The digital era promises, as did many other technological developments                  before 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 the                  usual stories of technological breakthrough and economic meltdown to explore the                  myths constructed around the new digital technology and why we feel compelled to                  believe in them. He tells us that what kept enthusiastic investors in the dotcom era                  bidding up stocks even after the crash had begun was not willful ignorance of the                  laws of economics but belief in the myth that cyberspace was opening up a new                  world.Myths are not just falsehoods that can be disproved, Mosco points out, but                  stories that lift us out of the banality of everyday life into the possibility of                  the sublime. He argues that if we take what we know about cyberspace and situate it                  within what we know about culture -- specifically the central post-Cold War myths of                  the end of history, geography, and politics -- we will add to our knowledge about                  the digital world; we need to see it "with both eyes" -- that is, to understand it                  both culturally and materially.After examining the myths of cyberspace and going                  back in history to look at the similar mythic pronouncements prompted by past                  technological advances -- the telephone, the radio, and television, among others --                  Mosco takes us to Ground Zero. In the final chapter he considers the twin towers of                  the World Trade Center -- our icons of communication, information, and trade -- and                  their part in the politics, economics, and myths of cyberspace.

The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace PDF

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