Recent orders
Space according to Virilios’ Overexposed City
Name
Course
Tutor
Date
Space according to Virilios’ Overexposed City
Virilio argues that technologies like automobile, train and airplane did not fundamentally present problems for the representational paradigm that understands speed and communication forces to produce effects that are visible, but distorted and interrupted the rationalized space of the industrialization city of the 19th century. To him surfaces of architecture formed boundaries and cities still well composed on locale clusters and space was still managed appropriately. Guided by his proximity law, Virilio argues that the relevant analysis interval shifts to time from space and finally to light- to the waves that allows the relativization and interactivity of time and space, with the passage to the absolute speed of today’s telecommunication from the mechanical transport of a past era. To him, the future’s city is the pleasure or the result of interval. As it follows, when the interval is light, essentially proximate space results to electromagnetic proximity and the grid of the city to the network of information; teleaction replaces immediate practice and chronopolitics replace geopolitics (Virilio 542- 49).
According to Virilio, this is the city that is overexposed, whose images range from the moderately benevolent ubiquity of computer screens, televisions and fax machines to the horrifying forced entry of the nuclear flash into the darkest recesses of Hiroshima. To him, space has disappeared. For in the city that has been overexposed, the organism of architecture is not opaque anymore, it is not occlusive and it has been inscribed with information that is visible just like the body of humans, on which it took its ideas and inspiration from, vulnerable and porous to the intrusion forces that are just as visible as an electron, and just as less real. These distinctions, there and here, exterior and interior, and private and public, on which architecture depends on, are no longer useful and they no longer hold, and the resulting territory insecurity ranges into one’s own body from the cities (Virilio 542- 49).
His later works pursued the notions of the fusion of biology, technology, and the way the environment is arranged, and points out to us that destruction and perception can be distressingly coterminous. This article, however, explores the notions of disappearance and shows new ways which one can use to analyze the structures of a city that can no longer be seen in the locations and materials that realize it. Since the current system of the world is not as global as fundamental, like a shot of a cinema of the night tables of the author receding into pixels that are one dimensional, information technology becomes the only representational solution to the new representational challenges. According to these arguments, it is clear that Virilio thinks and indicates that space has disappeared (Virilio 542- 49).
To further indicate and express this point, an example of a statement made by the mayor of Philadelphia in the 1960s when the black revolts were in full swing is used. The mayor pointed out that ‘….from now on, state lines cross inside the city….. (Virilio 543). While this statement was largely a political reality for numerous individuals in the United States, it more essentially opened onto a dimension that was more meaningful and wider especially because the Berlin wall had just been put up. Since this time, the statement the mayor made kept on being proved true. This is exemplified by the case of Belfast and Londonderry whereby the two streets recently were marked with a yellow line. This band was supposed to divide Catholics and Protestants, before the two warring groups moved away leaving a no- man’s land behind that even created a stronger division between these two neighborhoods (Rondanini 234- 54). After this, another city, Beirut followed suit with its west and east regions, its local frontiers, mined boulevards, and tunnels. It is argued that this declaration made by a large American metropolitan leader underlined general phenomenon that affected provincial cities and capitals (Virilio 542- 49).
This phenomenon of compulsory bashfulness, in which industrial companies, just like cities, suffered the first effects of an economy that was multinational, led to an essential redeployment of cities. On one hand this led to the disruption of some cities that were predominantly working – class cities like Sheffield, and Liverpool in England, St. Louis and Detroit in the US, and German’s Dortmund. On the other hand, new city centers came up around large international airports- what are referred to as the metroplex. These airports were build with the beginning of the international economic crisis that occurred in the 1970s for the purposes of conforming to the imperatives in defense against buildings that were hijacking cities and were no longer build in respect to the traditional constraints of technology, but were build to reduce the risk of contamination by terrorists (Virilio 542- 49).
Sites were designed to discriminate between a non- sterile zone from a sterile zone. All circuits and breaks of circuits, as well as, the general traffic flow were put through a discriminatory system of transit. As it follows, the architectural forms of the buildings became less the outcome of the individual personality of architects than of the required precautions taken for the safety of the public. As the last gateway of the state the airport was more established as a fort, the train station or the harbor of the past, the place where it is necessary to regulate communication and exchange. For the same reason, it also became the appropriate field to exercise high surveillance and intense control experimentation. A border and air patrol was also established, and their exploits on antiterrorism made news headlines.
