Alan N. Shapiro, Hypermodernism, Hyperreality, Posthumanism

Blog and project archive about media theory, science fiction theory, and creative coding

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Richard Rorty on Radicalism, Liberalism, and Poetic Language

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Jacques Derrida, Language, Polysexuality, Richard Rorty

I was very impressed reading something that Richard Rorty wrote about revolutionaries in his essay "The Contingency of Community" ( in the book "Contingency, irony, and solidarity"). Rorty argues very cogently for a kind of “impossible” deconstructive synthesis of radicalism and liberalism.
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The Revolution will not be Televised, it will be led by Radical Software

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Baseball, Casino Gambling, Humanities Informatics

In my story “Betting on Longshots,” I describe how I won $3000 in the casino on the Lido in Venice, Italy when I was 24 years old, starting from nearly nothing. If I had not won that money, maybe my European wanderings would have come to an end, and I would have gone back to New York and become a dentist.
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I consider Star Trek to be a great text of Western Civilization

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Star Trek

The philosopher and computer expert Alan N. Shapiro explains his ideal for a future as an "employer": "I don’t create workplaces; I create playing fields," said Shapiro.
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“Twelve Monkeys” (film), by Alan N. Shapiro

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Media Studies, Science Fiction Studies, Time Travel

Terry Gilliam’s brilliant film "Twelve Monkeys" raises critical questions about the linear nature of time and the causality of science. Möbius time travel will provide a fruitful tool for getting out of the hyperreality and myth of the end of history which surround us in modern culture.
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“Groundhog Day” (film), by Alan N. Shapiro

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Media Studies, Time Travel

"Groundhog Day" is fascinating because it is time travel without a single history book adventure, science fiction without a single technological device, and the triumphant reign of the computer program without a single computer.
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Star Trek, Marx and Time Travel

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Karl Marx, Star Trek, Time Travel

Alan Shapiro - Star guest of the next Transmediale - on new computers, 1968 and anarchism. Interview in the Berlin daily newspaper "Neues Deutschland," January 5, 2010
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“Desperate Living” (film): John Waters’ Science Fiction Dystopia, by Alan N. Shapiro

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Media Studies, Polysexuality, Science Fiction Studies

Maybe it was the mono sound of my budget-priced video recorder, which the salesperson at Saturn Hansa had dubbed the 'Trabant' (der Trabi, das Symbol eines verschwundenen Landes, the symbol of a disappeared country, hat heute längst Kultstatus erreicht, has long since attained cult status) of VCRs.
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“Jurassic Park” (film): Newman Eaten by a Dilophosaurus, by Alan N. Shapiro

April 13th, 2010 in the categories: Arts & Genomics, Media Studies, Science Fiction Studies

Steven Spielberg's stated goal for the film "Jurassic Park" (1993) is to achieve what he calls "total realism." He wants to make cinema coincide with the real. This is a symptomatic fantasy that Jean Baudrillard diagnoses in "The Evil Demon of Images" as "cinema attempting to abolish itself in the absolute of reality."