Ground Zero

by Paul Virilio, Chris Turner (Translator)

How would it be if what we take for human advance were simply a technological progress that literally leaves us out of its equations? What if progress is not humanity striking out bravely towards the future, but an ultimately destructive force? In a remarkable tour d’horizon, Paul Virilio paints a bleak picture of current scientific, cultural, social and political values. Art has succumbed to the techniques of advertising and in politics, the battle for hearts and minds has become a mere convergence of opinion. TV ratings have triumphed over universal suffrage. The events of September 11 reflect both the manipulation of a global sub-proletariat and the delusions of an elite of rich students and technicians who resemble the ‘suicidal members of the Heaven’s Gate cybersect’. And, in this post-humanist dystopia, we are morally rudderless before the threat of biological manipulations as yet undreamt.

About the series: Appearing on the first anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these series of books from Verso present analyses of the United States, the media, and the events surrounding September 11 by Europe’s most stimulating and provocative philosophers. Probing beneath the level of TV commentary, political and cultural orthodoxies, and ‘rent-a-quote’ punditry, Baudrillard, Virilio, and Žižek offer three highly original and readable accounts that serve as fascinating introductions to the direction of their respective projects, and as insightful critiques of the unfolding events. This series seeks to comprehend the philosophical meaning of September 11 and will leave untouched none of the prevailing views currently propagated.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, Art, Terrorism, Technology, Politics

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2002

About the author

Paul Virilio is a cultural theorist and urbanist. He is best known for his writings about technology as it has developed in relation to speed and power, with diverse references to architecture, the arts, the city and the military.

Reviews

[Holly Raymond · Rating 1 out of 5]

I generally appreciate Virilio, but there is some really troubling transphobia in this particular text. Between this and Zizek's 'Violence,' there's a strange, unreconstructed strain of machismo that I think one could trace all among these latter-day cultural critics which comes at the detriment of their work and will probably stand as kind of an embarrassing stain when people start to think about it critically.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a text that unsuccessfully tries to connect every aspect of pop science and Western thought, philosophy, and history under the guise of ALL of these things being somehow pressingly relevant to 9/11 and it's immediate aftermath. It's funny, really, how Virilio, while quite adept at displaying the sheer volume of stuff he knows, never really gets around to talking about 9/11 much at all. There were a few sections that contained interesting and rather good points, but I found the author's thought process too muddled for me to make much sense of what he was trying to say most of the time. Indeed, I still fail to understand the intentionality behind Virilio's writing this book.

2 stars.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite sure if the author is sincerely concerned about the ethical quandaries brought on by his conception of biopolitics. Perhaps it is an artifact of translating the text but at times, it appeared to be unclear what Virilio was getting at. It also seemed as though the central crux, being ethics and biopolotics, was merely a spring board for him to address other concerns, which at times didn't appear to be pertinent to the topic at hand. If I chance on another text by him, I'll give it a read, maybe then I'll begin to understand his line of thought.

[tout · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically incoherent. I really wanted to get something out of this and keep trying to get something from him but it's seeming difficult. There were fragments that were interesting, swimming in sea of other fragments.

[Walid · Rating 1 out of 5]

pretentious motherfucker. try and talk about the event itself, at least!

[Neil Saltmarsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

You need a dictionary for a lot of the terms that Mr. Virilio uses, and if you do, this book provides thought provoking ideas. The idea that our technologies are so we can do the things we were forbidden by children to do and that make us self-centred rings true when I see the infantilism of a lot (not all) of a generation who have their heads bowed before the god of technology and see themselves reflected in the black mirror. Later, it heads towards the arts, of which I have scant knowledge, but can follow the argument that art has been integrated with technology and what that means as an experience of art. Finally, the segregation of pockets of the states and the setting up of camps and different zones outside the legal systems of countries, shows the growing influence of a global covert state. It is a shame that it such a small book but totally thought provoking.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vrilio often fluctuates between being deeply insightful to coming across as a Luddite, though this specific work utilizes more metaphorical language to where knowledge of Vrilio’s other work feels necessary for identifying Ground Zero’s greater implications. The book’s value is less as a meditation on 9-11 and more as a reflection on cultural traumas.

That stated, Vrilio’s transphobia is obvious in this work.

[Charlie Kruse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frenetic and prophetic, if a little dated. Virilio questions mankind's relationship with progress and technology and wonders if we are being outpaced by our own cognition. The chapters are short but each paragraph is loaded with historical quotes and precedents, leading to a truly apocalyptic vision.

[Giovanni Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dos estrellas por el trabajo de Turner.

[Karla Kitalong]

I was reading for specific questions and didn't find them. So it was a fast read.

[Andrew Bourne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scattered and chatty.

[Lura · Rating 1 out of 5]

why?