I've learned to be wary of essays about technology by academics. Too often, these scholars are more interested in forcing technology to fit into a pet theory than in helping us understand the complex interplay between technology and society.
Flame Wars, a collection of essays edited by Mark Dery, has all the markings of this genre: it is an expanded edition of the traditionally academic South Atlantic Quarterly (Fall 1993) and is subtitled "The Discourse of Cyberculture" (cyber prefixing is always a bad sign). But Dery turns out to be well aware of the dangers of "intellectual carpetbagging," and most of the selected writers have come back from the badlands between technology and society with startling insights.
See, for example, Erik Davis's brilliant essay tracing some of the metaphors that shape how we think about information - from the Gnostics of the 1600s to the fictional worlds of Philip K. Dick and William Gibson. Or read Anne Balsamo's analysis of the myths surrounding feminism and technology.
While there are a few essays that crumble under their postmodern rhetoric , they are rare and easily avoided. This book is crucial reading: it will change how you view the future.
Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture, edited by Mark Dery, US$14. Duke University Press: +1 (919) 688 5134.
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