Synopses & Reviews
“One day the day will come when the day will not come.” Bleak in its analysis of the social destruction wrought by modern technologies of communication and surveillance, but passionately political,
Open Sky is Paul Virilio’s most far-reaching and radical book for many years. Deepening and extending his earlier work on speed perception and political control, and applying it now to the global ‘real time’ of the information superhighways, he explores the growing danger of what he calls a “generalized accident,” provoked by the breakdown of our collective and individual relation to time, space and movement.
But this is not merely a lucid and disturbing lament for the loss of real geographical spaces, distance, intimacy or democracy. Open Sky is also a call for revolt—against the insidious and accelerating manipulation of perception by the electronic media and repressive political power, against the tyranny of “real time,” and against the infantilism of cyberhype. Paul Virillo makes a powerful case for a new ethics of perception, and a new ecology, one which will not only strive to protect the natural world from pollution and destruction, but will also combat the devastation of urban communities by proliferating technologies of control and virtuality.
Synopsis
Writer and political activist Paul Virilio makes a passionate critique of information technology and the global media. OPEN SKY is a call for revolt against the insidious manipulation of perception by the electronic media and the infantilism of cyberhype. Virilio pleads for a new ethics of perception and a new ecology, to protect not only the natural world, but also the urban community.
About the Author
Paul Virilio, writer and urbanist, was born in 1932. After the war he first trained as an artist in stained glass, working with Braque and Matisse, as well as studying philosophy at the Sorbonne. At the age of 18, inspired by the Abb Pierre and the movement of worker-priests, he became a Christian and a militant. In 1975 he was made Director of the Ecole Speciale d'Architecture in Paris. With Georges Perec he created the "Espace critique" series at the publisher Galile, and he has worked on a number of journals, including Esprit and Cause Commune. His political activities have included campaigns against homelessness and participation in the free radio movement. His books include Speed and Politics, The Art of the Motor, The Vision Machine and, from Verso, War and Cinema and The Information Bomb.