Villa, Upon Entropy
In his 1979 essay The Postmodern Condition, Jean-François Lyotard stated that the introduction of the computer and information technology at large define not only a society, but a condi- tion at large and a stage of progress in which knowledge turns into a commodity. Modern and postmodern appear here as two stages of a process that is the outcome of science’s conflict with narratives: while trying to distance itself from the ground of narratives and “fables” that, given their fictional nature, are not compatible with scientific knowledge, science must nevertheless produce its own ground of legitimisation. If the modern incredulity towards narratives turns to metanarratives, the post- modern incredulity towards the latter unites with a condition in which knowledge becomes a matter of exchange, i.e. shifts, in Platonic terms, from sophia to sophistry. The present work picks up the challenge offered by such nihilistic paradox under the sign of the image. Medium par excellence, the image is exactly what modern science – and the modern spirit at large – tries to liberate itself from, in the quest for an absolute transparency. Such a transparency is here investigated in architectonic terms, and in accordance with the most recent developments in physics – i.e. quantum mechanics and information theory.
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