A History of Virulence

The Body and Computer Culture in the 1980s

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4856895
AutoresAntonio A Casilli (0000-0003-2025-1627, Edgar Morin Centre, EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences), Paris, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen16
Número4
Páginas1-31
Fecha de publicación2010-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBody & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1357-034X • E-ISSN: 1460-3632
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1357034x10383880
OpenAlexW2046559681
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas36

The recent turn in ubiquitous computing challenges previous theories of 'technological disembodiment'. In a mediascape where technology permeates bodies, the current discourse of viral information insinuates elements of fear and risk associated with both physical presence and computer usage. This article adopts a socio-historical approach to investigate the factors underlying the early emergence of such features of our social imaginary by tracking them back to the computer culture of the 1980s. Analysing both mainstream and underground press sources from 1982 to 1991, a discursive core is revealed that revolves around the 'computer virus' metaphor. Popularized in this period, this notion came to resonate with mounting moral panic over the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Anxieties about the body in computer culture are then conceptualized (and historically contextualized) along two dimensions: first, the political proximity between HIV/AIDS activists and computer hackers during the FDA clinical trials controversy of 1987-8; and, second, the ideological reinforcement provided by academic progressive elements to these political actions. The implications of these results are discussed

Action (physics · Computer security · Criminology · Epistemology · Hacker · Ideology · Linguistics · Mainstream · Media studies · Metaphor · Moral panic · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · The Imaginary · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology