John Tomlinson: The Culture of Speed. The Coming of Immediacy (2007)

Is the pace of life accelerating? If so, what are the cultural, social, personal and economic consequences?

This stimulating and accessible book examines how speed emerged as a cultural issue during industrial modernity. The rise of capitalist society and the shift to urban settings was rapid and tumultuous and was defined by the belief in ‘progress’. The first obstacle faced by societies that were starting to ‘speed up’ was how to regulate and control the process. The attempt to regulate the acceleration of life created a new set of problems, namely the way in which speed escapes regulation and rebels against controls. This pattern of acceleration and control subsequently defined debates about the cultural effects of acceleration. However, in the 21st century ‘immediacy’, the combination of fast capitalism and the saturation of the everyday by media technologies, has emerged as the core feature of control. This coming of immediacy will inexorably change how we think about and experience media culture, consumption practices, and the core of our cultural and moral values.

Incisive and richly illustrated, this eye-opening account of speed and culture provides an original, essential guide to one of the central features of contemporary culture and personal life.

Publisher SAGE, 2007
ISBN 1412912024, 9781412912020
Length 180 pages

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Paul Virilio: Speed and Politics (1977/2006)

“Speed and Politics is the matrix of Virilio’s entire work. Building on the works of Morand, Marinetti, and McLuhan, Virilio presents a vision more radically political than that of any of his French contemporaries: speed as the engine of destruction. It presents a topological account of the entire history of humanity, honing in on the technological advances made possible through the militarization of society. Parallel to Heidegger’s vision of technology, Virilio sees speed—not class or wealth—as the primary force shaping civilization. In this ‘technical vitalism,’ multiple projectile—inert fortresses and bunkers, the ‘metabolic bodies’ of soldiers, transport vessels, and now information and computer technology—mutually prosthetize each other in a permanent assault on the world and, through it, on human nature. Written at a lightning-fast pace, Virilio’s landmark book is an split-second, overwhelming look at how humanity’s motivity has shaped the way we function today, as well as a view into what might come of it.”

Keywords and phrases
glacis, total war, Vauban, Gyrovagues, deterritorialization, bourgeoisie, fascist, Clausewitz, dromocratic, Michel Poniatowski, Paris Commune, totalitarian, prosthesis, Alfred Wegener, ancien regime, Marxist, logistical, Sun Tzu, war machine

Originally published as Vitesse et Politique, Editions Galilee, Paris, 1977.

Translated by Mark Polizzotti
Introduction by Benjamin Bratton
Publisher Semiotext(e), 2006
ISBN 1584350407, 9781584350408
174 pages

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William E. Connolly: Neuropolitics: Thinking, Culture, Speed (2002)

Why would a political theorist venture into the nexus between neuroscience and film? According to William Connolly — whose new book is itself an eloquent answer — the combination exposes the ubiquitous role that technique plays in thinking, ethics, and politics. By taking up recent research in neuroscience to explore the way brain activity is influenced by cultural conditions and stimuli such as film technique, Connolly is able to fashion a new perspective on our attempts to negotiate — and thrive — within a deeply pluralized society whose culture and economy continue to quicken.

In Neuropolitics Connolly draws upon recent brain/body research to explore the creative potential of thinking, the layered character of culture, the cultivation of ethical sensibilities, and the critical role of technique in all three. He then shows how a series of films — including Vertigo, Five Easy Pieces, and Citizen Kane — enhances our appreciation of technique and contests the linear image of time now prevalent in cultural theory.

Connolly deftly brings these themes together to support an ethos of deep pluralism within the democratic state and a politics of citizen activism across states. His book is an original and rigorous study that attends to the creative possibilities of thinking in identity, culture, and ethics.

Publisher University of Minnesota Press, 2002
ISBN 081664022X, 9780816640225
218 pages

Keywords and phrases
virtual memory, apodictic, amygdala, nontheistic, Kantian, Lucretius, Gilles Deleuze, Spinoza, Citizen Kane, neo-Kantians, Epicurus, Antonio Damasio, cultural theory, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ilya Prigogine, Henri Bergson, Isabelle Stengers, existential, immanent, intersubjective

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