Marco Toledo Bastos

Spectral: Meaning Coded into Binary Digits Marco Toledo Bastos

Spectral offers a nuanced analysis of the discontinuities of code and language that give shape to meaning-making systems. The spectral meaning mirrors an age not of information overload, but rather of surplus of meaning, as it investigates how the legacy system of writing evolved to binary digits and changed the processes of signification. The author introduces the concept of meaning mainly in the light of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, claiming meaning operates both at the creation of language and at the event of communication. Meaning is therefore a horizon of connectivity that binds one piece of information to another. Every theory of meaning relies to a certain extent on a theory of communication, and this book is no exception. Based upon Luhmann's radical constructivist approach to meaning and communication, Spectral delivers a panorama of open and interconnected selections that give shape to digital communication.