Acknowledgments |
|
vii | |
Incipit |
|
1 | (4) |
Introduction to a Catastrophic Bifurcation |
|
5 | (14) |
|
|
|
|
|
The Internet vs. the Printing Press |
|
|
|
|
|
|
First, a Brief Note on the Self-Luminous Nature of the New Technologies |
|
19 | (4) |
|
PART I IN WHICH THE INTERNET RECREATES THE WORLD-AS-CAVERN |
|
|
23 | (86) |
|
1 Amazon.com, the Kindle and the Collapse of the Book Industry |
|
|
29 | (11) |
|
|
|
|
|
A Transcendentalist Operation |
|
|
|
|
|
Retrievals and Disappearances |
|
|
|
2 YouTube and the Twilight of Copyright |
|
|
40 | (13) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 On Facebook We're All Being Flattened Together |
|
|
53 | (8) |
|
|
|
The Mask Is Inimical to Facebook |
|
|
|
You Have a Friend Request |
|
|
|
The Disappearance of Neighborhoods |
|
|
|
The World Isn't Flat, You Are |
|
|
|
4 Wikipedia; or, The Catastrophe of Knowledge |
|
|
61 | (17) |
|
|
|
A Miniature History of the Book |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Borges, Prophet of Wikipedia |
|
|
|
|
|
5 WikiLeaks and the Death of Culture |
|
|
78 | (15) |
|
|
|
|
|
The Cultural Function of Secrets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Event That Never Happened |
|
|
|
|
|
6 On the Metaphysics of Google Earth |
|
|
93 | (16) |
|
Some Concluding Comments to Part I A Miniature History of Capitalism (or, The Evolution of Aladdin's Cave) |
|
|
102 | (7) |
|
PART II A COLLECTION OF GADGETS FOR A MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE |
|
|
109 | (78) |
|
7 The Mythology and Metaphysics of the Macintosh |
|
|
116 | (10) |
|
|
|
|
|
The Subtle Body of the Text |
|
|
|
|
|
The One Non-Negotiable Element of the Personal Computer |
|
|
|
A Brief History of Invisible Worlds |
|
|
|
|
|
Subtle Matter in Cyberspace |
|
|
|
8 Digital Photography and the End of the Visionary Image |
|
|
126 | (10) |
|
The World's First Photograph |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Necessity of the Negative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Luminous Images of Edward Burtynsky |
|
|
|
The Loss of Visionary Coherence |
|
|
|
The Elimination of the Hand |
|
|
|
|
|
9 How Cell Phones Disrupt the Flows |
|
|
136 | (9) |
|
|
|
|
|
Human Prostheses of the Matrix |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 The Killing Eye: Video Games, Surrogate Violence and the Dismantling of Social Machines |
|
|
145 | (11) |
|
|
|
|
|
The Individual as Epic Hero |
|
|
|
Grand Theft Auto and J. G. Ballard |
|
|
|
World of Warcraft: Hell Is Other People |
|
|
|
11 Robots, Drones and the Disappearance of the Human Being |
|
|
156 | (9) |
|
How Drones Retrieve Aristotelian Physics |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Two Revolutions Become One |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 A Few Words on the Ovei Pod and the End of History |
|
|
165 | (22) |
|
Electronic Isolation Tank |
|
|
|
The Bygone Age of the Macrosphere |
|
|
|
The Personal (and Very Private) Microsphere |
|
|
|
Some Concluding Comments to Part II A Miniature History of War and Technology (Since 1815) |
|
|
172 | (15) |
Postscript on the Dialectic of Art and Technology |
|
187 | (8) |
Appendix: Chronology of Key Events |
|
195 | (6) |
Notes |
|
201 | (6) |
Bibliography |
|
207 | (4) |
Index |
|
211 | |