Invasive Species: Telecommunications Exponential Growth

Telecommunications, as Virilio points out in Open Sky, is a rapidly growing field. He argues that it will take over the most sacred and fundamental parts of our lives if we continue to let it expand at its current pace. Technological advances seem to be coming at an exponential rate. In a sense, telecommunications has been come like an invasive species- taking over in new places and difficult to keep in check.

Eye Lust
In Part III, Virilio begins his discussion with the advances that medicine is making in terms of "-scope" surgeries, surgeries that use a little camera to see inside the body without having to make an invasive cut and open the patient to many more potential risks. Doctors have a whole perspective on how they are viewing the body and how they can perform surgeries. This is also happening in the field of digital communications as the world's speed is increasing. There is a new global view that is being projected upon everyone. Cars have allowed us to move faster and thus view trees differently. As Virilio says, they are not stationary objects anymore with distinct leaves emerging from winding branches, but rather they are blurs of green that fly by on the side of the road.

Trees were a relatable example for me. When I was in third grade, I realized that I was having trouble reading the board in school. I'm sure you can guess what comes next. I needed glasses like everyone else who has that problem. It was a whole new world when I put those glasses on; everything was crisp and clear. There were clear boundaries that separated one object from the next. No longer was the table and chair one big amorphous blob, but rather it was a distinct dinner table from which the chair could be separated. Anyway, the trees had the biggest impact on me.

Before glasses they kind of looked like this:

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But afterwards I saw them as this:

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There were LEAVES. I had NO idea that everyone could actually see individual leaves. I just assumed they were blobs until you got close enough. My entire perspective changed due to technology that was able to fix my eyesight.

I believe this what Virilio is arguing. Our perspectives are changing yet again. Inventions such as IMAX offer a greater view of the world. But the world's daily pace is also much faster. So I ask, as the world progresses, will we miss more of the world because of the pace or will we see more the world because there is a medium for that? Virilio seems to think that our perspective will be manipulated and skewed if the changes are left unchecked. He thinks that ethics will be called into question. 

Cybersex

This was a section where I once again disagreed with the broad, vague claims that Virilio put out there. He seems to insinuate throughout this chapter that cybersex, or sexual encounters facilitated by digital media, will replace physical sexual encounters. I don't think that will ever be the case purely because that's how sex was designed to work. However, I would agree that digital media has opened up an entire new division of sexual opportunities. Therefore, his claims that sexual harassment complaints have increased would be valid. Also, others are using digital media in new ways to find sexual pleasure, so this market is definitely growing. However, I don't believe that "virtual pleasure" is a substitute for "real pleasure" or that "love experienced at a distance" will replace love experienced in proximity of one another. Is digital media challenging the previous ideas of sexual encounters and how so?

Escape Velocity

This chapter seemed to reiterate a lot of the same topics that Virilio had already brought up such as the law of proximity, the accident theory, etc. However, it focused more on the relationship of time and space than other chapters had. This abstract, philosophical embodiment of time is confusing for me since I still tend to view time as chronologically very linear. Virilio seems to suggest otherwise. I do agree that the space around has shrinking boundaries due to digital media yet expanding boundaries since so much more of the world is accessible.