Ziauddin Sardar is a London-based scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and intellectual specialising in Muslim thought, futures studies and science and cultural relations. He is the author of How Do You Know?: Reading Ziauddin Sardar on Islam, Science and Cultural Relations (Pluto, 2006), Aliens R Us: The Other in Science Fiction Cinema (Pluto, 2002) and Postmodernism and the Other (Pluto, 1997).Dr Jerry Ravetz is the author of the classic study, Scientific Knowledge and Social Problems, and the director of the Research Methods Consultancy. He has a particular interest in the history of ideas and the philosophy of science.

• Introduction: Reaping the technological whirlwind- Ziauddin Sardar and Jerry Ravetz 1. alt.civilizations.faq: Cyberspace As the Darker Side of the West- Ziauddin Sardar2. The Microcybernetic Revolution and the Dialectics of Ignorance- Jerome R. Ravetz 3. Microcybernetics as the Meta-Technology of Pure Control- George Spencer4. Democratic Franchise and the Electronic Frontier- Vivian Sobchack5. Earthing the Ether: The Alternating Currents of Ecology and Cyberculure- Nigel Clark6. Welcome to Cyberia: Notes on the Anthropology of Cyberculture- Arturo Escobar7. Is There a New Political Paradigm Lurking in Cyberspace?- Jay KinneyNotes on ContributorsIndex