Kyberfenomén a ilúzie Matrixu
Cyberphenomenon and the illusions of Matrix

Summary/Abstract: The presented study poses a question of whether „cyberphenomenon“ or the emergence of global electronic network as a product of human ambition to control complex processes truly creates „a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators” as described by W.Gibson in his novel Neuromancer, or whether, on the contrary, it helps to unravel the illusions of Matrix we call reality. It is subdivided into several sections, which attempt to unmask the false and self-complacent beliefs we hold regarding media, technology, culture, communication and dialogue, social norms, environment, evolution, family and identity. Further, it challenges the benefits of quantification and probes into the validity of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It also focuses on the criticism of current obsession with youth and technology and the “white male” perspective on the development of society resulting in a paradigm shift from “pain” to “pleasure” and behaviour patterns typical of the adolescent developmental stage. (In this respect the study strongly supports Innis’ media bias theory and McLuhan’s perspective on it.). The new paradigm shift brings several serious implications, especially the ignorance of aging and death and the resulting treatment of those terminally ill as a burden to society thereby depriving them of human dignity in the most serious crisis of their lives. In the conclusion it offers an anthropological perspective as a means of pushing both individual and society out of the “attractor basin” of their long-held cultural stereotypes and as a potential route to genuine dialogue.

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