“In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. The specialization of images of the world has culminated in a world of autonomized images where even the deceivers are deceived. The spectacle serves as a total justification of the conditions and goals of the existing system.” — Guy Debord

Alan N. Shapiro
media theory,
science fiction theory,
future design research

  • Journal Entry: The Void, by Mary Fox

    What follows is neither philosophical, nor academic. It is, however, both self-indulgent and self-referential, as a journal can only be. It presents no “truths” and it is peppered with inconsistencies and flaws, because I am.

  • Alan N. Shapiro interviewed by Gerry Ryan

    I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Gerry Ryan on April 30, 2010, Ireland’s premier radio and television broadcaster and interviewer. Gerry was a great communicator. Gerry was a huge Star Trek fan. On June 1, 2005, I was interviewed for 45 minutes by Gerry on the Gerry Ryan Show.

  • The Car of the Future, more sketches, by Nick Pugh

    All images © Copyright Nick Pugh and Alan N. Shapiro, 2010  

  • Baudrillard’s Second Life, by René Capovin

    Fashion in the modern sense presupposes the becoming-autonomous of interaction, and is linked, in particular, to the communications of the mass media. In a society differentiated by functions, in fact, there is no one class or group that can impose its own “taste.” Everyone must conform their own taste to the information of all others.”

  • Georges Bataille and Epistemology

    Bataille’s Theory of Religion and The Accursed Share have been read by generations of Marxists, deconstructionists, and Baudrillard the man himself in economic terms. But, in the current situation of virtuality, it is most interesting to read these texts from an epistemological point of view.

  • Around the Town (a Sports Gambling story), part 1 of 4

    As they went inside Grand Central Station, Moe and Siggy saw hurried commuters moving with tunnel vision, not looking at the homeless. The bag ladies and street people would put a damper on one’s day. Past the panhandlers and cup rattlers, the squeegee people, and the Monte dealers, the determined nine-to-fivers kept moving.

  • The End of Homo Oeconomicus

    Da der Mensch ein lebendiges Wesen ist, müssen wir unser Konzept vom Menschen ändern, vom Homo Oeconomicus zu einer Idee des kreativen Menschen, wie der Physiker-Philosoph Hans-Peter Dürr sagt. Wie alle lebendigen Organismen verfügt auch der Mensch über eine Wachstumsfähighkeit.

  • Data and Baudrillard, by Franco La Polla

    This is a translation of one chapter of Franco La Polla’s book Star Trek: Foto di Gruppo con Astronave. La Polla is a distinguished Professor of the History of North American Culture at the University of Bologna. He has written and published three amazing books on Star Trek.

  • Dance and Digital/Virtual Technologies, by Jaana Parviainen

    Dwelling in the virtual sonic environment: Phenomenological analysis of dancers’ learning processes in working with the Embodied Generative Music interface. “We must admit that the sound, of itself, prompts rather a grasping movement, and visual perception the act of pointing.” (Merleau-Ponty)

  • From The Technological Herbarium, by Gianna Maria Gatti – Teleporting an Unknown State, by Eduardo Kac (translated by Alan N. Shapiro)

    Telepresenza, bio arte, arte transgenica: questi saranno i temi al centro del racconto di Eduardo Kac, l’artista che a partire dagli anni ‘80 è stato il pioniere delle nuove declinazioni artistiche del biologico ed è riconosciuto internazionalmente come fondatore della Transgenic Art.

  • Sketches of the Car of the Future, by Nick Pugh

    Here is a sampling of 8 of the 34 sketches made by Nick Pugh for the concept of the Car of the Future as a shapeshifter. All images © Copyright Nick Pugh and Alan N. Shapiro, 2010.

  • The Car of the Future is a Virtual Reality Game Platform

    Paul Virilio is a French theorist of technology whose work has focused on architecture, art, transportation, war, urban planning, and the cinema. Virilio’s central concept is speed. He is also a theorist of accidents and crashes.

  • The Car of the Future is a Shapeshifter, by Nick Pugh

    Like Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Car of the Future is a shapeshifter. ‘Space is the final frontier’ and that is true on earth as well. Real estate is fundamentally limited by the surface area of the planet. More of it is not currently in production.

  • A Critique of the Idea of Neutral Language, by Marc Silver

    In Arguing the Case, Marc Silver shifts the ground in original ways. He is not content to “deconstruct” the discourse founding the disciplines he studies – political, legal, scientific, literary, and psychoanalytic. He reveals the rhetorical, logical and philosophical rules as well as the paradoxes and aporias, which sustain the disciplines he illuminates.

  • Towards a New Computer Science: Instantiate a Much Richer Software Instance

    In this group of 5 coding projects, the core operations of the Limerick Metric will be developed. Where does the New Computer Science stand in relation to the prevailing software development paradigm of Object-Orientation (UML, C++, Java, etc.) ? The New Computer Science both respects and radicalizes Object-Orientation.

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