In the early years of the third millennium, the Voyager 1 space probe exited the solar system, but not before turning its cameras back toward Earth, revealed to be a tiny speck receding into the cosmic void. Like Earth disappearing in its own rearview mirror, modernity is crashing into its vanishing points, where it confronts five apocalypses -- nuclear, virtual, ecological, secular, and cosmic -- each with its own ground zero -- Trinity, Tomorrowland, Gaia hypothesis, Apollo 8, and the Big Bang. Is it the end of the future, or are we destined for a future already lived, or is it time to make a stand for a new future?
Crashing Into the Vanishing Points is the second book in the THEORY ZERO series, published by Theory Vortex Experiments. Jean Baudrillard said that theory -- if it is to be salvaged after 9/11 and in the new millennium -- could be reconstructed on the 'theme of zero.' Drawing from art, media, science, and philosophy, this book series by Barry Vacker uses zero as countdown and blastoff for theorizing the existential conditions of postmillennial culture. And here is the key question -- are any models for a future utopia possible after the three zeros of 2000?