Virtual freedom: The obfuscation and elucidation of the subject in cyberspace

his late work, Michel Foucault finds in Greek antiquity a form of subjectivity that makes no reference to a universal law. The virtual world of cyberspace appears to offer individuals a similar possibility, in which the fundamental limitations that form the subject in the external society no longer apply. However, this article argues that the universal law actually is more powerful in cyberspace, insofar as it remains outside of our capacity for recognizing it. Nevertheless, the redeeming possibility of cyberspace lies not in what cyberspace promises, but rather in its capacity to makes palpable our inevitable failure to achieve the promise of complete, digital satisfaction.