From this time, it was not simply matter of segregating the suspected or contagious person through confinement like it was done in the past, but rather of intercepting the threat in the course of their journey so as to examine his clothing and baggage electronically; thus the sudden abundance of cameras, detectors, and radar at compulsory passageways (Virilio 542- 49).
Absurdly, the very equipment and technology designed and developed for the greatest freedom in travel provided for a model for prison incarceration. In the past, in a number of residential areas in the US, security was performed only by televisions that well closed- circuit connected to police headquarters. In supermarkets, banks, and highways, several tollbooths were erected to resemble the old city gates, too show that the passage rites are no longer broken, that they have in turn become immanent (Virilio 542- 49).
With such a perspective without horizons, the manner through which an individual gains access to a city is not through a city gate, or a triumph arch, but rather through an audience system managed and controlled electronically whose users are not really inhabitants of the city or privileged residents as they are interlocutors who are permanently on the move. From this point, continuity breaks occur a few times within the boundary of an urban space that is physical or its register than within a time’s span, a span that industrial and technology redeployments have incessantly restructured through sets of interruptions like unemployment, company closures and work schedules that are variable; and through simultaneous or successive transformations that have managed to reorganize and organize the milieu of the city, like, for example, the large townhouses located near Lyons whereby the inhabitant turnover rates went so high that it resulted to the destruction of a residential complex otherwise seen as satisfactory (Virilio 542- 49).
It is argued that since men first began to make use of enclosures, the idea of what a boundary was has gone through different changes which concern both what it faces and façade. To the screen from the fence, the surface of boundaries has been continually altered, either imperceptibly and perceptibly. Its more current changes are maybe that one of the interface. The queries of a city’s accessibility then must be rephrased to ask whether a greater metropolis still has a façade. To ask at what time the city can be indicated to facing us. The author further argues that the popular expression of the past century that people had of saying that they are going into the city has been notably been replaced by going to the city. This according to the author embodies an uncertainty concerning relations or associations of the opposites, as if individuals were no longer ever at the city’s front but always inside it. If the city still is located and takes a considerable amount of land, or a geographical position, it no longer keeps in touch with the ancient division between a country and a city, nor with the opposition between periphery and center (Virilio 542- 49).
The axiality and the localization of the layout of the city faded some time ago. It is argued that the suburbia was not the sole culprit of this dissolution. The very opposition extramural versus intramural was itself made weak by the revolution in the communication and telecommunications development and in transportation, which in turn resulted to the vague conurbation of a city fringe. The author puts it that we are currently witnessing a phenomenon that is paradoxical in which the construction opacity materials is virtually being done away with. With the emergence of structures that are portative, curtain walls made of transparent materials and light are replacing the faced made of stone at the same time that the paper used for tracing, plexiglass and acetate used in project surveys are replacing the opaque characteristic of papers (Virilio 542- 49).
The issue of disappearance of space is further emphasized by Henri Lefebvre who launched a search for a unitary theory of mental, physical, and social space with the declaration that, ‘…..the fact is that around 1910 a certain space was shattered. It was the space of common sense, of knowledge, of social practice, of political power, a space hitherto enshrined in everyday discourse, just as in abstract thought, as the environment of and channel for communications…..’ (Lefebvre 177). He further points out that perspective and Euclidean space have disappeared as reference systems, along with other past commonplaces like history, town, paternity, traditional morality, the tonal music system, among others.
Daniel Defert, on the other hand, argues that for almost twenty years, spaces remained substantially misunderstood and unexplored. He further puts it that urbanism and architecture do not constitute an entirely autonomous or isolated field (Defert 280- 81). Tom McDonough is another author who talks of disappearing and disappeared space. This particular author argues in one of his articles that under capitalism that is advanced, ‘…. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation…..’ (McDonough 254). Just as Lefebvre argued, this author puts it that the corollary to this in spatial discourse was that space that was directly lived in or what he referred to as the representational space had gone away into the space of the perceived and conceived or what he called the representations of space. He argues that concrete, social space was denied in favor of abstract, mental space, or commodity’s free space. According to him, however, this thoroughly dominated space was not faultless, in fact, he argues that it was filled with contradictions, hidden and covered by an ideology that was homogenizing.
