Jeffrey Sconce is Associate Professor of Screen Cultures at Northwestern University, author of Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television, and editor of Sleaze Artists: Cinema at the Margins of Taste, Style, and Politics, both also published by Duke University Press.

"Sconce has written an important book that lets us tune in to some of the more disturbed and disturbing frequencies on the media-technological spectrum. It will be influential in media studies, and beyond that, in the wider effort to understand what all these devices are doing to us." - Ben Kafka (Bookforum) "A robust and multidimensional reminder of the complexity of human consciousness. . . . One impressive feature of the study is how deftly Sconce weaves together case studies, literary source material, court cases, and popular media." - Amy Ione (Leonardo Reviews) "Few recent works of media scholarship could be said to be, even occasionally, laugh-out-loud hilarious. But alongside evenhanded appraisals of delicate subjects such as mental illness and conspiracy theories, Sconce manages to deliver his salient points with comedic flair, frequently punctuating his analyses with unexpected jokes." - Leo Goldsmith (Film Quarterly) "The Technical Delusion is the first comprehensive study of what psychotic visions have contributed to shared perceptions of technology. Sconce has assembled a remarkable array of evidence and stitched it together into a compelling narrative about the imaginary history of technology over the past two centuries." - Geoff Shullenberger (The New Atlantis) "A striking, ambitious, and demanding book…. It should appeal to a wide audience, from historians of technology to media theorists and cultural studies theorists, from historians of psychiatry and psychoanalysis to psychiatrists and psychoanalysts themeslves." - Nicolas Henckes (Technology and Culture)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction: On the Spectrums  11. The Technical Delusion  212.Chipnapped  823. The Will to (Invisible) Power  1174. The System  1755. Targeted Individuals  237Epilogue: The Matrix Defense  285Notes  301Bibliography  387Index  419

Jeffrey Sconce is Associate Professor of Screen Cultures at Northwestern University, author of Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television, and editor of Sleaze Artists: Cinema at the Margins of Taste, Style, and Politics, both also published by Duke University Press.

"Sconce has written an important book that lets us tune in to some of the more disturbed and disturbing frequencies on the media-technological spectrum. It will be influential in media studies, and beyond that, in the wider effort to understand what all these devices are doing to us." - Ben Kafka (Bookforum) "A robust and multidimensional reminder of the complexity of human consciousness. . . . One impressive feature of the study is how deftly Sconce weaves together case studies, literary source material, court cases, and popular media." - Amy Ione (Leonardo Reviews) "Few recent works of media scholarship could be said to be, even occasionally, laugh-out-loud hilarious. But alongside evenhanded appraisals of delicate subjects such as mental illness and conspiracy theories, Sconce manages to deliver his salient points with comedic flair, frequently punctuating his analyses with unexpected jokes." - Leo Goldsmith (Film Quarterly) "The Technical Delusion is the first comprehensive study of what psychotic visions have contributed to shared perceptions of technology. Sconce has assembled a remarkable array of evidence and stitched it together into a compelling narrative about the imaginary history of technology over the past two centuries." - Geoff Shullenberger (The New Atlantis) "A striking, ambitious, and demanding book…. It should appeal to a wide audience, from historians of technology to media theorists and cultural studies theorists, from historians of psychiatry and psychoanalysis to psychiatrists and psychoanalysts themeslves." - Nicolas Henckes (Technology and Culture)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction: On the Spectrums  11. The Technical Delusion  212.Chipnapped  823. The Will to (Invisible) Power  1174. The System  1755. Targeted Individuals  237Epilogue: The Matrix Defense  285Notes  301Bibliography  387Index  419

Jeffrey Sconce is Associate Professor of Screen Cultures at Northwestern University, author of Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television, and editor of Sleaze Artists: Cinema at the Margins of Taste, Style, and Politics, both also published by Duke University Press.

"Sconce has written an important book that lets us tune in to some of the more disturbed and disturbing frequencies on the media-technological spectrum. It will be influential in media studies, and beyond that, in the wider effort to understand what all these devices are doing to us." - Ben Kafka (Bookforum) "A robust and multidimensional reminder of the complexity of human consciousness. . . . One impressive feature of the study is how deftly Sconce weaves together case studies, literary source material, court cases, and popular media." - Amy Ione (Leonardo Reviews) "Few recent works of media scholarship could be said to be, even occasionally, laugh-out-loud hilarious. But alongside evenhanded appraisals of delicate subjects such as mental illness and conspiracy theories, Sconce manages to deliver his salient points with comedic flair, frequently punctuating his analyses with unexpected jokes." - Leo Goldsmith (Film Quarterly) "The Technical Delusion is the first comprehensive study of what psychotic visions have contributed to shared perceptions of technology. Sconce has assembled a remarkable array of evidence and stitched it together into a compelling narrative about the imaginary history of technology over the past two centuries." - Geoff Shullenberger (The New Atlantis) "A striking, ambitious, and demanding book…. It should appeal to a wide audience, from historians of technology to media theorists and cultural studies theorists, from historians of psychiatry and psychoanalysis to psychiatrists and psychoanalysts themeslves." - Nicolas Henckes (Technology and Culture)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction: On the Spectrums  11. The Technical Delusion  212.Chipnapped  823. The Will to (Invisible) Power  1174. The System  1755. Targeted Individuals  237Epilogue: The Matrix Defense  285Notes  301Bibliography  387Index  419