Virus is a Language

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.

Chris Hables Gray

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.