9/16 Paul Virilio: Then and Now

For the last thirty years, Paul Virilio has been at the forefront of thinking through the connections between such seemingly disparate forces as optics, warfare, information, media, architecture, and the science of speed, or what he refers to as 'dromology'. This week's reading looks to chart two separate but interrelated vectors in relation to his thought. The first is the transformation in his work over the twenty plus years that separate the publication of his seminal "Speed and Politics" and the later "The Information Bomb." Simply put, our aim here will be to see how the prescience often cited in the earlier work has matured and transformed in the later work. The second question we'll consider is the extent to which Virilio's observations on New Media from a pre-crash, pre 9/11 era dominated by Dolly the sheep and Jennicam hold-up a decade later.

Discussion Leader: Kris Fallon
Readings: nmwg.notlong.com

Note: NMWG meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month in Fall 2009. Meetings are located in the Berkeley Center for New Media Commons (340 Moffitt), next to the Free Speech Movement Cafe.