ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the history of the stock ticker as a key technology of modernity while also arguing that an analysis of the ticker allows for a deeper understanding of the present moment as the world disembarks analog shores for the oceans of digital data that glimmer on the horizon. It offers a brief history of the stock ticker, its function, and decline. The chapter analyzes the ticker in relation to theories of modernity, arguing that discourses surrounding the stock ticker and its visual and auditory aspects train attention within states of distraction and produce modern, speculative subjects calibrated to financial markets. It discusses the ticker’s legacy after it was engulfed by processes of computerization. The chapter explores how the ticker illuminates a variety of discourses surrounding topics such as storage and memory, the materiality of information, and the production of real-time networks.
