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My new book [in German] has been published! You may order it online ↑via amazon or directly ↑via Peter Hammer Verlag. Offline every decent bookshop can get it for you, too.
«Ceci, Messieurs, disait-il, c’est du Xirdalium, corps cent mille fois plus radioactif que le radium.»
—Jules & Michel Verne 1908
a blog ...
... in the strict sense of the term ...
by alexander knorr
aka zephyrin_xirdal
the li'l arrows indicate:
↑ offsite links
↵ links within xirdalium.net
↓ download links
Category Archives: excerpts
cyberculture as discourse
After elaborating on methodological concerns and before delving into detailed analysis of the representational politics in selected cyberpop examples, it is important to situate the objects of this book in their cultural context. Chapter 2 is an overview of several … Continue reading
Posted in cyberanthropology, excerpts, literature, non-fiction
Tagged academia, culture, epistemology, society
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pfaffenberger on society
Today, most sociologists accept that communities arise, not necessarily from face-to-face interaction, but rather from shared meanings. Because they are capable of promulgating shared meanings on an unprecedented scale, new communication and media technologies (including newspapers, motion pictures, radio, television, … Continue reading
Posted in anthropology, cyberanthropology, excerpts, literature, non-fiction
Tagged academia, cybernetics, epistemology, infotech, interaction, methodology, society, technology
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colossus
But—and it was a very large but—his had been the guiding brain, the one with the big overall concept, the vision. And that was the one that counted. (Jones 1966: chpt. 1) Briefly he considered his future, but … Continue reading
Posted in excerpts, fiction, literature
Tagged ai, cold war, computing, cybernetics, cyberpunk, dystopia, politics, religion, sci-fi, society, surveillance, utopia, war
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monte cristo jim
This is the islet Montecristo, where Edmond Dantès found the treasure enabling him to become ‘↑The Count of Monte Cristo‘ (↑Dumas 1844-1846) [legally for free ↓at Project Gutenberg] and to take bitter revenge. The photo shows Montecristo as seen from … Continue reading
Posted in associations, excerpts, fiction, literature, off_topic
Tagged naval, vehicles
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the simple art of murder
There are things which are interesting again and again, forever. ↑Raymond Chandler‘s essay ‘↑The Simple Art of Murder‘ (1950 [1944]) I already have read multiple times, quoted from it in ‘↑Cyberanthropology,’ and so on. Now I just stumbled over it … Continue reading
Posted in excerpts, fiction, literature, non-fiction
Tagged craft, crime, hardboiled, writing
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hello matakichi
A picture book entitled Namennayo! (Don’t Mess Around with Me!) and commercial goods modeled on those in the book are caricatures of ↑bosozoku symbolism and display a crucial aspect of such symbols and the commercial exploitation of them. This work, … Continue reading
Posted in excerpts, fiction, fieldnotes, literature, non-fiction
Tagged aesthetics, asia, bosozoku, culture, japan, vehicles
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a murder of quality
The cold was crisp and sharp like flint. (Le Carré 1962: chpt. 1) For a moment Fielding thought of Hecht pasturing in that thick body: it was a scene redolent of Lautrec. Yes, that was it! (Le Carré … Continue reading
call for the dead
[...] academic excursions into the mystery of human behaviour, disciplined by the practical application of his own deductions. (Le Carré 1961: chpt. 1) This part of him was bloodless and inhuman—Smiley in this role was the international mercenary … Continue reading
commodifying bodies
At one level, then, the commodification of the body is a new discourse, linked to the incredible expansion of possibilities through recent advances in biomedicine, transplant surgery, experimental genetic medicine, biotechnology and the science of genomics in tandem with the … Continue reading
Posted in anthropology, cinema, cyberanthropology, excerpts, non-fiction, science
Tagged appropriation, biotech, body, cyberpunk, economics, history, technology
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corpse companionship
‘Knew him personally at all, did you, sir?’ the Detective Chief Superintendent of Police asked respectfully in a voice kept deliberately low. ‘Or perhaps I shouldn’t enquire.’ The two men had been together for fifteen minutes but this … Continue reading