Are internet protocols ruling the world? In Prolegomenon: We're Tired of Trees, Dutch author and activist Geert Lavink argues that while information networks are a large part of society and important, sovereign powers that control the state hold even more importance. However, the authors of the essay show networks are not under complete power of soveriegn rule because networks are not completely understood. They have certain non-human tendencies that cannot be controlled by people.
Is America a sovereign or network power? It is the President that makes decisions that affect the nations people, so it could be that America is a sovereign power under the rule of the government and its decisions. But it could also be argued that the white house must be working with other nations and therefore branching out through others, so as to form and rule through a network. The authors discuss these different possibilities, and ultimately end up with a new method of control, leaning more towards networks. The authors argue that the modern period is characterized by symmetrical political conflicts, for example between the Soviets and Americans, and also asymmetrical political conflicts such as with guerilla movements or terrorism. Symmetrical politics are waged by a centralized power, whereas asymmetrical politics struggle against the centralized powers. Now in the present day it is symmetrical again, but in the form of networks fighting networks.
Aoife Parkin
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Aoife: you've mostly got the right idea with the section that we read from The Exploit, but please note that the author is not Geert Lovink, but Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker.
ReplyDeleteI like your picking out of the nonhuman elements of networks... can you imagine what these would be? Are we talking about hardware, like servers and routers? Or could we expand the category even further?