Overview
Negative Horizon is Paul Virilio's most original and unified exploration of the key themes and ideas running through his philosophy. Provocative and forceful, it sets out Virilio's theory of dromoscopy: a means of apprehending speed and its pivotal - and potentially destructive - role in contemporary global society. Applying this theory to Western political and military history, Virilio exposes a compulsion to accelerate, and the rise of a politics of time over territorial politics of space. In exposing what he believes to be the consequences of this constant acceleration for human sensory perception and, ultimately, global democracy, Virilio offers a vision of history and politics as disturbing as it is original.
Synopsis
Written at the interstices of history, architecture, philosophy, and politics, this study deals with such matters as changing human modes of locomotion and warfare and their effects on our perception of the world. Virilio (director, Ecole Speciale d'Architecture, France) articulates a theory of human history that centers on the notion of the constant acceleration of space and time. This constant acceleration he believes, has dangerous implications for human abilities to deal with technological change and for the prospects of global democracy. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR