conceptual block in cyberspace as a collective mind

Document Type : Original Article

Author
mohamad mohamadinia
A member of the Culture and Thought Research Institute
10.22034/zehn.2026.2084174.2182
Abstract
The extensive and polysemous usage of the term "cyberspace" in recent decades has led to conceptual inflation and increasing ambiguity in its definition. This research aims to redefine the meaning of the element "space" within this compound term by analyzing the conceptual block at the first-order level of Lance Strate's three-tiered semantic model. Employing the mind-body metaphor, the study interprets physical cyberspace as the "body" and conceptual cyberspace as a collective mind—a cognitive domain encompassing sensation, knowledge, perception, and abstract structures generated within users' consciousness. Scholarly literature demonstrates that this conceptual block comprises three distinct subcategories: (1) logical space, (2) frontier space, and (3) liquid space. Through logical analysis and philosophical interpretation of expert perspectives, complemented by a comparative examination of American and Chinese theoretical frameworks, this study proposes a semantic framework for redefining conceptual cyberspace. Rather than reducing cyberspace to a singular, monolithic concept, the framework embraces semantic multiplicity as an inherent characteristic of cyberspatial heterogeneity. This semantic model may contribute to greater conceptual clarity in theoretical discourse and policy formulation within the domain of cyberspace studies.
Keywords
cyberspace
semantics
collective mind
conceptual block
logical space
frontier space
liquid space

 

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