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it, not only because of the invasion of the private but also
because of the fragility that is introduced by the fragmenta-
tion of cultural horizons and of the languages in which the
demands and conflicts are expressed. Intellectuals and the
social sciences must urgently take charge of accentuating
the abstract character of the social linkage that connects the
public into the new modes of symbolising and representa-
tion created by communication networks and information
flows. And today, it is by means of this new public space
that profound transformations of social identities, of the
legitimacy of political actors and of the representativeness of
intellectuals' affirmations come about.
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But the sensorium that the virtual city displays does not point
in a single direction: 'a family resemblance brings together
the diversity of screens that unite our experience of work,
home and play', especially for the new generation. It is
already some twenty years ago, when verging on her seven-
ties, that Margaret Mead wrote lucidly: 'Our thinking still
ties us to the past, to the world as it was at the time of our
infancy and childhood. Born and raised before the elec-
tronic revolution, most of us do not understand what it
means. The youth of the new generation, on the other hand,
are like the members of the first generation in a new coun-
try. We should learn together with the young how to take
the next steps'. It is in them that the new sensibilities are
formed 'detached from the forms, styles and practices that
define "culture", and whose subjects are constituted from
the very beginning by their connection/disconnection with
information technology (interface games)'. A generation has
learned to speak English by watching television pro-
grammes captured by satellite dishes, feels more comforta-
ble writing with a computer than on paper, and has a 'natu-
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