Technological prosthesis

International media are reporting that President Obama was watching on a TV screen as a commando gunned down Osama bin Laden (White House released image) Via a video camera fixed to the helmet of a U.S. Navy Seal, White House chiefs of staff watched as bin Laden was shot in the left eye. This sequence of events has already been anticipated and rehearsed, as far back as 1984, in Paul Virilio’s prophetic vision of the prosthetics of technology whereby the eye itself, through technological mediation, becomes a weapon: 'The Eye-Tracked synchronization system fixes the pilot’s gaze, however sudden the movement of his eyes, so that firing can proceed as soon as binocular accommodation is achieved. Finally, there is the “homing image”, which joins together an infra-red ray and an explosive projectile fitted with a special device. This device acts in the manner of an eye, picking up the image of the infra-red-lit target. The projectile that makes its way towards the image – and thus towards the target for destruction – with all the ease of someone going home. The system, which is attached to the latest missiles, once again illustrates the fateful confusion of eye and weapon.' (Paul Virilio, 1989, p.110.).

Reference
Virilio, P. 1989. War and Cinema: The logistics of perception. Trans. Patrick Camiller. Verso: London. (Original work published 1984).

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