Astonishment and boredom

Abstract

The categories of astonishment and boredom appear frequently in Vilém Flusser’s work. Applying them to the artifacts of communication and cultural environments, the thinker dialogues with some seminal ideas of Western philosophy; which are presented as being fruitful for a non functionalist Media Theory. Among these concepts are the notion of technics for Heidegger and flâneur for Baudelaire/Benjamin. The antithetical pair proposed by the author projects itself in different forms: things, tools, technical, flâneur, convalescents and children.