Cyberspace; "fictional construct (or)... real and present"

When I think of cyberspace I imagine the process of looking through the internet on my computer, trying to figure out what web site I want to surf. Or I would think of virtual reality where you can do anything that you might not be able to do in the real world. The last thing I could possibly think of is the process of electronic storage of numerous computers and networks transmitting information. 

Of all the definitions given in the introduction I agree most with Howard Rheingold's definition of cyberspace, being "the conceptual space where words, human relationships, data, wealth, and power are manifested by people using CMC technology." This theory of "social space" gives me a better understanding of cyberspace being a non-fictional construct but a real and present social medium of interaction and information. 

I am extremely interested in the concept of "cybercounterculture and cyberpunks", where people want to "blur the boundaries between human and machines. " Its like I am reading a science fiction novel where these "cyberpunks want the human nervous system to merge with the computer matrix by making reality and hallucinations collapse into each other in an electronic universe." Could this really be a possibility?  the nervous system merged with a  computer interface? I can only hope that this can be a reality in our lifetimes.