Into the Universe of Technical Images

Title: Into the Universe of Technical Images

Author: Villem Flusser

Publisher: University Of Minnesota Press

Publication Year: 2011

ISBN-13: 9780816670215

Into the Universe of Technical Images outlines the history of communication technology as a process of increasing abstraction. Flusser charts how communication evolved from direct interaction with the world to mediation through various technologies. The invention of writing marked one significant shift; the invention of photography marked another, heralding the current age of the technical image. The automation of the processing of technical images carries both promise and threat: the promise of freeing humans to play and invent and the threat for networks of automation to proceed independently of humans.