A Cyber-What?  Are you a Cybernaut or a Cybernaught?  Yeah this is a new couple of terms I am coining.  This is a new phrase I am trying to bring into our collective consciousness.  You have heard of the term Astronaut haven’t you?  An Astronaut trains for years for the chance to travel into space.  An Astronaut trains their body and mind and spirit in hopes their name will get called for a space mission.  Astronauts are heroes.

So what is the difference between an Astronaut and a Cybernaut?  And what is the difference between a Cybernaut and a Cybernaught?  Well let me explain, take in the power of 60 Seconds of Motivational Mojo shall you.  A Cybernaut, like an Astronaut trains their body and mind to make the most of Cyberspace.  A Cybernaut will us the internet to produce a good or a service that others can and will appreciate. A Cybernaut is a trailblazer in cyberspace much the same way an Astronaut is a trailblazer in outer space.

Now just the opposite of a Cybernaut is a Cybernaught.  Naught sometimes means Zero.  Now there are three kinds of Cybernaughts or loosely translated Cyber-Zeros.  One kind of Cybernaught is the person who refuses to use the internet, computers or embrace new technology.  This is the least harmful or the Cybernaughts.  The Second, more advanced Cybernaught is the person who is always on the internet, but never gets anything done.  They basically just pass their time surfing the web for entertainment.  They may have the skills, but for whatever reason they don’t do anything with them.  The third and worse kind of Cybernaughts are the people who use the net to cause others harm.  These can be cyber-bullies, people who unleash viruses to steal people’s personal information, cyber-stalkers and people who are just running scams to dupe people out of their money.  Cybernaughts give the internet a bad name.  Cybernauts strive to do good with the things they learn and do on the internet and with new technology.

So of course I would like to focus on the Good side of this discussion.  Be a Cybernaut and use new technology and the internet in the way an Astronaut would use space travel.  Our mission as Cybernauts should be to make the world a better place.  The internet, when used correctly makes the flow of information and ideas faster.  Thanks to the internet, anyone with a message can reach lots of people in a very short amount of time.  And the message is persistent.  It will be very bouncing around cyberspace forever if you are lucky.  Is that not the kind of power we all want, and hopefully we want to do something good with that power.  Do you spend the bulk of your time on the internet surfing mindlessly, or do you look for ways to make your live and other people’s lives better?  Do you reject technology or do you embrace technology?  Do you try to scam and steal from others or do you try to find a way you can provide a better, faster or cheaper service and maybe make an honest dollar for yourself?  Cybernaughts or Cyber-zeros make things worse for all of us.  Cybernauts like Astronauts are trail blazers who are trying to explore the great unknown for the better of mankind.

Doesn’t all that sound grandiose?  Listen, you can find out a lot about basically any subject using search engines.  You can find out all sides of the story; the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the truth and the lies in 15 minutes or less.  It took a lot of technologies coming together to make search engines work.  Social media can spread news as fast or faster than other outlets, that is why all major news sources have websites and social media pages.  Watchdog groups, fan sites, community groups and bloggers can get their message out to the people for almost nothing thanks to free websites and coffee houses with internet access.  We can look at this as a brave new world or as the wild, wild west.  Cybernauts strive to make things better.  Be a cybernaut!