Baudrillard "weighs" in

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Thu Nov 14 18:17:04 PST 2002


Liza Featherstone:
> At an (admittedly) quick glance, looks to be the stupidest terrorism-related
> waste of ink I've ever seen. And it's a competitive field. Has this guy ever
> written anything worth reading?

I liked _The_Precession_Of_Simulacra_. However, I think Baudrillard has to be read much as one read the science fiction of Philip K. Dick or James G. Ballard, that is, as a sort of description of an imaginary dystopia which casts light backwards onto our own; as a description of _this_ world, it is excessive -- about three-quarters excessive, if I may use a fraction intuitively. In the case of the present article, I am reminded of another science fiction book, John Brunner's _Stand_On_Zanzibar_ (1968), which takes place in a nihilistic future where people practice terrorism for entertainment, for the hell of it, just because they can. (Technology resolutely advances; vandals apply metal-eating bacteria to the Golden Gate Bridge, and down it comes.) While globcap has its nihilistic aspects, I think it has some way to go before it reaches _that_ ecstasy of communication.

-- Gordon



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