Part 5/11:
Integral Accidents: The Paradox of Progress
Virilio didn’t just theorize on the drawbacks of speed; he provided concrete examples. He introduced the concept of the integral accident, which suggests every technological advancement carries the seed of its own unique form of catastrophe. The invention of the train, for instance, led to train wrecks. Cars, symbols of autonomy, birthed car accidents, while airplanes, despite their revolutionary ability to shrink the world, also resulted in plane crashes.