Introduction -- As real as it gets : Derrida -- The experiential divide : Merleau-Ponty and Derrida -- Connective tissue -- The originary disconnect -- Deconstruction and the computer -- Reality show: baudrillard -- The problem with reality -- The genealogy of value -- Hyperreality -- Disappearance and death -- The baudrillard twins -- Reality shows : Virilio -- Speed, light ,and the attack on reality -- The tyranny of real time -- The ultimate interface -- War and faith -- (...) The fate of the real : Lyotard -- Withdrawal of the real : the two waves -- Complexification and the inhuman -- Virtual intelligence -- TDers, BUers, AI, and AL -- The remainder -- Getting real(er) -- The problem of technology -- The question of alienation -- Between alienation and reconciliation -- In praise of materialism. (shrink)

Gil Germain's Spirits in the Material World reflects on the vital role technology plays in liberating humankind from the real world of space and time, and examines the broad implications of this development for contemporary society. Germain argues that we ought to be wary of our spiritual sojourn and suggests ways to offset technology's otherworldly impulse.

Open and shut -- Thinking about technology -- The problem with technology -- Evil and the empire of good -- Hall of mirrors -- Our faith -- Thinking past technology -- Living among things -- Less is more.