Heidegger, Habermas and the Mobile Phone (Postmodern Encounters) Book

Move over e-commerce, mantra of the late 20th century ? welcome m-commerce, catchword of the new millennium! Everyone remembers ?It?s good to talk?, the cosy slogan of the telephone at the end of the last century. But now we are witnessing a global campaign to promote the mobile: as a credit card, Internet link, e-mail port and, if you still have time, voice-mail junction. By 2003, we are told, there will be 900 million Internet-connected mobiles. This ?Postmodern Encounter? gives the gist of the massive campaign to ?mobilise? the globe, and asks the urgent question: what is happening to the idea of ?communication?? Key thinkers of the 20th century offer an essential alternative to these new doctrines of m-communication: Martin Heidegger, who saw humanity as ?the entity which talks?, and Jürgen Habermas, current-day advocate of authentic communication. This is a close encounter between alien visions of communication ? between the conflicting utopianisms of 20th-century philosophers and 21st-century ?mobilised communication?.Read More