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>I apologize if, what I am now told quite firmly is a viral hoax, spread any
>panic.
>
>Was there?  Will there be a 'real' catastrophe?  Perhaps as JB points out
>the answer is: the catastrophe is always only virtual.  Indeed, perhaps we
>live in a situation where cataclysm never occurs.  We live in a situation
of
>only virtual catastrophes, of catastrophes which are eternally virtual.
>
>It seems that "We are dominated by bombs - virtual catastrophes which never
>explode".
>
>Off to back up my hard drive.
>
>Dr Richard Smith, PhD (Bristol)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Alasdair Crockett <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Monday, February 01, 1999 12:27 PM
>Subject: ontological infestation
>
>
>People are right to be concerned about new viruses.
>
>They are the first in a new-wave of post-structural viruses. The merest
>exposure to them can fragment one’s entire work into a myriad of
>inconclusive threads and disparate approaches. Whatever one’s
>wordprocessor, it turns any narrative text with a clear linear argument
>into an incomprehensible jumble of words, many not found in the Oxford
>English Dictionary.
>
>Only powerful computers can survive such ontological infestation, and
>the most powerful may even have their performance enhanced. Lesser
>models succumb entirely and their operating systems deconstruct
>themselves - contesting the univocal legitimacy of the binary states zero
>and unity.
>
>Yours in jest (and as yet undisclosed),
>
>Alasdair Crockett.
>
>
>Prize Research Fellow,
>Nuffield College,
>Oxford.
>
>
>



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