--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: 'Cyberspace' as a term is sort of over…" description: "\"'Cyberspace' as a term is sort of over. It's over in the way that, after a certain time, people stopped using the suffix '-electro' to make things cool..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/523/william-gibson-642_20th-century_cyberspace-as-a-term-is-sort-of-over-it_1650056.png" --- # 'Cyberspace' as a term is sort of over. It's over in the… ![“'Cyberspace' as a term is sort of over. It's over in the way that, after a certain time, people stopped using the suffix '-electro' to make things cool, because everything was electrical. 'Electro' was all over the early 20th century, and now it's gone. I think 'cyber' is sort of the same way.” quote by William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/523/william-gibson-642_20th-century_cyberspace-as-a-term-is-sort-of-over-it_1650056.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/523/william-gibson-642_20th-century_cyberspace-as-a-term-is-sort-of-over-it_1650056.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/523/william-gibson-642_20th-century_cyberspace-as-a-term-is-sort-of-over-it_1650056.png) > “'Cyberspace' as a term is sort of over. It's over in the way that, after a certain time, people stopped using the suffix '-electro' to make things cool, because everything was electrical. 'Electro' was all over the early 20th century, and now it's gone. I think 'cyber' is sort of the same way.” [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The term "cyber" has become as cliché as "electro" once was, losing its novelty as the concept it describes becomes commonplace. **In simple terms:** Cyber is now a worn‑out buzzword. Key Takeaway Use fresh language to describe new tech. Themes language evolution technology culture buzzwords Mood reflective critical Type observational analytical When to use this quote - marketing copy - tech journalism - product naming Key Concepts semantics branding trend cycles Questions to Reflect On - How can we keep language vivid? - What replaces buzzwords? A Different Perspective New terms may still feel gimmicky. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cyberspace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cyberspace/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [The single biggest existential threat that's out there, I think, is cyber.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-mullen/the-single-biggest-existential-threat-that-s-out-there-i-think-is/) [Michael Mullen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-mullen/) > [I think cyber security, cyber warfare will be one of the biggest challenges facing the next president, because clearly we're facing at this point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/i-think-cyber-security-cyber-warfare-will-be-one-of-the-biggest/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [I think that all of the cyber attacks that are taking place, but particularly this - the Russian one, had a profound impact on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kerry/i-think-that-all-of-the-cyber-attacks-that-are-taking-place-but/) [John F. Kerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kerry/) > [“Sitting in a corner, I live like a toad Oh! How I love my room: my tiny abode! Here I wake up; and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/munia-khan/sitting-in-a-corner-i-live-like-a-toad-oh-how-i-love-my-room-my-tiny/) [Munia Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/munia-khan/) > [Is there anything about cyberspace that particularly screams Air Force? Not really. If cyber warfare is going to be as all-encompassing as it's made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-p-m-barnett/is-there-anything-about-cyberspace-that-particularly-screams-air/) [Thomas P.M. Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-p-m-barnett/) > [You reach into cyberspace and you grab some cyber stuff, build it up, and the computer will give you a 360 of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-garcia/you-reach-into-cyberspace-and-you-grab-some-cyber-stuff-build-it-up/) [Jerry Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-garcia/) > [“Her fingers found a random second stud and she was catapulted through the static wall, into cluttered vastness, the notional void of cyberspace, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/her-fingers-found-a-random-second-stud-and-she-was-catapulted-through/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/cyberspace-a-consensual-hallucination-experienced-daily-by-billions/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Cyberspace is colonising what we used to think of as the real world. I think that our grandchildren will probably regard the distinction we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/cyberspace-is-colonising-what-we-used-to-think-of-as-the-real-world-i/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Cyberspace is where you are when you're on the telephone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/cyberspace-is-where-you-are-when-you-re-on-the-telephone/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“The Matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games,' said the voice-over, 'in early graphics programs and military experimentation with cranial jacks.' On the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/the-matrix-has-its-roots-in-primitive-arcade-games-said-the-voice/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/cyberspace-a-consensual-hallucination-experienced-daily-by-billions-2/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > ["Cyberspace is everting." It's interpenetrating our everyday reality to the point that on-line is our normal waking state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/cyberspace-is-everting-it-s-interpenetrating-our-everyday-reality-to/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/cyberspace-a-consensual-hallucination/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“He was like a kid who’d grown up beside an ocean, taking it as much for granted as he took the sky, but knowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/he-was-like-a-kid-who-d-grown-up-beside-an-ocean-taking-it-as-much/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## More by William Gibson > [“We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/we-have-no-idea-now-of-who-or-what-the-inhabitants-of-our-future/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“No," said Blackwell, "she won't, because that would be a violation of the very personal terms I will have established in our conversation. