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Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance
 
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Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance [Paperback]

Alan N. Shapiro (Author)


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Book Description

March 2004
Our society dreams of making Star Trek's technologies real. Scientists, computer technologists and science fiction media fans strive to bring to fruition:

· the transporter with quantum entanglement · interstellar space travel with faster-than-light speed · time travel with fabricated wormholes · the Holodeck as the Holy Grail of virtual reality · universal communication with the Klingon Language · cyborgs and androids with artificial intelligence · contact with aliens as the future that must take place

But does Star Trek's worldview coincide with the unbridled high-tech enthusiasm of recent years? Or is there a tension between the show's originality and the Borg-like assimilation of its creativity by the Star Trek industry? Focusing on the stories themselves, the author reveals the basic principles behind Star Trek that contest the ideology of mainstream technoscience, consumer culture, and liberal humanism promoted by Paramount Pictures.

Bringing together the passion of a true fan and an intellectual reflection on science, technology and media culture, Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance explains the real reasons for Star Trek’s global mass appeal for the very first time. The encounter between thought and a popular subject mutually transforms both, and brings about genuine movement in ideas.


Editorial Reviews

Review

A brilliant essay on the "science and culture of technologies" that genially and ingeniously uses Star Trek as a pretext. -- NoemaLab, September 2004

A truly original, truly formative rethinking of Star Trek as a prism by which to understand contemporary times. -- Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, May 2004

Disappearance turns aside intended uses of technologies and unpacks their creative secondary effects. Shapiro acknowledges debt to Baudrillard and Virilio. -- Medienwissenschaft, December 2004

Shapiro makes a case that Star Trek has a much more complex ambivalence toward VR than its reputation. It's intriguing. -- Science Fiction Studies 27:3

Uncanny resemblance between Baudrillard and Star Trek: "precognition" of Baudrillard's keywords and "pataphysical technologies" -- transporter, warpspeed, time travel, Holodeck. -- Nach dem Film, September 2004

About the Author

Alan N. Shapiro was born in New York City and studied at MIT and Cornell University. He has lived in Germany since 1991, and has fifteen years' professional experience as a software developer. He also taught sociology at New York University. He has recently lectured at the Humboldt University Media Studies Institute in Berlin, and at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 372 pages
  • Publisher: AVINUS Verlag (March 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 3930064162
  • ISBN-13: 978-3930064168
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.7 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,154,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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