Into the Universe of Technical Images

<div>Poised between hope and despair for a humanity facing an urgent communication crisis this work by Vilém Flusser forecasts either the first truly human infinitely creative society in history or a society of unbearable oppressive sameness locked in a pattern it cannot change. First published in German in 1985 and now available in English for the first time <i>Into the Universe of Technical</i> Images outlines the history of communication technology as a process of increasing abstraction.</div> <div><br> 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.</div>