<nettime> vaulting theory

["Frank Hartmann" <frank.hartmann@chello.at>]

News from German Media Theory (GMT)

This weeks issue of DER SPIEGEL published a full
eight pages essay on media and theory by Hans
Magnus Enzensberger, titeled "Das digitale
Evangelium". The magazine is online but I did
not find this essay on their page.

So the old men start to bash each other: this
time it is against Virilio and Baudrillard (na
endlich). Kittler and Hörisch (why?) are
mentioned as positive examples for research done
in media history. There is an overall lament
about the lack of theory and the speed of IT
development. Mainly, the text follows the scheme
of apocalyptics vs. integrationists (a
distinction already made by Umberto Eco in the
sixties). While many cliches are found here
(e.g. on virtual sex which old men seem to
strongly believe in), some of this essay is
worth a discussion.

HME is a critic of the media as a culture
industry, which he called BEWUSSTSEINSINDUSTRIE
in 1962. In the late sixties, he published a
"Baukasten zu einer Theorie der Medien" (a
construction kit of media theory), founded the
magazine KURSBUCH and since then, was ever
present in the media as a witty and very
well-paid essayist.

~Frank

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