Ground Zero
Contributors: Chris Turner (Translator)
Publisher: Verso
Published: October 2002
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 96
ISBN-13: 9781859844168
Subjects: Social & political philosophy; Terrorism, freedom fighters, armed struggle; World history: from c 1900 -; September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001; Political; Politics / Current Events; Philosophy; USA; Technology and civilization; General; World - General; September 11 Terrorist Attacks
Description: "How would it be if what we take for human advance were simply a technological progress which literally leaves us out of its equations? What if Progress is not humanity striking out bravely towards the future, but an ultimately destructive force?" "In a remarkable tour d'horizon, Paul Virilio paints a bleak picture of current scientific, cultural, social and political values. Art has succumbed to the techniques of advertising, while in politics the battle for hearts and minds has become a mere 'synchronization of opinion', and TV ratings have triumphed over universal suffrage. The events of September 11 reflect both the manipulation of a global sub-proletariat and the delusions of an elite of rich students and technicians who resemble nothing so much as the 'suicidal members of the Heaven's Gate cybersect'. And, in this post-humanist dystopia, we are morally rudderless before the threat of biological manipulations as yet undreamt-of."--Jacket.