Causes of Trauma in Individuals: A Study of Cyber Culture Works

Abstract

This paper investigates the traumatic living of characters in the cyberculture. Cyberculture is a result of scientific progress made by man. Especially, the inventions of the computer and the internet have changed the outlook of culture. There is not a single department of human life left that has not been revolutionized the human life by machines. On the other hand, this scientific revolution has already posed many problems and threatened human beings. Living in Cyber Culture has become a challenge. People face many traumas since they come across blurred realities, cyborgs, transformed genders, and memories based on images instead of their personal experiences. Humans face anxieties, agonies, and conflict. Cavallaro’s book “Cyber Punk and Cyber Culture” and William Gibson’s works have explored the causes of trauma in the individuals of cyberculture. According to him, trauma is caused by the virtual reality that blurs the image and reality, haunting fears of hybrid body, new roles of transformed gender, and the memory provided to the individuals through images. In this paper, I will explore the cyberculture works of Sterling and Westerfeld to investigate the trauma in the individuals of these works. I will try to point out how virtual reality, hybrid body, gender transformation, and prosthetic memory play their role in creating traumatic situations for individuals. This paper will also explore how individuals try to come out of these traumatic sufferings.