These contradictions are what according to the author made it possible for the struggle resulting from the situationist project; the construction of spaces and exploration of psychogeography that made the difference. The experimental behavior of situationists and their inhabiting practice was an operation or activity in space that had become dominated that meant to contest or compete for the retreat of the directly lived into the representation of realm, and hence, to compete or challenge the society’s organization of the spectacle itself. This, just like the other two authors, supports that claims by Virilio that space has already disappeared.
Works cited
Defert, Daniel. ‘Foucault, Space and the Architects’. 1997. Print
Lefebvre, Henri. From ‘the Production of Space.’ From La Production de l’espace. Paris: Anthoropos, 1974. Print
McDonough, Tom. ‘The Naked City’.
Rondanini, Nunzia Architecture and Social Change Heresies II, Vol. 3, No. 3, New York, Neresies Collective Inc., 1981. Print
Virilio, Paul. ‘The Overexposed City.’ La Ville Superposee from L’espace critique. Paris: Christian Bourgeois, 1984. Print
Craig, Anderson, et al the influence of media violence on youth, psychological science in the public interest, 2003, Vol.4 (3
Craig, Anderson, et al the influence of media violence on youth, psychological science in the public interest, 2003, Vol.4 (3) p. 81-110.
The article “the influence of media violence on youth” was published for the National Institute of Mental Health but due alterations effected by the surgeon general without prior knowledge of these authors; they opted to publish it on their own. They modified the report and updated several sections before publishing it in the psychological science in the public interest. The report was then availed to the public through the periodical’s site.
There are a total of eight authors who have served in different capacities in the department of psychology from their respective universities and colleges. The lead author, Craig Anderson has been awarded a Fellow status by the American Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association. The other authors have diverse knowledge on psychology and other related areas as they have written several publications on psychological issues. Present among them is the dean of the college of communication thus providing great assistance in the area of communication and its impact on the society. One can therefore say that the article was written from an expert’s point of view since a great deal of consideration was taken before the publication was made public. The fact that they felt the Surgeon General’s copy was mere representation and not an actual publication was clear indication that they took their time and would not provide anything less than the actual report.
The authors have taken a new method of looking at media violence and whether adverse effects are as a consequence of these games. They look at scientific methods within which they can either prove or disapprove the previous studies that have implicated media violence on causing aggression among the viewers. They also want to look for ways within which they can create mitigating measures for any adverse effects that may be perpetuated by these games or interactive media. They begin by classifying the different types of aggression that are possibly not well elaborated in the many researches that are carried out. Several federal agencies like the 2000 federal commission report; professional groups like the Eron, Gentry & Schlegel’s 1994 report for the American psychological association; and individual researchers like John Steinfield have all in one way or the dealt with the issue of media violence and its effect on the youth (p.82).
The purpose of these authors is to bring out the scientific conclusion on the effects of media violence on the youth by answering five critical questions (p.82). First, what does research say about the relationship of violence, aggression and the media? Secondly, the theoretical explanations on how media violence produces its effect on aggressive and violent behavior. Third, what moderator effects can be applied to reduce the influence of the characteristics that are most influential? Who are most susceptible to the characteristics? Fourthly, how accessible and widespread is violence media especially to the youth? Last but not least, how can the society counteract the effect of media violence on the individuals most susceptible? These questions provided a basis for their research and the basis for this report. They prepared this report to suite all types of audiences that may be interested in reading such a research. Whether professionals or not, the audience can readily understand what is being relayed by the authors. The research carried out by these authors is conclusively detailed to fit the audience that comes across these findings.
The most important aspect that is perpetuated by these authors is that there are several factors that should not be overlooked by other researchers who would like to venture in this area of psychology. They also serve to dispel allegations that media is the sole cause of aggression but reiterate that there are a number of factors that come to play when violence is looked at greater details. Violence is as a result of various effects that come from long term conditions placed on an individual. Other than media, other factors come alive when an individual becomes aggressive (p.84). The authors try to look at these other aspects and alienate the ones that are directly linked to the media and violent interactive media. They look at the meta-analysis of different researches that have been carried out over the last four decades and look for evidence that directly links media to aggressive behavior. The authors try to distinguish between inherent factors and external factors that lead to aggression and look for intervention measures that would otherwise be used for moderating these behaviors. Sparse reviews suggest counter-attitudinal and parental mediations as core interventions that could be used to reduce these characteristics. They cite reports that have been published earlier to show just how different researchers perceived violence depicted by the media (p.90). As a basis for their discussion, they look at the meaning of different aspects portrayed by other researchers on the area of violence and tend to delineate the media from being the major cause of violence. Though studies show that children who watch other children fighting in the media are less likely to call an adult when faced with a similar situation, the authors contemplate that an individual who takes violence as a means of settling quarrels will definitely accept violence as a solution.
