{"product_id":"what-if-vilm-flusser-9781517913663","title":"What If?: Twenty-Two Scenarios in Search of Images","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn imagination of possibilities, of miscalculations, of futures off-kilter\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Probability is a chimera, its head is true, its tail a suggestion. Futurologists attempt to compel the head to eat the tail (ouroboros). Here, though, we will try to wag the tail.\" --Vil駑 Flusser \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo years after his \u003ci\u003eVampyroteuthis Infernalis\u003c\/i\u003e, the philosopher Vil駑 Flusser engaged in another thought experiment: a collection of twenty-two \"scenarios for the future\" to be produced as computer-generated media, or technical images, that would break the imaginative logjam in conceiving the social, political, and economic future of the universe. \u003ci\u003eWhat If?\u003c\/i\u003e is not just an \"impossible journey\" to which Flusser invites us in the first scenario; it functions also as a distorting mirror held up to humanity. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlusser's disarming scenarios of an Anthropocene fraught with nightmares offer new visions that range from the scientific to the fantastic to the playful and whimsical. Each essay reflects our present sense of understanding the world, considering the exploitation of nature and the dangers of global warming, overpopulation, and blind reliance on the promises of scientific knowledge and invention. \u003ci\u003eWhat If? \u003c\/i\u003eoffers insight into the radical futures of a slipstream Anthropocene that have much to do with speculative fiction, with Flusser's concept of design as \"crafty\" or slippery, and with art and the immense creative potential of failure versus reasonable, \"good\" computing or calculability. As such, the book is both a warning and a nudge to imagine what we may yet become and be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Vil駑 Flusser\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1517913667\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781517913663\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Minnesota Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/03\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 120\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.30w x 0.70d","brand":"Vil駑 Flusser","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44053102035199,"sku":"9781517913663","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ce7c7dbb-9558-446e-9c2c-3eb3e04f0ea0.jpg?v=1685022418","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/what-if-vilm-flusser-9781517913663","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}