Week Twelve: Paul Virilio and John Armitage

Analyzing the speed of cyberspace against the timeline of
history and cultural theory

In his essay posted recently online titled, “Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!,” French cultural theorist Paul Virilio discusses how the two phenomena of “immediacy and instantaneity,” which are prevalent all across the Internet in society today. He states that these two concepts are plaguing military and political members because it provides instant connections across the globe within seconds.

Virilio discusses the three forms of speed, which include light, heat, and sound. Both the barriers of heat and sound have been broken over the course of history. The heat barrier was broken when astronauts reached outer space and traveled to the moon. The sound barrier was broken when airplanes produced sonic booms. Now, the speed of light has not occurred but providing results and information in real-time is quite a feat.


Through the invention of perspective, Virilio states that “the city, politics, war, economy, and the medieval world became revolutionized. He explains that cyberspace serves as a new form of perspective because it is almost tactile in nature because it allows us to hear and see at a distance. This interesting concept allows two individuals to tele-connect over a large distance.


However, Virilio is quick to mention that a loss of orientation occurs with this new phenomenon because reality and virtual reality become intertwined. He states that a “mental concussion” occurs to individuals who experience cyberspace and virtual reality. This concept is true with those who are addicted to video games and virtual simulation also found online. Individuals now are capable of spending real money in a virtual world to garner relationships and live a completely different life somewhere else—perhaps; these users feel like this virtual world has now become their ideal world.


As a result, Virilio discusses how there is not a system of globalization but rather virtualization. He mentions that whatever is gained from cyberspace is often lost in another realm such as the real world. While it is true that individuals can live a completely different life online and through video games, the loss that occurs in the real world is imminent. Both spouses and families are affected by these virtual families and connections and ultimately, when an individual sought out affection in one virtual realm, they realize that they have lost it in the real world outside of cyberspace.


By producing an object or service, an individual now is responsible for producing the problems that occur as a result. When the automobile was created, it was a revolutionary way to travel. However, after its invention, numerous car crashes occurred and people were injured. As a result, each product has an unexpected danger or addition of a loss to society.


Furthermore, author John Armitage provides a critical analysis of Virilio’s essay by discussing the terms of hyper-modernism and how culture is dominated by war. Armitage explains the reinforced city as a military war model often described by Virilio, which became part of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. He states Virilio’s beliefs that technology is largely “catastrophic, not castastrophist” because of the impact of techno-science and alienation, which occurs as a result. Perhaps this aesthetic criticism of technology provides a modernist cultural response to the Enlightenment.