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ENTERING A NEW EPOCH, AGAIN?

Critique on Paul Virilio Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm by Yuliyana

Goranova

Paul Virilio is a French cultural theorist called archeologist of the future. He is

famous for his phrase: te lo!ic of ever increasin! speed lies at te eart of te

or!ani"ation and te transformation of te contemporary #orld(1997: 9). Virolio is an

alumnus of the or!onne together "ith #erloau$Pont% under the super&ision of 'eleue

"hich influenced his philosophical attitudes formation. Virilio*s humanitarian

!ac+ground and engagement "ith social pro!lems (as an acti&e participant in different

associations concerned "ith the housing of the homeless in Paris) successfull% com!ine

"ith the influence of the ideas of "ar strateg% and spatial planning o&er him.

,n his "or+s Virilio challenges also the accepted modern and postmodern theories

of "ar architecture politics and especiall% techno culture. He has man% "ritings

concerning the pro!lems of ne" technolog% as -ar and inema: the /ogistic of

Perception (1909) pen +% (1997) 2he ,nformation 3om! (4555)and others.

2he article peed and ,nformation: %!erspace 6larm (4551) is originall%

pu!lished in$e monde %iplomatique8 one of the periodicals in "hich he is a mem!er of

the editorial !od% "hich gi&es the author the pri&ilege to present his ideas in one of the

most authoritati&e humanitarian ournals.

2he structure of the tet is organied in three parts. ;ach of them presents a

certain side of the pro!lem "hich Verilio calls c%!erspace alarm (4551: 1). ,n the first

one he depicts the main features of the t"in phenomena of immediac% and

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instantaneit% (Virilio 4551: 1) as a serious pro!lem for the contemporar% "orld. 2he

author suggests that the dominance of real time o&er real space and geosphere