Pure War
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Paul Virilio's "Pure war" is the name of the invisible war that technology is waging against humanity. In a dialogue with Sylvère Lotringer, Paul Virilio displays his reflections on the effect of speed on our civilization. For Virilio, the philosopher of speed, the "technical surprise" of World War I was the discovery that the wartime economy could not be sustained unless it was continued in peacetime. As a consequence, the distinction between war and peace ceased to apply, inaugurating the military-industrial complex and the militarization of science itself.
Every new invention has a downside which we are unwilling to acknowledge in the name of progress: the invention of automobiles inaugurated car-crashes; the invention of nuclear energy, Hiroshima and Tchernobyl. The technologies of instant communications have invented pure war.
References
- Pure War. New York: Semiotext(e), 1997.
