Dears,
This piece is written with my 'disappeared' friend Arjen Kamphuis in
mind, and also thinking of Paul Virilio, the recently deceased French
thinker, among whose translators I am proud to have been.
A few days ago Vesna send me, off-list, and because I am supposed to be
(also) an urban geographer, a number of articles from the Dutch
architectural platform 'Failed Architecture'
https://failedarchitecture.com/about/
This one:
https://failedarchitecture.com/what-the-city-of-the-future-looks-like-if-we-dont-change-course/
sortof scared me the bezejus, not so much by what it said, but by its
succintness. So it was more a case of of 'I am shocked but not
surprised' in the end: I had been thinking along these lines about that
for quite some time.
I believe that technology as we observe it now, and as it develops
further in a linear fashion, has closed our future. We are promised, not
so much die (though we will, of course) but to live the impossible and
unhuman life of spectres in a world not only out of our control, but out
of control, period.
In fact we have existed as zombies for quite some time now.
What is it about? It is not easy (for me at last) to define, but maybe,
as a geographer, I can venture into the concept of 'the loss of space as
a void'. The 'conquest of space' (on Earth) has been ongoing for
centuries, first abolishing the 'white spaces on the map', then mapping
existing space in ever greater detail. That process is in now in its
final phase: the mapping, i.e. control, of and up to the most minuscule
of areas, the annulation of the most diminutive of interstices: there is
nowhere to hide any more.
One of the things that triggered this realision with me is the fate of
Julian Assange, holed up for 6 years now in the Equatorian Embassy in
London. Twenty years ago he could have been easily smuggled out. Well
maybe not easily, but it would have been feasible, with some ingenuity.
No longer, technology put that to rest by replacing the human by the
machine. As long as the task is single and well defined, the machine
will always beat the human. Assange will not leave the embassy, our
sensors will see to that.
That was the line of Manuel De Landa in 'War in the Age of Intelligent
Machines': the human is the weakest link of the chain and need to be
taken of the decision loop. Meaning, in fine, out of the loop
altogether. This is also, unfortunately, the fundament of 'Anglo'
culture, which gave us the twin incubus of Donald Trump and analytical
philosophy (never mind common law and constitution-less political
systems). It also spawned Silicon Valley (& associated clones) with its
dreams of libertarian anarcho-capitalism embedded in, driven by, and
resting upon various but consistently similar technologies of
domination.
And that dispensation has won. The war is over, and we lost it. Actually
I think we never really started to fight that war. I mean 'we' not as
us, on nettime or unciv, but as a population and politics at large. For
the tech-driven 'Californian Ideology' it has been a promenade, and not
even a military one. 'We' have been conquered by the soft power of
convenience, intellectual laziness, misunderstood and unprincipled
pragmatism, and not the least tby avarice, captured as we were by rule
#1 of neo-liberal capitalism: cut costs ... at all costs.
By now bookshelves have been filled with studies about 'the society of
control'. But may be its ultimate, harrowing consequences have not yet
been fully grasped: that we all are on mental, and before soon, physical
death row,for the time being with a suspended sentence. To many people
it doesn't make sense (neither does it to you probably). This because
they (you) think that they (you) still have time at your disoposal. You
do, but you no longer have space. And space primes time, always has [1].
Tech has conquered space unto its most minute detail (think nano
technology, but not only, by far). What has made me suddenly realise
this is viewing the first film in the 'Hunger Games' serie. I found it
totally repulsive, made it only in instaltments (and with quite a few
swigs of akvavit), but the technological suggestion in it is fabulous,
based as it on the mere extrapolation of existing or currently being
developed projects. Their outcome? 'Full spectrum dominance' of both
surface and airspace (maybe deep sea is still out of reach, but can we
move there?). And of course, as the term implies, of all other component
of the spectrum [2]. But interestingly enough, space is the most
difficult to seize in its entirety: there were always spaces of escape.
Till now. They are no longer (or won't be, before short). As said the
tech will see to that. And with the spread of invasive technologies of
all kinds, think IoT, but even a 'simple' smartphone [3], escape into
one's 'inner space' is also becoming increasingly difficult, and also,
before soon, impossible. And anyway, the wish to do so becomes
incresingly suspicious. There has come a, fatal, confluence moment
between tech and politics, and I am afraid we have reached it - nay that
we have passed it already some time ago .
Current politics combine a remarkable hunger for naked (which does not
mean effective) power with an even more remarkable, because
unprecedented, technical illiteracy. The latter is what the tech elite
preys upon to advance its own interests: world domination by way of out
of control advanced technology, with the syphoning off global financial
wealth and other material resources for its own benefit as a result. And
damned be the consequences since superior technology put the odds
squarely in its favor - and this again, because it so completely
dominates space.
I will not disgress on the social outcomes of all this, it has been down
at length, if not at nauseam, in books and motion pictures. Read a few
good Cyberpunk novels, (or J.G. Ballard), or look at 'period' (a
dystopian future that is) films [4] and you know enough. But the
question remains: can we do something, and so what?
Forget about 'exodus' in the wilderness, even if there is some of it
left, it doesn't help: you can run, you can't hide. Three options of
escape come to mind:
The increasing number of rich and powerful (the count of the 1%, who're
actually more something of 0,001%, continues expanding - still leaving
them a very, very tiny minority), will always need artisans for their
exclusive, expensive, and 'discriminating' tastes. These people are
allowed to live in the past, since they maintain and transmit its
skills. They will even be pardonned for avoiding thech - up to a point.
The same applies to specialised, hi-skilled servants. A demeaning but
protected position. As bearer of 'traditional' skills, valued as
'exclusive' their situation is akin to that of artisans. They too may
indulge in a less technologically embedded life (yet remain at the beg
and call of their masters).
Finally, and that is immo the only true 'exodus' option remaining, one
could let one pass of as kooky. People wrapèping themselves in aluninium
foil against electromagnetic waves are considered mad, not dangerous.
Till the day of total anihilation of all deviances come, and it will,
they will live you alone. After that, well, it'll be Mad Max I guess.
To come back to the opening sentences of this piece: Paul Virilio lived,
till quite recently and for years on end as a recluse, said to suffer
from depression. He came out of it, to his friends and admirers great
joy, for a few brilliant months. But in the period before that I always
tought that his purported despondency was due to the fact that all his
(bleak) predictions had come true, or were about to. And so they did.
Mutatis mutandis, the same applies to my friend Arjen Kamphuis, whose
extreme technological savviness and high grade activist expertise had
made him all but optimistic about the future technology was taking us
to, both because of its inherent hegemonism, and because of the sheer
unfathomable ignorance and apathy of users and political decision-makers
alike. If suicide proves to be the one (out of many) scenarios
explaining his disappearance, I will know enough.
This was it for to-day. Keep soldiering (sic) on!
patrizio & Diiiinooos!
Fiesole September 19, 2018.
--------
[1] My principal reference for this is Gunnar Olson's 'Birds in Egg/Eggs
in Bird', one of the weirdest geography books ever(my institute had a
copy, which is a rarity). Yet I could fing no better resource on line
that a review of his other book 'Abysmal, A Critique of Cartographic
Reason', but it does capturethe gist:
http://www.cartographicperspectives.org/index.php/journal/article/view/cp68-kirby/29
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-spectrum_dominance
[3] Possession on which, and having it always with you, always on, has
become near-mandatory, and will be mandatory before soon. Not having one
(or one switched of) is already highly suspect in the eyes of the
poewers that be.
[4] My favorites are 'Childrebn of Men' and 'Code 46' ...
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