Behind our computer screens we are all cyborgs: through fantasy we can
understand our involvement in virtual worlds.
Cyberspace is first and foremost a mental space. Therefore we need to
take a psychological approach to understand our experiences in it. In
Interface Fantasy, André Nusselder uses the core psychoanalytic notion
of fantasy to examine our relationship to computers and digital
technology. Lacanian psychoanalysis considers fantasy to be an
indispensable "screen" for our interaction with the outside world;
Nusselder argues that, at the mental level, computer screens and other
human-computer interfaces incorporate this function of fantasy: they
mediate the real and the virtual. Interface Fantasy illuminates our
attachment to new media: why we love our devices; why we are fascinated
by the images on their screens; and how it is possible that virtual
images can provide physical pleasure. Nusselder puts such phenomena as
avatars, role playing, cybersex, computer psychotherapy, and Internet
addiction in the context of established psychoanalytic theory. The
virtual identities we assume in virtual worlds, exemplified best by
avatars consisting of both realistic and symbolic self-representations,
illustrate the three orders that Lacan uses to analyze human reality:
the imaginary, the symbolic, and the real. Nusselder analyzes our most
intimate involvement with information technology--the almost invisible,
affective aspects of technology that have the greatest impact on our
lives. Interface Fantasy lays the foundation for a new way of thinking
that acknowledges the pivotal role of the screen in the current world of
information. And it gives an intelligible overview of basic Lacanian
principles (including fantasy, language, the virtual, the real,
embodiment, and enjoyment) that shows their enormous relevance for
understanding the current state of media technology.
