4.6.1 The idea of the avatar "coming down" from an unspecified source in one of many possible manifestations connects well to the reverse hierarchy established originally by the scientific community at the inception of what would become the Internet: the client "uploads" to and "downloads" from the server that resides above.

4.6.2 The software industry's debate on avatars is really about object interactions passing between a variety of servers in real-time. Talking about avatars personalises the discussion and brings up issues having to do with the nature of identity, security, interpersonal relations, and societies of the Internet.

4.6.3 The concept of an avatar can also be easily transferred to the many variants of computer messages and presentations being transferred from the Web to "client" computer screens. And finally, all these concepts and hierarchies fit perfectly with financial markets used to trading numbers. The idea of products or services constructing themselves on a computer screen as a result of information "coming down" from the Internet and the World Wide Web is a very attractive prospect for entrepreneurs. There is a sense of power and control the owner of a server has, once removed from the flesh market.

4.6.4 What is particularly fascinating is the extent to which the mystical concepts of the word avatar are being read into various software applications. For instance, Peter Small writes in the introduction of his online version of a book entitled Magical Web Avatars: The mystical aspect implies that the deity "Vishnu" has no specific form or shape before manifesting as an avatar on earth. It is implicit that any physical appearance of an avatar is merely a temporary form or phase from an infinite variety of possibilities-a transient form from an indefinite, indefinable number of sources. It is the capturing of this concept, which makes the word avatar ideal for the purpose of describing the Web communication products which will be described in this book. (Small, 1997, http://192.41.36.58/avatars/Index.htm).

Thus product promotion is inextricably linked to mysticism and New Age values. This is true for many softwares with mystically encoded connotations, and for the marketing "gurus."

4.6.5 New Ageism typically encompasses an eclectic mix of different religious elements, claiming no allegiance to nationality or even specific Gods. Still, the strong ideological character remains, linked very much to cultural processes and marketing of products and ideas, and seems to be pervasive in the structuring of a significant number of new high-tech corporations. Certainly, the very choice of naming an identity in networked spaces an "avatar" indicates this trend. The avatar in cyberspace represents a strange interplay of left-wing utopianism with right-wing entrepreneurism, mixed up with esoteric spiritualism. The New Age religion operates in tandem with networking technologies and "organic" corporate structures-the new "cool" companies that are emerging all over the high-tech industry map. [top]