本书以当代技术图像为切入点，作者发现世界两种不同的发展趋势。一个是走向由图像接收者和管理员组成的、程序化的极权社会；另一个是走向由图像制作者和图像收集者组成的、对话式的通信社会。基于此，作者对技术图像所构成的世界及其引发的问题展开观察、分析和批评。全书内容围绕十九个具体问题展开，分析技术图像的生产、表意、分布、运作、实质等问题，推断了对话式“通信社会”（Telematic society）的结构、运行机制及其对人类生活状态与生命意义的影响。

Francesco Casetti believes new media technologies are producing an exciting new era in cinema aesthetics. Whether we experience film in the theater, on our hand-held devices, in galleries and museums, onboard and in flight, or up in the clouds in the bits we download, cinema continues to alter our habits and excite our imaginations. Casetti travels from the remote corners of film history and theory to the most surprising sites on the internet and in our cities to prove the ongoing relevance of cinema. He does away with traditional notions of canon, repetition, apparatus, and spectatorship in favor of new keywords, including expansion, relocation, assemblage, and performance. The result is an innovative understanding of cinema's place in our lives and culture, along with a critical sea-change in the study of the art. The more the nature of cinema transforms, the more it discovers its own identity, and Casetti helps readers realize the galaxy of possibilities embedded in the medium.