ABSTRACT
In Part I, the conceptualizations of the abstractness that underlies digital technology culminated in Kittler’s approach, which presents the digital as the über-medium we do not, and cannot, fully understand yet. In this regard, Kittler shares the perspective of McLuhan, who, notwithstanding the title of his book Understanding Media (1995 [1964]), argues that seeking to understand the social significance of the media is like trying to drive a car by only looking at what is in the rear-view mirror: you only see what you have already left behind.
