New Criticals


Derrida's usefulness here does have its limits, at times. Though speaking to a common relationship to the computer, his remarks can appear antiquated, and he (unsuprisingly) fetishizes print. He admits that he doesn't "know how it works…[he doesn't] know – how the internal demon of the apparatus operates. What rules it obeys. This secret with no mystery frequently marks our dependence in relation to many instruments of modern technology. We know how to use them and what they are for, without knowing what goes on with them, in them, on their side; and this might give us plenty to think about with regard to our relationship with technology today – to the historical newness of this experience." [9] This "secret with no mystery." This is the common technological interaction. Unsure of how something takes place, or why, we know that there are explicit rules which we follow unknowingly. Perhaps the reverse of the epigram is partly true - we pretend to exploit it even as we obey it.