The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace [Hardcover]

Vincent Mosco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An often brilliant exegesis of how post-industrial thinking has come to occupy the heartland of consciousness, and of the wrenching social consequences that have attended this transition. A book that is moving, as well as erudite." -- Dan Schiller, Professor of Library and Information Science, Communication, and Media Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Witty, scholarly, and very readable The Digital Sublime limns a skeptical yet sympathetic portrait of the cyberbubble of the 1990s within its technical, cultural and economic landscape. By framing it in the context of ancient and modern myths, Mosco deftly focuses for us a sharper image of our times."--Anthony G. Oettinger, Chairman, Program on Information Resources Policy, Harvard University

"In *The Digital Sublime*, Vincent Mosco's elegant and nuanced analysis of our technological mythos demonstrates yet again the value of melding cultural studies and political economy."--Eileen Meehan, Lemuel Heidel Brown Chair in Media and Political Economy, Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University

From the Inside Flap

"An often brilliant exegesis of how postindustrial thinking has come to occupy the heartland of consciousness, and of the wrenching social consequences that have attended this transition. A book that is moving, as well as erudite."
--Dan Schiller, Professor of Library and Information Science, Communication, and Media Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Witty, scholarly, and very readable The Digital Sublime limns a skeptical yet sympathetic portrait of the cyberbubble of the 1990s within its technical, cultural and economic landscape. By framing it in the context of ancient and modern myths, Mosco deftly focuses for us a sharper image of our times."
--Anthony G. Oettinger, Chairman, Program on Information Resources Policy, Harvard University

"In *The Digital Sublime*, Vincent Mosco's elegant and nuanced analysis of our technological mythos demonstrates yet again the value of melding cultural studies and political economy."
--Eileen Meehan, Lemuel Heidel Brown Chair in Media and Political Economy, Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1St Edition edition (February 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026213439X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262134392
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,013,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prometheus Fired, April 16, 2004

By 

Ian Nagy (Ottawa, ON.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace (Hardcover)

In 'The Digital Sublime', Vincent Mosco presents a delightfully written and wide-ranging look at the rise of cyberspace and the Internet. As a native New Yorker, he brings a unique and informed perspective to the task.

Drawing on the power of 'myth' to both explain the world as it is and create a vision for the future, Mosco provides an engaging historical look at the mythical language of technological progress.

Whether the telegraph, electricity, radio, t.v., cable, or of course the Internet; all were said usher in the 'end' of history, politics, or geography. The rhetoric of promise for each of these developments was heralded in terms that today we find quaint, even amusing. But Mosco shows how all of these echo in the modern myths of cyberspace.

Mosco points out how quickly promises like these collapse into banality; into the routine of everyday "so what?" Only in doing so however, is their social impact the greatest. Electricity may have been hailed with rapturous and magical wonder at first; but it literally had to disappear into the woodwork before it mattered at all.

I won't ruin the last chapter, except to say it makes the previous five indispensable, and vice versa.

Thought-provoking, and laugh out loud funny at times ["you call that jumpy little picture on my desktop a video?"], readers will find it hard to put down.

A treat for those at all familiar with Mosco's academic work, and a wonderful point of entry for those who aren't.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mythic/Power, July 11, 2004

By 

M.B. (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace (Hardcover)

The poignancy of Vincent Mosco's Digital Sublime is its in-depth knowledge of the power of myth in investing our everyday lives & technologies with certain cultural meanings and aura. According to Mosco, it is myth, i.e. the aura of myths, which both enthralls and beckons enthusiasts and consumers alike towards new technologies and economies with utopian dreams; that in the end, time and time again, eternally return back to the mundane and the banality of everyday life. For Mosco, it is when these mythic cycles manifest and dissipate, both literally and figuratively, that we as humans begin to realize and understand the power of myth in enshrining our everyday lives and technologies with sacredness. This sacredness is distinctively the product of our human desire to transcend and is an intimate feature of human existence. Enjoy.

11 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars [A] Muddle, February 14, 2006

By 

M.B. (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace (Hardcover)

[A] review is in essence factually devoid of temporal limits. Like eXistenZ, a review is a continuing line extending ad infinitum into eternity.

i) This book does not possess much philosophy; thus not suited

for philosophy.

ii) This book does not possess much ontology; thus not suited

for ontology.

iii) Ergo, this book is philosophically and ontologically a

muddle of asymmetries and nomologics.

iv) Moreover, as a result of this, this asymmetrical,

nomological muddle is as well mirrored in prior reviews.