The authors’ approach on this topic is very insightful they offer new directions on the way the media can be involved and how certain measures can be taken to drastically reduce the expected results. They look at a myriad of solutions that distinguish the major types of aggression and how they can be detected and solved. They term short term effects of violence as coming as a result of observational learning, imitation, arousal and excitation, and priming. This may be true but according to social cognition, these imitations could only occur if an individual has had a pressing issue that he sees solved particularly via violence. If there are any issues at home and an individual sees someone in the same situation solving it through murder, the individual will then take that as an option. If a male adolescent has in any way been harassed by a female and then sees a violent treatment of women in a movie, then there are higher chances of the individual being assaultive in the way they handle women (p.95). Long-term effects are seen as a result of observational learning, atomization of aggressive schematic processing and emotional habituation. So far, the authors agree with my point of view that the media is not the direct cause of violence and aggression but a recipe for an aggravated individual who has not found a way of dealing with their own problems.
My idea is that violent media does not lead to aggressive behavior and these authors have just proved that. They suggestive that violence will only be a result if the model used is attractive or similar to the viewer in that they can identify with the situations presented. Only associated stimuli cause resultant behavior which in this case is aggression. This, the authors cite, is critical especially when the society is involved. If the society condones violence, then the situations affecting the individual could be related to that environment and solved in such ways. They answer questions concerning the use of scientific research to quantify behavioral practices in a way that is easy to understand and digest information therein. They tackle the critical questions adequately and provide detailed information that is helpful for other researchers willing to carry out extensive research in this area. They also provide a basis for others who would like to use this information as their foundational argument. For the readers, they aid them in understanding the various ways in which they can assist individuals addicted to these games and different ways in which they can help reduce cases of aggression especially among the youth.
Works cited:
Craig, Anderson, et al the influence of media violence on youth, psychological science in the public interest, 2003, Vol.4 (3) p. 81-110.
U.S Economies
Name
Course
Course instructor
Date
U.S Economies
Currently, years after recession the GDP per capita and unemployment are very low instead of growing because the crisis was caused by systematic banking. Systematic financial crisis tends to deeply influence a nation’s financial system compared with borderline crises. Economic recovery for a normal recession takes shorter time especially in a V-shaped recovery where the economy returns to trend within a year or two. The post WWII systematic crisis took four and half years to recover. The Great Depression’s recovery was the strongest in U.S history unlike the current 8% growth which is considered as low.
Moreover, there is another issue of cumulative population growth where a 2% real GDP growth did not have any effect on an average person’s income. However, presently, 2% annual GDP growth implied a more than 1% increase in real income per individual. Reinhart and Rogoff argue that the vigorous recovery that followed post WWII crisis returned to its peak faster yet the current financial crisis is still hitting U.S so hard since 2007 (Web). Aftermath of US financial crisis is different from the post war systematic financial crisis that was experienced around the world.
The post war recovery preceded the creation of deposit insurance in 1933 as well as the establishment of a central bank in the U.S. The government played a major role in the economic recovery during the post-World War II leading to faster recovery. According to Reinhart and Rogoff, U.S has fared well compared to other advanced economies which underwent borderline episodes when assessed in terms of GDP per capita (Web). Systematic financial crisis has however made U.S track worse than the countries that did not experience it. Post WWII saw a huge contraction in per capita GDP when compared with the recent crisis. Vigorous growth in output per capita had hardly been experienced in the historic systematic financial crises.
Also, unemployment rate is meaningfully low and may closely be associated with lower rates after 1907 panic when compared with the post WWII unemployment rates. Reinhart and Rogoff assert that unemployment rate during the post WWII was not that serious even though it involved a severe systematic financial crisis (Web). Employment recovery is weaker in the post-WWII compared with the current recovery. The unemployment rate has remained constantly high since 2007-2008 crises unlike post WWII when employment peaked off immediately. Generally, the recent recovery is slower than the post-WWII.
Works Cited
Reinhart And Rogoff. This Time Is Different, Again? The US Five Years after the Onset Of Subprime. VOX, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://www.voxeu.org/article/time-different-again-us-five-years-after-onset-subprime-0>.