When at the end of the 20th century people began discussing it, the ‘virtual’ seemed to be something like pure spirit, a totally non-material world, much like computers in the imagination of that time appeared non-material objects, and unlike steel in the age of mechanics. But in actual fact the virtual has manifested itself as an impure spirit, a spirit imbued with matter, one that has way more to do with the body than one would have imagined. Not a pure spirit but, if anything, a ghost, a mummy that cannot do without silicon and electric power. In other words, the spirit has shown that it needed a body, but above all the spirit has proven not to be just an inevitable burden—a painful necessity or at least a boring, inert one—but a resource, the technical support that the Web cannot do without, as all those who stood in line to buy the latest iPad know all too well.