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/no-said-blackwell-she-won-t-because-that-would-be-a-violation-of-the/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Music was strange that way though; there were people into any damned thing, it seemed like, and if you got enough of them together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/music-was-strange-that-way-though-there-were-people-into-any-damned/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no idea what it is. The characters arrive first. They help me figure out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-future-i-have-no-idea-what-it-is/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Hollis thought he looked like William Burroughs, minus the bohemian substrate (or perhaps the methadone). Like someone who'd be invited quail shooting with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/hollis-thought-he-looked-like-william-burroughs-minus-the-bohemian/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Fiction is an illusion wrought with many small, conventionally symbolic marks, triggering visions in the minds of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/fiction-is-an-illusion-wrought-with-many-small-conventionally/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [The experience of celebrity is gradually being democratized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/the-experience-of-celebrity-is-gradually-being-democratized/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [I don't generate a storyline and then fill it out in the course of writing. The story actually generates in the course of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/i-don-t-generate-a-storyline-and-then-fill-it-out-in-the-course-of/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“What happened to your arm?" she asked me one night in the Gentleman Loser, the three of us drinking at a small table in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/what-happened-to-your-arm-she-asked-me-one-night-in-the-gentleman/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“In Heathrow a vast chunk of memory detached itself from a blank bowl of airport sky and fell on him. He vomited into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/in-heathrow-a-vast-chunk-of-memory-detached-itself-from-a-blank-bowl/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/and-for-an-instant-she-stared-directly-into-those-soft-blue-eyes-and/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ \[When\] Johnny Mnemonic was coming out and I realized that all the kids that worked in 7-11 knew more - or thought they knew… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-johnny-mnemonic-was-coming-out-and-i-realized-that-all-the-kids/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Andrea maintained that men like Alain lied so constantly, so passionately, that some basic distinction had been lost. They were artists in their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/andrea-maintained-that-men-like-alain-lied-so-constantly-so/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Because he had a good agent, he had a good contract. Because he had a good contract, he was in Singapore an hour after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/because-he-had-a-good-agent-he-had-a-good-contract-because-he-had-a/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) [Explore all 430 William Gibson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## More 20th century quotes > [I think the inhabitants of the past are fighting hard to keep the rents they acquired in the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bennet/i-think-the-inhabitants-of-the-past-are-fighting-hard-to-keep-the/) [Michael Bennet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bennet/) > [Corporate America is a 20th-century dinosaur, trembling on the edge of extinction, and the only way for you to have a genuinely secure future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kiyosaki/corporate-america-is-a-20th-century-dinosaur-trembling-on-the-edge-of/) [Robert Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kiyosaki/) > [America thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free. 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Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-mackay/universal-literacy-was-a-20th-century-goal-before-then-reading-and/) [Hugh Mackay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-mackay/) > [The great wars of the 20th Century made it into the worst Century ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-ambrose/the-great-wars-of-the-20th-century-made-it-into-the-worst-century-ever/) [Stephen Ambrose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-ambrose/) > [That is very different from how it used to be in the 20th century. Media was very one way. There's a small little industry.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-gordon-levitt/that-is-very-different-from-how-it-used-to-be-in-the-20th-century/) [Joseph Gordon-Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-gordon-levitt/) > [If you look back on the history of the 20th century, the 19th century or even to the ancien régime of the 18th, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/if-you-look-back-on-the-history-of-the-20th-century-the-19th-century/) [Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/) > [Up to the 20th century, we can say that this whole period was an Earth epoch, 'Earth' meaning the riches of the earth, simple…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lech-walesa/up-to-the-20th-century-we-can-say-that-this-whole-period-was-an-earth/) [Lech Walesa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lech-walesa/) > [I think this century more than any other really has seen the phenomenon of people being uprooted in such numbers, such a degree. 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