Virus is a Language
AI, QAnon, COVID-19 and the New Abnormal
Published on 21. October 2025
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-915983-37-4 (ISBN)
Description
On how Generative AI and cults such as QAnon spread digitally and culturally follow the same rules as biological viruses.
Viruses can be biological, digital, or cultural. All share basic viral properties that can be analyzed as a language (with its own principles, grammar, and vocabulary), which can help us achieve a better understanding of how they propagate and mutate. This is crucial for controlling their impact on human society. Generative AI, the Covid-19 pandemic and QAnon are the case studies. They are used to develop a full theory of Virus as a Language. The goal is to foster a conversation on viruses in various parts of society. And, in some ways, to learn to "speak" virus, so as to better think through such concepts as percentages, exponential growth, infection, immunization, mutation, agency, and extinction.
The book will help concerned readers understand and navigate our strange, complex world. In particular, it offers new insights on Generative AI, COVID-19 and other pandemics to come, Facebook, QAnon, and similar phenomena that impact almost everyone.
Viruses can be biological, digital, or cultural. All share basic viral properties that can be analyzed as a language (with its own principles, grammar, and vocabulary), which can help us achieve a better understanding of how they propagate and mutate. This is crucial for controlling their impact on human society. Generative AI, the Covid-19 pandemic and QAnon are the case studies. They are used to develop a full theory of Virus as a Language. The goal is to foster a conversation on viruses in various parts of society. And, in some ways, to learn to "speak" virus, so as to better think through such concepts as percentages, exponential growth, infection, immunization, mutation, agency, and extinction.
The book will help concerned readers understand and navigate our strange, complex world. In particular, it offers new insights on Generative AI, COVID-19 and other pandemics to come, Facebook, QAnon, and similar phenomena that impact almost everyone.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Illustrations
15 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUS.
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
420 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-915983-37-4 (9781915983374)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2025
Goldsmiths Press
€24.49
Available for download
Person
An academic in the Cultural Studies of Science and Technology Chris Hable Gray is a well known authority on human-machine systems, especially cyborgs (Cyborg Citizen, lead editor of The Cyborg Handbook and Modified: Living as a Cyborg). He is also known for his work on how digital technology shapes society, including AI and other computing approaches to war (Postmodern War; Peace, War and Computers). His work includes hundreds of articles-peer reviewed and otherwise-in a dozen disciplines and fields. He has been a guest professor at University College Cork in Ireland, Jan Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, the University of Toronto in Canada, and has lectured extensively in the Netherlands, the UK, and Spain.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introducing a Spiraling World
Controlling Ourselves
Accelerating History
Beyond Fallacies and Illusions
The Relentless Calls of the Sirens
A very important note on language
1: Viral Principles
On the Necessity of Speaking Virus
The Grammar of Virus
Viral Life Cycles
Language is a Virus From Outside Space
2: Viral Vocabulary
'Ronaverse Slang
Technical Dictionary
Rhetorical Variants
Hosts, Vectors, Catalysts and Controls
3: Viral Ideas
Conspiracies: Burning Books, Bodies, Minds, 5G Towers, Fevers
Science and COVID-19
Spreading Vaccines
Dangerous Cultural Contagions
4: Culturing Cultures
Viral Evolution and Civilization
Plagues in History
Fashions and Fads, Status and Solidarity
Violence Begets Violence
5: Political Contagions
The Rise of Algorithmic Intelligence
The Politics of Social Media
QAnon-The Gamification of Alienation
Why Black Lives Matter, Matters
6: Mutational Economies
Sacred Hungers
Surveillance Capitalism
Going Full Circle
Spreading Innovations and Digital Proliferations
7: Speaking Virus-Cyberpunk Style
The Dialect of Cyberpunk
The Panoptic Present
Veillance and Viruses
The Affordances of Our Cyberpunk World
8: Viral Futures-New Abnormals
No Normal
Weird Lessons
Predictions and Possibilities
Living in Pompeii
Cited Sources
Illustrations, Figures, and Tables
Index
Introducing a Spiraling World
Controlling Ourselves
Accelerating History
Beyond Fallacies and Illusions
The Relentless Calls of the Sirens
A very important note on language
1: Viral Principles
On the Necessity of Speaking Virus
The Grammar of Virus
Viral Life Cycles
Language is a Virus From Outside Space
2: Viral Vocabulary
'Ronaverse Slang
Technical Dictionary
Rhetorical Variants
Hosts, Vectors, Catalysts and Controls
3: Viral Ideas
Conspiracies: Burning Books, Bodies, Minds, 5G Towers, Fevers
Science and COVID-19
Spreading Vaccines
Dangerous Cultural Contagions
4: Culturing Cultures
Viral Evolution and Civilization
Plagues in History
Fashions and Fads, Status and Solidarity
Violence Begets Violence
5: Political Contagions
The Rise of Algorithmic Intelligence
The Politics of Social Media
QAnon-The Gamification of Alienation
Why Black Lives Matter, Matters
6: Mutational Economies
Sacred Hungers
Surveillance Capitalism
Going Full Circle
Spreading Innovations and Digital Proliferations
7: Speaking Virus-Cyberpunk Style
The Dialect of Cyberpunk
The Panoptic Present
Veillance and Viruses
The Affordances of Our Cyberpunk World
8: Viral Futures-New Abnormals
No Normal
Weird Lessons
Predictions and Possibilities
Living in Pompeii
Cited Sources
Illustrations, Figures, and Tables
Index