The faustian bargain: the interactive television that we would (not) like to have

Abstract

The text is born of a rhetorical question: If we could make a pact with the Devil, what kind of interactive television would we stipulate?The answer requires us to reflect above all on the value we give ITV as a new technology, and it warns us about the risks of using the simple model of means and goals.If we ask a new gadget what problem it solves, we might get an answer biased by a certain amount of technological determinism that would distort the role that the device plays in its social surroundings and could impede our seeing what we would really be mortgaging our souls for..