On the Existence of Digital Objects

Description

How can digital objects be understood according to individualization and individuation? Yuk Hui creates a dialogue between Martin Heidegger and Gilbert Simondon and contextualizes it within the history of computing. Interdisciplinary in philosophical and technical insights, Hui's work develops an original, productive way of thinking about the data and metadata that increasingly define our world.

Yuk Hui is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media in Leuphana University in Germany. Bernard Stiegler is head of the Institut de recherche et d'innovation of the Centre Pompidou.

"The object of this remarkable, groundbreaking book is as elegant as it is profound-to provide us with a radically objective account of the digital objects that populate our world, both on- and offline. On the Existence of Digital Objects is a truly innovative and philosophically grounded 'object oriented ontology' that is designed for and can scale to the increasingly complex orders of magnitude confronted in the twenty-first century."-David J. Gunkel, author of The Machine Question "Hui adeptly blends his technical training and philosophical knowledge to address a fundamental question: what is the relationship between technological and humanistic concerns?"-Public Books "Hui unveils the political agenda of "bringing society together" where "techniques can be re-inscribed in culture", conducted through a clear and documented essay."-Neural "Hui's project is remarkable for a conceptual engagement with twentieth-century philosophies of technology (Simondon, Heidegger, Husserl, Stiegler, Ellul) that pushes these theories further by confronting them with questions of the digital."-Radical Philosophy