Now, the cyberspace metaphor is thirty years old. You can see how violently it has been reshaped by the passage of time. It's not bad that these things happen — but you need to understand that these historical formulations are mortal. They're not false. It's not like the “information Superhighway” never existed. It existed. It got federal funding. There were political issues about it, newspaper stories. It's not false, it's just mortal. You don't want to tie your fate to such mortal things. Universities need to be places in our society where young people, who know very little — young, innocent, ignorant people — are put directly in touch with things that are less mortal than we are. Less mortal than we are — not more mortal than we are.

via Program » Bruce Sterling’s Keynote :: Communia 2010 :: University and Cyberspace :: 28-30 June 2010 :: Torino, Italy.