BARRY VACKERAcademic Bio. Barry Vacker teaches critical media studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he is an associate professor in the Klein College of Media and Communication. A professor for over 20 years, he earned a Ph.D. from the University o Texas at Austin. Vacker has authored numerous articles and books about the trajectories of art, media, science, culture, and human civilization on this spaceship we call Earth. You can find these works online (https: //temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker) and in Amazon. Existential Stance. Vacker is an existentialist without the angst-a momentary self made of star stuff from a supernova in a remote part of the Milky Way. He is the center of nothing and utterly insignificant in the universe of two trillion galaxies and a zillion space films. Specter of the Monolith contains his philosophical perspectives on how we might begin the search for humanity's meaning and purpose in the cosmos, drawing inspiration from space films like 2001 and Interstellar; earthworks like Star Axis and Spiral Jetty; and thinkers like Sartre, Lyotard, Tarter, and Sagan. Read More Read Less