I’m returning to Kittler more and more, and in fact trying to write about him… I hit on a treasure trove of material that I’ll say more about in future. But for the moment I wanted to post a few […]
When something ceases not to write itself
Shane Denson’s new book Discorrelated Images has captured my attention in recent weeks. It’s a fascinating investigation into the contemporary image, with an emphasis on cinema but spilling over into other forms of image-making. Denson has carved out a niche
Studies in Superlative Discorrelation
During the 2020-2021 academic year I’m lucky enough to be co-leader (with prof. Emily Apter) of a research lab at NYU focused on questions of translation. Translation is a notoriously difficult topic, not only within theoretical discussions, but also as
Transcoding, Transduction, Sampling, and Interpolation — The Four Interfaces
In the past I’ve written on how to spot digital philosophers. But let’s name names. Who exactly do we mean? Digital philosophers are many: Democritus, Leibniz, Konrad Zuse, Wittgenstein (in the Tractatus but later he inverts), Edward Fredkin, Stephen Wolfram, and many others.
“Hegel is an asshole”–Karl Marx“Hegel is an asshole”–Carla Lonzi“Hegel is an asshole”–Gilles Deleuze“Hegel is an asshole”–Rei Terada Credit where credit’s due for today’s writing prompt: Carla Lonzi’s 1970 tract “Let’s Spit on Hegel,” originally published by the group Female Revolt [Rivolta Femminile],
Radikale Indifferenz Die Verhaltens- und Rezeptionsweisen der Massen bestehen heute zumeist aus repetitiven Gewohnheiten, wobei sie als User im Internet aber keineswegs passiv bleiben, sondern sich über die sozialen Netzwerke andauernd ins pseudo-turbulente Geschehen einbringen, um emsig und beschäftigungskonform, zuweilen
Jenseits der “Kontrollgesellschaften”
A brief follow up to the previous allusion to Kant… In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant defined the analytic as containing a non-additive predicate, while the synthetic as having an additive predicate. While I still need to work out the details,
A provocation: theories of the digital have generated very little digital theory. What do I mean? And why is this the case? First, one must separate the form of digital theory from the kinds of objects it wants to study. Thus a
In a critical moment in which entire populations are forced to avoid any potential exposure to contagion by pursuing isolated lives in online-only mode, the conditions of work are more uncertain than ever. Magdalena Taube and Krystian Woznicki take this
Working, Working Together, and Networking during the Web-Hype of the ‘Corona Crisis’
It began with a list. When addressing “the birth of a new medium,” Janet Murray responded with a list of properties. Digital environments have four essential properties, she argued. Digital environments are procedural, participatory, spatial, and encyclopedic. When tasked with
I wrote before about the anti-computer. Let me continue some of those themes, using instead an adjacent label, the uncomputer. In an initial sense, the uncomputer comes out of whatever is subordinated or excluded as a result of the standard
I should have said this before, but the word itself is a monstrosity. Whosoever would attach a Greek prefix to a Latin root should be driven out of the city, egads. But let’s overlook this superficial fact, at least for
Metadata as a Problem for Thinking