Jussi Parikka's Insect Media reviewed in Leonardo

"In short, Insect Media outlines a posthuman media theory that blurs the boundaries between the natural and the technological, the human and the non-human, and the living and the non-living."

Parikka_Insect coverIn his 2007 book Digital Contagions: A Media Archeology of Computer Viruses, Finnish media theorist Jussi Parikka argued that biological concepts can be applied to natural and technological systems—such as biological and computer viruses—because these systems are both based on interactions between bodies and environments that “resonate together” and “infect each other.”[1] Indeed, according to Spinozan-Deleuzian philosophy, there is no difference between nature and technology, as both of these terms refer to the same basic interaction between bodies and environments. The same premise also informs Parikka’s 2010 book Insect Media: An Archeology of Animals and Technology, which similarly argues that biological concepts can be applied to animals and technologies because both of these entities consist of forces that interact with their environment. In short, Insect Media outlines a posthuman media theory that blurs the boundaries between the natural and the technological, the human and the non-human, and the living and the non-living.

Read the full review.

Published in: Leonardo
By: Anthony Enns