Joshua Malbin » copies and originals http://joshuamalbin.com Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:50:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Finite http://joshuamalbin.com/2009/09/finite/ http://joshuamalbin.com/2009/09/finite/#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:26:24 +0000 Josh K-sky http://joshuamalbin.com/?p=371 Consider a book that is preoccupied with simulacra (copies without originals), with the relation of maps to territories, a book which uses “map” as a synonym for self. Consider that this book imagines an entertainment complex dominated by on-demand entertainment cartridges and the fuson of television and computing. Consider that one of the  strands of this book that most resembles a plot hinges on the terroristic dissemination of one of these cartridges.

Now consider that in the book, published in 1996, this plan is slowed down by the discovery of a “read-only” copy when only a master copy can be used to make additional copies. The fuck is a read-only copy?

Infinite Jest gets a surprising number of predictions right. But it missed Napster.

(Caveat: I’m around p. 760. Perhaps I’ll revise this.)

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