The denaturing process proceeded as

The denaturing process proceeded as three waves of related events. Each wave was more or less distinct from the others, but they reinforced each other and at times flowed together. In the first wave language was denatured, in the sense that it was seen not as a mimetic representation of the world of objects but as a sign system generating significance internally through series of relational differ-ences. In the second wave context was denatured when information technology severed the relationship between text and context by making it possible to embed any text in a context arbitrarily far removed from its point of origin. In the third wave time was de-natured when it ceased to be seen as a given of human existence and became a construct that could be conceptualized in different ways. With language, context, and time all denatured, the next wave, as I have intimated, is the denaturing of the hum an. While this fourth wave has yet to crest, it is undeniably building in force and scope.