Knots of electronic weaves In Krytyka, No. 12 (50), 2001, pp. 8-10.

The article is devoted to the critique of reducing the phenomenon of the «Internet» to virtual reality or cyberspace. Kateryna Botanova refers to technophobic discourse, presenting the concepts of virtual reality by J. Baudrillard, W. McDougall, and S. Žižek. Using the theories of the mentioned philosophers, the author notes that the phenomenon of the “Internet” is wrongly identified with other phenomena such as «virtual reality», «computer», «interface», and so on, due to their technological similarity. Instead, the article presents a view of this phenomenon as a mimetic reality — an imperfect imitation rather than a separate cyberspace. Since the existence of the Internet is only possible in the presence of a subject who is involved in experiencing it within the limits of technological capabilities, the author believes that the Internet is not a separate reality, but only complements the actual reality.