Double Vision: An Analysis of Contemporary Electronic Culture

Author: Nan Fan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-04-01
Features: Electronic communication media have designed a historically unprecedented environment for us. A series of technological marvels are integrated and profoundly transforming the culture, politics, and economy around us. Electronic communication media not only create new forms of democracy and liberation but also give rise to new forms of power and control. We must re-examine traditional cultural coordinates within this dual perspective. The shock waves generated by electronic communication media are opening up the traditional boundaries of life. McLuhan said: "New media are not bridges between humans and nature; they are nature itself." Is this assertion an exaggeration or a visionary insight?