Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace

Vincent Mosco,

ISBN 10: 026213439X / ISBN 13: 9780262134392

Published by MIT Press (MA) April 2004, 2004

About this Item

The digital era promises, as did many other technological developmentsbefore it, the transformation of society: with the computer, we can transcend time, space, and politics-as-usual. In The Digital Sublime, Vincent Mosco goes beyond theusual stories of technological breakthrough and economic meltdown to explore themyths constructed around the new digital technology and why we feel compelled tobelieve in them. He tells us that what kept enthusiastic investors in the dotcom erabidding up stocks even after the crash had begun was not willful ignorance of thelaws of economics but belief in the myth that cyberspace was opening up a newworld.Myths are not just falsehoods that can be disproved, Mosco points out, butstories that lift us out of the banality of everyday life into the possibility ofthe sublime. He argues that if we take what we know about cyberspace and situate itwithin what we know about culture -- specifically the central post-Cold War myths ofthe end of history, geography, and politics -- we will add to our knowledge aboutthe digital world; we need to see it 'with both eyes' -- that is, to understand itboth culturally and materially.After examining the myths of cyberspace and goingback in history to look at the similar mythic pronouncements prompted by pasttechnological advances -- the telephone, the radio, and television, among others --Mosco takes us to Ground Zero. In the final chapter he considers the twin towers ofthe World Trade Center -- our icons of communication, information, and trade -- andtheir part in the politics, economics, and myths of cyberspace. Interpreting the myths of the digital age: why webelieved in the power of cyberspace to open up a new world.

Seller Inventory # 45427

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA) April 2004
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 026213439X
• ISBN 13: 9780262134392
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Used - Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art - New Media - General

About this title

Synopsis

Examines the myths of the digital era and other technological advances--such as the telephone and television--and explains why people feel compelled to believe that digital technology is destined to open up a new world.

About the Author

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Vincent Mosco is Canada Research Chair in Communication and Society in the Department of Sociology at Queen's University and the author of The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal.