The Technical Delusion: Electronics, Power, Insanity

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Delusions of electronic persecution have been a preeminent symptom of psychosis for over two hundred years. In The Technical Delusion Jeffrey Sconce traces the history and continuing proliferation of this phenomenon from its origins in Enlightenment anatomy to our era of global interconnectivity. While psychiatrists have typically dismissed such delusions of electronic control as arbitrary or as mere reflections of modern life, Sconce demonstrates a more complex and interdependent history of electronics, power, and insanity. Drawing on a wide array of psychological case studies, literature, court cases, and popular media, Sconce analyzes the material and social processes that have shaped historical delusions of electronic contamination, implantation, telepathy, surveillance, and immersion. From the age of telegraphy to contemporary digitality, the media emerged within such delusions to become the privileged site for imagining the merger of electronic and political power, serving as a paranoid conduit between the body and the body politic. Looking to the future, Sconce argues that this symptom will become increasingly difficult to isolate, especially as remote and often secretive powers work to further integrate bodies, electronics, and information.

E-Book Content

THE TECHNICAL DELUSION This page intentionally left blank T H E T E C H N I CA L D E L U S I O N JEFFREY SCONCE Electronics, Power, Insanity duke university press ​· ​Durham and London ​·  ​2019 © 2019 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer­i­ca on acid-­free paper ∞ Designed by Matthew Tauch Typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro by Westchester Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Names: Sconce, Jeffrey, [date] author. Title: The technical delusion : electronics, power, insanity / Jeffrey Sconce. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2019. | ­Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2018027896 (print) lccn 2018034463 (ebook) isbn 9781478002444 (ebook) isbn 9781478000761 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn 9781478001065 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: lcsh: Mass media—­Psychological aspects—­ History. | Mass media—­Technological innovations—­ History. | Mass media and culture—­History. Classification: lcc p96.t42 (ebook) | lcc p96.t42 s38 2019 (print) | ddc 302.2301/9—­dc23 lc rec­ord available at https://­lccn​.­loc​.­gov​/­2018027896 Cover art: Richard Powers, Portrait of Kafka. © The estate of Richard M. Powers. F O R LY N N This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowl­edgments ix introduction: On the Spectrums 1 1 ​· ​The Technical Delusion 21 2 ​· ​Chipnapped 82 3 ​· ​The ­Will to (Invisible) Power 117 4 ​· ​The System 175 5 ​· ​Targeted Individuals 237 epilogue: The Matrix Defense 285 Notes 301 Bibliography 387 Index 419 This page intentionally left blank A C K N O W L­E D G M E N T S writing a book in the twenty-­first ­century is an increasingly delusional enterprise, and I have many p­ eople to thank for their help and advice as this symptom slowly cohered. First, my thanks to the many audiences who listened to pre­sen­ta­tions of this material over the past few years and offered feedback, as well as ­those who invited me to speak at their seminars, exhibitions, and events. In France, my thanks to Phillippe Baudouin, Jeff Guess, Pascal Rousseau, and Gwenola Wagon. In Germany, my thanks to Dagmar Brunow, Ole Frahm, Andreas Stuhlmann, and Babette Tischleder. Thanks also to Kass Banning, Brian Price, and Megan Sutherland at the University o
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