David Golumbia
David Alan Golumbia was born in Detroit in 1963 and died in Richmond on the 14th of September 2023. He was an American academic and author, and his working life was spent studying the technologies that many of his contemporaries embraced without much suspicion. His death came at a moment when his career was about to take a new turn. This documentary asks what questions occupied him, where he did his teaching and research, and what role was waiting for him when he died.
In 2010, Golumbia joined the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University, which is located in Richmond. He held a professorship there for the rest of his life, a span of roughly thirteen years. The university was the home base for the research that defined him. He described that research through a short list of subjects: "cyberlibertarianism, bitcoin, blockchain, and the logic of computing". Each of those topics concerns the ideas and politics wrapped up in digital technology, rather than only the machines themselves. One of them, cyberlibertarianism, names a belief system that attaches political meaning to computing. The last item on his list, the logic of computing, points to a question about how computers shape thinking. That breadth of interest set him up for an invitation from a well-known scholarly journal.
The journal Boundary 2 had chosen Golumbia to become one of its co-editors. He was to take over from Paul Bové, the scholar who had held the position before him. The appointment recognized his standing in humanistic scholarship, and it promised him a wider platform for the questions he had pursued. It never took effect. Golumbia died from an aggressive form of abdominal cancer before he could begin the job. The transition from Paul Bové to his chosen successor therefore remained incomplete, and the editorship that was meant to carry his work forward was left without the person selected to fill it.
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Common questions
Who was David Golumbia?
David Alan Golumbia was an American academic and author, born in Detroit in 1963. He died in Richmond on the 14th of September 2023.
Where did David Golumbia work as a professor?
David Golumbia was a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2010 until his death in 2023. The university is in Richmond.
What did David Golumbia research?
David Golumbia's research focused on "cyberlibertarianism, bitcoin, blockchain, and the logic of computing". His work examined the ideas and politics surrounding digital technology.
When did David Golumbia die and what caused his death?
David Golumbia died on the 14th of September 2023 in Richmond. The cause was an aggressive form of abdominal cancer.
What was David Golumbia chosen to do at Boundary 2?
David Golumbia was selected to become a co-editor of Boundary 2, succeeding Paul Bové. He died before he could take up that role.
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12 references cited across the entry
- 1Professor David Alan Golumbia2023-09-28
- 3JournalIn Memoriam: David Golumbia2024-05-01
- 4The passing of colleague David GolumbiaVirginia Commonwealth University
- 5JournalDavid Golumbia. The Cultural Logic of Computation . 272 pp. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009. $30 (cloth).Nathan Ensmenger — September 2010
- 7JournalThe Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-wing Extremism, by David GolumbiaQuinn DuPont — 2017-09-03
- 9BookThe Cultural Logic of ComputationDavid Golumbia — Harvard University Press — 2009
- 10BookThe Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing ExtremismDavid Golumbia — University of Minnesota Press — 2016
- 11BookCyberlibertarianism: The Right-Wing Politics of Digital TechnologyDavid Golumbia — University of Minnesota Press — 2024
- 12MagazineZealots of the BlockchainDavid Golumbia — March 2018