Here are short excerpts from three reviews of my book “Decoding Digital Culture with Science Fiction: Hyper-Modernism, Hyperreality, and Post-Humanism,” and some other quotations about the book.
Yuwei Huang and Qi Tan, The Journal of Popular Culture, January 2025.
Shapiro’s work unveils an all-encompassing framework that masterfully integrates a myriad of perspectives from cultural studies, media theory, and science fiction theories in the realm of popular culture. This meticulously crafted structure delves into the intricate concepts of hypermodernism, hyperreality, and posthumanism to offer profound insights into the trans- formative impact of digital media technologies both at the societal and individual levels. Moreover, the book showcases the author’s seminal contributions to select subdisciplines within these three domains, enriching our understanding of their interconnections. Ultimately, the author’s conclusion can be seen as a compelling theory that positions science fiction as a pivotal form of popular culture.
Vanessa A.C. Freerks, Theoria, 71 (2024) Published On: 2024-11-21
Shapiro’s four-hundred-page book is a tour de force of twenty years of media theory on the influence of digital media in ‘hyper-modern’ Western societies. It aims to develop a different model of society based on an alternative media practice… In section one, Shapiro outlines what he considers to be the mutually productive relationship between science fiction studies and media theory… The notions of hyperreality and simulacra are, for Shapiro, the ideal starting point for the development of science fiction studies. Baudrillard should be viewed as a science fiction theorist, as he makes future-oriented scenarios the basis for unfolding his (past-present) theory… Shapiro brings together his thoughts… on a poetology of code and advocates the creative use of software as a meaningful cultural practice.
Shapiro’s poetics of coding certainly enriches the scientific and philosophical debate in view of the fact that artificial intelligence (AI) is now considered a sparring/ jarring partner. Thanks to Shapiro’s background in the philosophy of science, the book mobilises an impressive array of theoretical references bridging any so-called divide between Continental and Analytic Philosophy. His manifesto-like style is energetic, and his rhizomatic framing is original. All three parts of his oeuvre discuss (explicitly and implicitly) the creative handling of code and advocate for the foundation of a new conception of the code as an ambivalent, de-pragmatised form of expression by identifying sites that prefigure creative coding. As a software developer, Shapiro is an insider to computing, coding and AI, and he infuses an important interdisciplinary perspective. Those interested in technology will find themselves reading about unexpected aspects of art, history and culture, while readers interested in philosophy, culture and history will gain an understanding of the various aspects of digital media technologies coding as well as debates in AI.
Chris Clarke-Dawson, Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change, 10(1), 03 (July 2025)
Alan N. Shapiro’s timely account of artificial intelligence, deep learning, and related technological advances offers a more hopeful vision of our future with machine learning – one which counters the deluge of techno-sceptical
narratives to which we’ve grown accustomed. Originating from Shapiro’s PhD thesis and expanding upon his previous publications, the book is best read as a call to arms that lays out Shapiro’s insistence that transdisciplinary approaches need to be deployed in addressing relationships between technology and humans. Shapiro foregrounds the field of Creative Coding – a hybrid field where art, morality, and computation intersect – as a site of resistance. Creative Coding is, for Shapiro, crucial for the design of our posthumanist future. He sees this as a movement that seeks to undermine the deepening of capitalist inequalities by embedding ethical components into machine learning in order to allow technology to act upon the world in ways that humans, left to our own devices, are unable to do.
The delight stemmed from Shapiro’s appreciation that developments in machine learning may provide the embryonic situation in which social change
may occur. Up until this point my perspective of our current relationship with technology was that it was the harbinger of Surveillance Capitalism (Zuboff, 2019) or Technofeudalism (Varoufakis, 2023) – both of which indicated
an alarming intensification of unsustainable inequality; the hopefulness of Shapiro was certainly welcome.
Sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin remarked in her 2014 National Clarke-Dawson /
Book Award speech that “Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive” – a sentiment that Shapiro’s account powerfully affirms.”
“Shapiro’s vast knowledge of current media theories is amazing. His book is highly recommended for students in the discipline. I am most inspired by Part Three where he reveals his competence in computer science derived from his practice as a software developer. He does not simply write “about” coding but knows its practices. With his emphasis on Creative Coding, he defends the human-centered approach. I congratulate him on his book, and may it get the attention it deserves!” — Wolfgang Ernst, Professor of Media Theory, Humboldt University, Berlin.
“Alan N. Shapiro is one of the sharpest thinkers on culture today. Like the French philosophers he refers to in this book, he is ahead of his time. While most critics are still looking at hyper-reality and post-truth through the false/true lens, Shapiro addresses our crisis of reality with a new awareness of our own position in it, acknowledges the role of technology, informatics and capitalism in all that we do. His defence of Baudrillard is long overdue, and so is his update of concept of Simulacra, bringing it into the now. If you are looking for a better and deeper understanding of times, I think you must read this book. The text is full of references to films and stories, creating moments of lightness and entertainment among the big ideas.” — Bette Adriaanse, novelist, author of the book »What Art Does«, a collaboration with Brian Eno.