When one raises the question about the risks of accidents on the information highways, the point is not about the information in itself, the point is about the absolute velocity of electronic data. The problem here is interactivity. Computer science is not the problem, but computer communication, or rather the (not yet fully known) potential of computer communication … At the very moment that a military-informational complex is taking shape with some American political leaders, most prominently Ross Perot and Newt Gingrich, talking about “virtual democracy” in a spirit reminiscent of fundamentalist mysticism, how not to feel alarmed? How not to see the outlines of cybernetics turned into a social policy?
Predictor: Virilio, Paul
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article in Le Monde Diplomatique, Paul Virilio, the emblematic French theorist of technology and author of “Pure War, Speed and Politics,” and “War and Cinema: the Logistics of Perception,” writes: ”When one raises the question about the risks of accidents on the information highways, the point is not about the information in itself, the point is about the absolute velocity of electronic data. The problem here is interactivity. Computer science is not the problem, but computer communication, or rather the (not yet fully known) potential of computer communication. In the United States, the Pentagon, the very originator of the Internet, is even talking in terms of a ‘revolution in the military’ along with a ‘war of knowledge,’ which might supersede the war of movement in the same way as the latter had superseded the war of siege, of which Sarejevo is such a tragic and outdated reminder. Upon leaving the White House in 1961, Dwight Eisenhower dubbed the military-industrial complex ‘a threat to democracy.’ He sure knew what he was talking about, since he helped build it up in the first place. But comes 1995, at the very moment that a military-informational complex is taking shape with some American political leaders, most prominently Ross Perot and Newt Gingrich, talking about ‘virtual democracy’ in a spirit reminiscent of fundamentalist mysticism, how not to feel alarmed? How not to see the outlines of cybernetics turned into a social policy?”
Biography:Paul Virilio was a French technology theorist and author of “Pure War, Speed and Politics” and “War and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception.” (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: August 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Democracy
Name of publication: Le Monde Diplomatique
Title, headline, chapter name: Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=72
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney