The Story
The year is 2001. The internet has us swimming in information. New digital media like DVDs, MP3s, PlayStations, and DTVs are revolutionizing the entertainment industry. The eeconomy has redefined the marketplace. Ebooks are now available at the click of a button. And life is... what? Faster? Better? Richer? Healthier? Happier?Well if youre not exactly sure, dont be surprised. As Richard DeGrandpre spells out in this panoramic guide to the new electronic culture, all is not necessarily well in our emerging digital dreamworld. First and foremost, he explains, we are becoming digitally mastered. New digital portals are leading us into an ever more virtual reality, such that the images,rhythms, and moods of the digital environment are rapidly become the dominant images, rhythms, and moods of the mental environment. Digital technology is conditioning in us a growing desire for pluggedin worlds, he says, leaving us increasingly unsatisfied and frustrated in whats left of the unplugged world.In twentyfive original and provocative essays, DeGrandpre questions whether we as individuals or as a society have adequately considered the implications of a fullywired world, and finds considerable historical evidence that our digital culture will lead us to a time that has, literally, no place. The name of this placeless place is of course Digitopia.
Description
The year is 2001. The internet has us swimming in information. New digital media like DVDs, MP3s, PlayStations, and DTVs are revolutionizing the entertainment industry. The eeconomy has redefined the marketplace. Ebooks are now available at the click of a button. And life is... what? Faster? Better? Richer? Healthier? Happier?Well if youre not exactly sure, dont be surprised. As Richard DeGrandpre spells out in this panoramic guide to the new electronic culture, all is not necessarily well in our emerging digital dreamworld. First and foremost, he explains, we are becoming digitally mastered. New digital portals are leading us into an ever more virtual reality, such that the images,rhythms, and moods of the digital environment are rapidly become the dominant images, rhythms, and moods of the mental environment. Digital technology is conditioning in us a growing desire for pluggedin worlds, he says, leaving us increasingly unsatisfied and frustrated in whats left of the unplugged world.In twentyfive original and provocative essays, DeGrandpre questions whether we as individuals or as a society have adequately considered the implications of a fullywired world, and finds considerable historical evidence that our digital culture will lead us to a time that has, literally, no place. The name of this placeless place is of course Digitopia.
