In this book, Virilio paints a bleak picture of current scientific, cultural, social and political values. Art has succumbed to the techniques of advertising and, in politics, the battle for hearts and minds has become a mere convergence of opinion. TV ratings have triumphed over universal suffrage. The events of 11 September reflect both the manipulation of a global sub-proletariat and the delusions of an elite of rich students and technicians who resemble the suicidal members of the Heaven’s Gate cybersect . And, in this post-humanist dystopia, we are morally rudderless before the threat of biological manipulations as yet undreamed of.