Product Description

In the aftermath of the methodical destruction of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, the power and efficiency of new computerized weapons and surveillance technology have become chillingly apparent. For Manuel DeLanda, however, this new weaponry has a significance that goes far beyond military applications; he shows how it represents a profound historical shift in the relation of human beings both to machines and to information. The recent emergence of intelligent and autonomous bombs and missiles equipped with artificial perception and decision-making capabilities is, for Delanda, part of a much larger transfer of cognitive structures from humans to machines in the late 20th century. "War in the Age of Intelligent Machines" provides a panorama of these astonishing developments; it details the mutating history of information analysis and machinic organization from the mobile siege artillery of the Renaissance, the clockwork armies of the Thirty Years War, the Napoleonic campaigns, and the Nazi blitzkrieg up to present-day cybernetic battle-management systems and satellite reconnaissance networks. DeLanda's account is a philosophical and historical reflection on the changing forms through which human bodies and materials are combined, organized, deployed, and made effective.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101348 in Books
• Published on: 1992-02-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Customer Reviews

Intriguing and imaginative, an alternative history
There are far too many 'popular' science books around; many have to make large concessions to their readerships in order to be palatable. If you have been anywhere near Gilles Deleuze or Paul Virilio then an alternative is available, and this book seems to fit in rather well into this neo-tradition. It is fun to read, academic but sprinkled with lively accounts and some eye-popping bits of information that will make you think "why aren't we told these things?" but not written in an unbearably chirpy style. I will be making references to it in my academic work for sure.

Must reading for wireheads
De Landa strikes me as a popularizer, but what he lacks in theoretical rigor he more than makes up for with discipline, serious intent, and sheer vision. Best antidote in print to the kind of mostly ignorant, ahistorical cyberphilia that dominates too much of "Wired" and other ongoing public discussions of our technological future. If you like this, you must not miss "A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History", which advances his methods and insight to a much wider, even more significant level.