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Into the Universe of Technical Images

Online ISBN:
9781452947235
Print ISBN:
9780816670208
Publisher:
University of Minnesota Press
Book

Into the Universe of Technical Images

Published online:
24 August 2015
Published in print:
8 March 2011
Online ISBN:
9781452947235
Print ISBN:
9780816670208
Publisher:
University of Minnesota Press

Abstract

Poised between hope and despair for a humanity facing an urgent communications crisis, this book forecasts either the first truly human, infinitely creative society in history or a society of unbearable, oppressive sameness, locked in a pattern it cannot change. First published in German in 1985, this book outlines the history of communications technology as a process of increasing abstraction. The book charts how communication evolved from direct interaction with the world to mediation through various technologies. The invention of writing marked one significant shift; the invention of photography marked another, heralding the current age of the technical image. The automation of the processing of technical images carries both promise and threat: the promise of freeing humans to play and invent and the threat for networks of automation to proceed independently of humans.

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