Paul Virilio Quotes on Politics
Paul Virilio was a French philosopher, urbanist, and cultural theorist whose work made speed the central category of contemporary politics. This page collects quotes attributed to Paul Virilio on the topic of politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Paul Virilio:
“Speed is the hope of the West.”
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Attributed to Paul Virilio:
“Politics is no longer in space; it is in time.”
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“The first deterrence, nuclear deterrence, is presently being superseded by the second deterrence: a type of deterrence based on what I call 'the information bomb' associated with the new weaponry of information and communications technologies. Thus, in the very near future, and I stress this important point, it will no longer be war that is the continuation of politics by other means, it will be what I have dubbed 'the integral accident' that is the continuation of politics by other means.”
From Ctheory Interview With Paul Virilio 'The Kosovo War Took Place In Orbital Space: Paul Virilio in Conversation with John Armitage -
“From Ctheory Interview With Paul Virilio 'The Kosovo War Took Place In Orbital Space: Paul Virilio in Conversation with John Armitage”
The first deterrence, nuclear deterrence, is presently being superseded by the second deterrence: a type of deterrence based on what I call 'the information bomb' associated with the new weaponry of information and communications technologies. Thus, in the very near future, and I stress this important point, it will no longer be war that is the continuation of politics by other means, it will be w -
“Politics of the Very Worst , New York: Semiotext(e), 1999, p. 89”
When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck; when you invent the plane you also invent the plane crash; and when you invent electricity, you invent electrocution... Every technology carries its own negativity, which is invented at the same time as technical progress. -
“Pure War . New York, NY, U.S.A.: Semiotext(e), 1983. p. 18”
All of us are already civilian soldiers, without knowing it…The great stroke of luck for the military class’s terrorism is that no one recognizes it. People don’t recognize the militarized part of their identity, of their consciousness. -
“Pure War . New York, NY, U.S.A.: Semiotext(e), 1983. p. 30”
Wealth is the hidden side of speed and speed the hidden side of wealth. -
“Pure War (2008), p. 183”
The thing about collaborators is that you don’t know you are one whereas as a member of the resistance, you do. [In WWII,] the worst cases of collaboration weren’t among the real collaborators, that official militia, but among the people at large, who were collaborators without knowing it, by a sort of laxity, an apathy.