Mediengeschichte als Historische Techno-Logie

The demise of banking confidentiality as a result of online banking has caused outrage, as can be seen from the outpourings of discontent in newspapers, on talk shows, internet forums and blogs. An NSA whistleblower has disclosed the supposed secret that everything related to the social sector, not only social media but also electronic postal communication, telephony and online shopping, is under constant surveillance. The aim of this book is not to diminish the reader’s outrage at such revelations but to moderate their surprise at them. It introduces a very specific perspective on media history, which it terms “historical techno-logy”. In this way, it also provides an introduction to its subject by asking what, essentially, media history is. The answer the book offers, namely that it is imperative that humans today know about media history because it is not they but the media that creates history, pertains to the notion of history itself. In terms of technological media, this answer relates to the literal meaning of technology as an amalgamation of “techné” and “logos”. Therefore, it relates to how knowledge combines with technology and whether it embodies knowledge or stems from it or whether the opposite is the case.