White Noise

the long version

Born out of frustration with recent attempts to pigeon-hole 'the information revolution' as either the i-way to utopia or the devil's own dystopia, White Noise: an A-Z of the contradictions in cyberculture cuts through the vapourware surrounding the Internet and shows how the paradoxical aspects of new media (Is it masculine or feminine? Will it mean peace or war? Does it enhance community or confirm alienation?) are the expression of the inherent contradictions underlying our whole society. Andrew Calcutt is an enthusiastic champion of the potential for new communications technology, and a trenchant critic of the culture of fear and self-limitation which prevents its realization. Above all, at a time when events and social processes are often assumed to be beyond our control, he seeks to accentuate the positive capabilities of human beings and the technologies which we have created.