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In recent years, the word 'virus' has lost its biological perimeter of reference to acquire a much broader - could say 'paradigmatic' - meaning. The term 'virus' can be seen as a key word or an explanatory model also for processes that go beyond the infectious sphere. Every event appears to have a viral character: from the way information is transmitted to the processes of cultural globalization, from the impact of human beings on the planet to the subversion of ecosystems, from pandemic risks to the demographic increase on the planet. This seems to be indeed the Age of the Virus. Its model can be applied to most of the phenomena that characterize the twenty-first. Its profile - its looming and invisible nature, its ability to use other people's resources to spread and to transform into a dangerous doppelganger - is perfect to represent the fears of the contemporary age.

This book sheds light on the most philosophically interesting of contemporary objects: the cell phone. Despite their name, this book argues that cell phones are not really all that good for sound and speaking. Instead, the main philosophical point of this book is that mobile phones have come into their own as writing machines - they function best in text messages, email, and archives of all kinds. Their philosophical urgency lies in the manner in which they carry us from the effects of voice over into reliance upon the written traces that are, this book argues, the basic stuff of human culture

Philosophical Readings, ISSN 2036-4989, features articles, discussions, translations, reviews, and bibliographical information on all philosophical disciplines. Philosophical Readings is an Open Access journal devoted to the promotion of competent and definitive contributions to philosophical knowledge. Not associated with any school or group, not the organ of any association or institution, it is interested in persistent and resolute inquiries into root questions, regardless of the writer's affiliation. The journal welcomes also works that fall into various disciplines: religion, history, literature, law, political science, computer science, economics, and empirical sciences that deal with philosophical problems. Philosophical Readings uses a policy of blind review by at least two consultants to evaluate articles accepted for serious consideration. Philosophical Readingspromotes special issues on particular topics of special relevance in the philosophical debates.