Electronic Revolution (U.S. Edition)

This English-language book, which influenced a whole generation of artists and writers in the 1970s and '80s, is divided into two parts.Part one, entitled "The Feedback from Watergate to the Garden of Eden" invokes Alfred Korzybski’s views characterizing man as "the time-binding machine" due to his ability to write.Author Burroughs sees the significance of the written word as a distinguishing feature of human beings, which enables them to transform and convey information to future generations.He proposes the theory of the "unrecognized virus" present in language, suggesting that, "the word has not been recognized as a virus because it has achieved a state of stable symbiosis with the host."Part two, "Electronic Revolution," concerns the power of alphabetic nonpictorial languages to control people. It draws attention to the subversive influence of the word "virus" on humans, and dangerous possibilities of using human voice as a weapon.Recording words on tape recorders, employing the "Cut-up technique," or "photoshopping sound" can easily lead to fake news broadcasts and garbled political messages, causing confusion and psychic control over individuals.One can easily see how Burrough's prescient ideas played out in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which was obvious affected by fake news and over-the-top, antagonistic rhetorich, leading to deep divisions in Western society. Read more