Myths, Gods, Machines : Post Egoism Media : 9780997135619 : 0997135611 : 16 May 2016 : In this new collection of essays cultural critic John David Ebert traces the history of what Jacques Derrida termed "Transcendental Signifieds" as they have evolved from the archetypes of ancient myth through the philosophical Ideas of German Idealist philosophy and on down to their disintegration into the floating signifiers of today's consumer society. From myth to philosophy to science, these ultimate signifieds have undergone many transformations: beginning as the Sumerian gods, Ebert carefully traces the impacts of science and technology upon these Ideas as they changed over the millenia, finally becoming dismantled by Heidegger's "abbau" and then dangerously assaulted by the Unabomber's attempts to assassinate the very men of science who are creating today's mass of consumerist archetypes. Science and popular culture have deconstructed the ultimate signifieds of ancient ritual, symbol and myth,