- Hardcover: 120 pages
- Publisher: Verso Books (2 Nov 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1859847749
- ISBN-13: 978-1859847749
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 14 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,820,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"One of the most original thinkers of our times."- Liberation"
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
This volume offers a denunciation of the Kosovo war which unites theory with a study of the conflict. Tearing aside the veil of hypocrisy in which the US and its allies wrapped the war, the author demonstrates that the nature of the bombing was set by strategic rather than ethical considerations. Beneath the humanitarian rhetoric, the author sees a sinister innovation in the methods of waging war: territorial space is being replaced by orbital space in which a system of global telesurveillance is linked to the destructive power of bombers and missiles. Governments, the military and the media are becoming part of a seamless and self-justifying process linked by new information and arms technologies. This book offers an examination not only of the war in Yugoslavia but also what the author calls our "fin-de-siecle infantilization" in which the reality of battle is reduced to flickering images on a screen.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Virilio writes of how dominated we are by global information through satellites, worldwide detection systems, real-time transmission of information and the rapid analysis of data. This is the age of optical snooping. More important, the extent of electronic surveillance now constitutes a cosmic phenomenon; nothing anywhere can escape detection.
Writing during the events of the intervention in Kosovo, he observes the military importance given to the control of information flow; hence attacks first on Serbia's electrical supply and TV services. War is a practice ground for weaponry and, as the US's leadership in orbital and cybernetic warfare strengthens, so the influence of the UN and other members of NATO declines. The huge investment in cybernetic monitoring and surveillance systems has created the hegemonic quality of the US armed forces. Now it is likely that deterrence is sustained by the threat of electronically inducing systemic accidents rather than by the mutual danger of the nuclear bomb. So the politico-military aim is to interrupt the coherent, cause mental confusion in the enemy, destabilise everyday life.
Virilio barely hides his anger at the events in Kosovo. He also explicitly comes down on the side of the huge numbers of people throughout the world who have gradually been made definitively useless by the military-industrial, scientific civilisation that has assaulted them for some centuries, zoned them into urban wastelands and controlled them by the use of kapos, criminals and other predators. The permanent civil wars are in fact wars waged against civilians.
This very slim book is a collection of articles published in 1999 during the Kosovo conflict. It continues Virilio's castigation of the military development and deployment of information technology to the detriment of humanity. Interesting and easy to read though not as useful as 'The Information Bomb' as an introduction to the trajectory of his work.
Writing during the events of the intervention in Kosovo, he observes the military importance given to the control of information flow; hence attacks first on Serbia's electrical supply and TV services. War is a practice ground for weaponry and, as the US's leadership in orbital and cybernetic warfare strengthens, so the influence of the UN and other members of NATO declines. The huge investment in cybernetic monitoring and surveillance systems has created the hegemonic quality of the US armed forces. Now it is likely that deterrence is sustained by the threat of electronically inducing systemic accidents rather than by the mutual danger of the nuclear bomb. So the politico-military aim is to interrupt the coherent, cause mental confusion in the enemy, destabilise everyday life.
Virilio barely hides his anger at the events in Kosovo. He also explicitly comes down on the side of the huge numbers of people throughout the world who have gradually been made definitively useless by the military-industrial, scientific civilisation that has assaulted them for some centuries, zoned them into urban wastelands and controlled them by the use of kapos, criminals and other predators. The permanent civil wars are in fact wars waged against civilians.
This very slim book is a collection of articles published in 1999 during the Kosovo conflict. It continues Virilio's castigation of the military development and deployment of information technology to the detriment of humanity. Interesting and easy to read though not as useful as 'The Information Bomb' as an introduction to the trajectory of his work.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Ireland
- Books > History > Europe
- Books > History > Military History > Strategy, Tactics & Military Science
- Books > History > Military History > Wars, Battles & Campaigns
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Warfare & Defence > War & Defence Operations
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
