In regards to the post suggesting that the technoliterate should know how to programming, I say absolutely yes, and absolutely not.
Absolutely yes to the idea of ubiquitous computational literacy in that if we are to know the master's tools, then yes. Program. It's good to get under the hood and be able to muck with the innards, but I personally think that knowing a little code is good for little else than being able to play with the computer/network on the sub-application level and gaining personal insights about the platform you're on. But if you think that knowing a little Python is going to free you from the cessation of power to the cyberoligarchy, I think that's optimistic. The masters largely have us lock and key, and they generally won't let you do anything they don't want you to. My rejoinder to Ruth is to say that I say that if you're going to program as a site of resistance, then get to the point where you can at least hack a LITTLE. Go over the line. Get behind the wall. This is no small task, though except for getting involved with "script kiddies", etc. Absolutely yes. but HACK, motherfucker, HACK. Get in there, be an agent o information, chaos, whatever, but take agency if you are going to program beyond experimenterism. Absoltely not in terms of saying that everyone should program is saying that this is the ultimate capitulation to technocapitals' agendas of control. Digital culture has become about technocapital's agendas of control, and to coopt and track everything it inhabits, including every second of our time. There is nothing more that the Powers would like is to see us connected 24/7 on increasingly more channels, and placing universal emphasis on programming means that it is another step towards being woven even tighter into the Temple Grandin-eque hugging abattoir machine that is pervasive computing, or the precursor to The Matrix itself. Spending more time on the computer deluding ourselves that we will somehow be empowered if we know some code (but I'm also taking the position that this might actually be possible, but I digress) separates us from the source of real power, and that is the foot. What we are seeing in the US with the Occupy movement is perhaps not as sexy as Wikileaks, but hopefully illustrates that the true power is with people, in the street. But then, the "Arab Spring" as they call it in the US, might show a third object, which I might cal Augmentarianism. What I am getting at is that people like those in Egypt, Tunisia, and even Assange and Anonymous augment and leverage flesh and soul power to use computation, as Engelbart and Fein might have thought as "cognitive amplifiers". The use of social media allowed amplification of mass will to lens real power in the agora. To code is not to amplify the will to power or the will to subvert hegemony, but the ability to deftly manipulate tools such as code, social media in concert with flesh, brick, mortar, and soul is perhaps the way we can empower ourselves. However, I feel that universal programming is very against my contention that we have to be able to be aloof to the Matrix (don't have to be on), but this is another matter entirely. _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
