. He expressed an interest in keeping cyberspace in touch with the human body and our planet. In fact, the World Wide Web might be used as a propaganda system for this purpose, spreading ecological awareness. This goal was acknowledged to be paradoxical yet fruitful, in refocussing the abstract cyberspace to include its opposite--the human body and the Earth. Ultimately, the question arises whether technology will help or destroy the human race. De Kerckhove concurred, emphasizing the importance of a new grounding of the collective identity in the planet itself. Heim noted that national boundaries are being eroded by cyberspace. De Kerckhove responded that the new boundaries are linguistic. Moreover, online special interest and language groups recapitulate in some sense the territoriality of pagan tribes. De Kerckhove anticipates a new emphasis on authentic, local, real-time presence in social interactions. A bit later, Heim suggested that VR is the culmination of a long historical trend to reproduce the world through artifice. Given such cultural and historical momentum, VR is likely to spread on a global basis. Heim also noted the increasing independence of electronic documents from paper models. The evening closed with various questions and comments about issues of online gender. While some speakers felt that women are under-represented on the Internet, others noted that gender is easily misrepresented for a variety of purposes. One speaker suggested that women participate more fully in structured academic discourse, rather than unstructured discourse. No consensus was reached on these issues, but the discussion was lively and insightful.