Speed and Politics, new editionWith this book Paul Virilio inaugurated the new science whose object of study is the "dromocratic" revolution. Speed and Politics (first published in France in 1977) is the matrix of Virilio's entire work. Building on the works of Morand, Marinetti, and McLuhan, Virilio presents a vision more radically political than that of any of his French contemporaries: speed as the engine of destruction. Speed and Politics presents a topological account of the entire history of humanity, honing in on the technological advances made possible through the militarization of society. Paralleling Heidegger's account of technology, Virilio's vision sees speed—not class or wealth—as the primary force shaping civilization. In this "technical vitalism," multiple projectiles—inert fortresses and bunkers, the "metabolic bodies" of soldiers, transport vessels, and now information and computer technology—are launched in a permanent assault on the world and on human nature. Written at a lightning-fast pace, Virilio's landmark book is a split-second, overwhelming look at how humanity's motivity has shaped the way we function today, and what might come of it. |
From inside the book
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... naval vessels - mutually prostheticize each other in a pursuit of the competitive advantage of speed.3 Among the key metabolic trans- formations traced in the book is the movement from the urban fortress to the open , smooth glacis of ...
... naval techniques . " Total war is omnipresent ; it is first waged on the sea because the naval glacis naturally presents no permanent obstacle to vehicular movement of planetary dimensions , " and the mobility of smooth maritime space ...
... naval proletariat is already , literally , a population of convicts , the " damned of the earth . " Marx and Engels ' new theoretical opposition to the followers of Proudhon is much like Colbert's reflection deploring French inability ...
Contents
THE DROMOCRATIC REVOLUTION | 27 |
From Highway Right to State Right | 49 |
Practical War | 73 |
Copyright | |
4 other sections not shown