Re: <nettime> What do you read?

[Petter Ericson via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

On 10 April, 2025 - David Garcia via nettime-l wrote:

> Geert asked
> I am curious what you read and find interesting, enlightening, disturbing,
> beyond the ordinary news flow.

I'm currently reading a classic in Science and Technology Studies: Langdon
Winner's 'The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High
Technology', and while I'm aware that some of the examples are overblown, and
there are occasional passages where you can really tell that it was written in
the mid-80s, much of it is incredibly relevant still. I'm sure many on this
list has already read it at some point, but for those who haven't I can highly
recommend it.

Semi-relevant to David's choice is this passage, for example:
> Taken as a whole, beliefs of this kind constitute what I would call
> mythinformation: the almost religious conviction that a widespread adoption
> of computers and communications systems along with easy access to electronic
> information will automatically produce a better world for human living. It is
> a peculiar form of enthusiasm that characterizes social fashions of the
> latter decades of the twentieth century. Many people who have grown cynical
> or discouraged about other aspects of social life are completely enthralled
> by the supposed redemptive qualities of computers and telecommunications.

Best,

/P

> -------------
> I am reading Phil Tinline's book on an influential hoax "Ghosts of Iron
> Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy". Its about a
> fake (1962) 'think tanky style report with lots of foot notes 'so it must be
> true' The Report from Iron Mountain claimed that winding down America's vast
> war-making machinery would wreck the economy and tear society apart,
> necessitating draconian controls over the population.
> 
> It was published as non-fiction - and was frighteningly convincing.
> Journalists tried to find out who had written it. Worried memos reached
> right up to the president. It became a bestselling cause celebre.
> 
> Even though the hoax was revealed long ago many still refuse to believe it
> isn't real. And it has been seized on by eager figures on the political
> extremes but most energetically by the far right and militia movement, who
> insist that it revealed terrifying government conspiracies to  enslave
> Americans and even instigate eugenics. It's been regularly referenced by Q
> etc and the legacy lives on and on.
> 
> Many have defended taking it seriously on the grounds that it "feels true".
> Following the journey of this conspiracy and its many lives gave me a useful
> account on the shifting nature overview of what constitutes 'proof' then and
> now.
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Petter Ericson (pettter@accum.se)
-- 
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: https://www.nettime.org
# contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org