Technology – Pike & Hurricane

A Society of Control: The actuality of Gilles Deleuze’s thoughts in the 21st century

Franziska Fink — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 18:19:33 +0000

Eighty-eight years ago, in 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote his infamous dystopian novel, Brave New World. Huxley tells the story of a futuristic World State in which all citizens are constantly happy, as well as content with the social order. They have been conditioned from birth by an overarching powerful state apparatus to accept the role they have been assigned to. Injustices such as owning less than others or having to do dull work are thus not perceived as discriminatory, but rather joyfully accepted. Moreover, the citizens’ entire perception of reality and truth is generated and controlled by the state. Of course, the mechanisms of control are hidden away from the general public and are only known by a small elite of so-called World Controllers. They govern, respectively dictate, with the best intent, namely for the purpose of creating social stability by brainwashing everyone into happiness: “Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.”

Huxley’s World State shares many features with what Michel Foucault has termed a “disciplinary society”. Initiated by the systemic organization of vast spaces of enclosure, members of disciplinary societies can be constantly controlled as they move in between easily observable locations: from their home to school, to factories, possibly to hospitals and prison—all institutions that are placed under the state’s surveillance and, thus, subjects within those become easy targets to control. Foucault placed this kind of society in the 18th and 19th century, during a simpler time, when an ordinary person’s life probably did not entail more than going to school and later in life to work in a factory.

“I imagine Foucault terrified if he saw what kind of society we are living in nowadays.”

To people that have been brought up in a liberal democracy which cherishes plurality of opinions and ideas, this form of societal and political organization seems, unsurprisingly, repellent in its entirety. Not being able to express, not even being given the chance to develop, one’s own understanding and opinion of how our society should look, appears a drastic deprivation of fundamental rights.

I imagine Foucault terrified if he saw what kind of society we are living in nowadays. A society so complex and so intertwined with technology, yet nonetheless so young in regard to the proliferation of that technological hegemony, that there are simply no mechanisms in place that has the capacity to control these novelties. Yet, quite the opposite seems to be the case: We live in a society of technological control, so far-reaching that not even the godfather of this theory, Gilles Deleuze, could have imagined it.

“In contrast to Huxley’s World State members, people in our post-modern society of control are not controlled through psychologically conditioned beliefs, but rather trough the mechanisms of the “bubble” in which they move.”

While the individual in a disciplinary society was placed in different institutions of control, the contemporary individual living in a control society is in constant modulation, Deleuze states. With our phones, laptops, and tablets always within a short distance, we are constantly coerced in various forms of communication. On the one hand, this has triggered a new form of global interconnectedness and awareness. The revolution in information and communication technology spread power to the masses by creating a unique global space for human development. Local events can now instantly trigger global consequences, grassroots movements like Fridays for Future are only one telling example. Nevertheless, this new space can also be used for destruction.

In contrast to Huxley’s World State members, people in our post-modern society of control are not controlled through psychologically conditioned beliefs but rather through the mechanisms of the “bubble” in which they move. These are characterized and nourished by determinants such as our social environment, socioeconomic status and educational background, but also by our virtual interactions.

Our own personal truth and material reality is subsequently generated by algorithms which constantly provide us with the type of news we would like to see; disinformation and fake news determine election outcomes and people become more prone to conspiracy theories and dangerous movements.

“What is already clear, is that we will not end up with the benefits which the members of Huxley’s World State enjoy.”

What is unique about our contemporary society of technological control is that it appears as if there is no all-encompassing political agenda behind all of this. Of course, the technology is used by different political groups to realize their interests, whether this is done through the spreading of fake news about their opponents or through the hacking of foreign elections. But the ones who essentially developed—and are in charge of managing powerful and influential platforms like Facebook or Twitter—the actual puppet-players, seemingly have commercial benefits as their basis of interest, in contrast to sound political goals. The World Controllers imagined by Huxley or the ruling elites of disciplinary societies, exercised control predominantly for control’s sake. Yet, nowadays, thanks to the egalitarian mechanisms of the internet, everyone has the potential to become a powerful player and to use this control in their own interests. This automatically creates a kind of virtual anarchy, in which the means for control does not resonate with its ends.

Since this development is still so young, it is too early to predict how it will unfold. What is already clear, is that we will not end up with the benefits which the members of Huxley’s World State enjoy. Facilitated by a totalitarian state, they gain social stability, a great sense of community and a strong group identity. But they nonetheless pay for it with their rights of individual development and active political participation. In contrast, the post-modern version of Deleuze’s society of (technological) control in which we find ourselves, accelerated exactly these facets; it also makes us pay for it, in turn, with data, privacy and the complete dependency on our phones and laptops.

Neither of these alternatives sound too attractive to live with. What to do? After having discovered the perversion of the system in which he lives, one of the protagonists of Brave New World dealt with his newly gained knowledge by leaving civilization behind and fleeing into the woods. Sounds intriguing? Yes, but let’s all promise not to do a live-Instagram story of the beautiful sunsets we will find.

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Photo credits

Artificial Intelligence – Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Artificial Intelligence 2 – Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

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The Risks of Space Trash

Gerard Rodon — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 19:14:18 +0000

Have you ever wondered what the earth will look like from space in 100 years?

Perhaps you imagine a Pale Blue Dot, or an Earthrise. I would bet that for most of us, the Earth looks pretty much as it is today. The solitary home of all humankind, half suspended in the darkness of it’s own shadow.

I bet you don’t imagine it will look like a house-of-mirrors version of Saturn, with rings made of supersonic space trash spinning on different axes around our collective home. But according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), this may be the Earth’s fate.

In fact, the world is already beginning to look like this. There are 4857 satellites in Earth’s orbit according the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (probably the coolest UN department on the planet. (pun very much intended)). Of these 4857 satellites, 2877 are now non-operational. And therein lies the issue. There are 2877 large and extremely expensive pieces of trash going roughly 7 kilometers per second around the earth.

The only reason you can read this is because of the ever growing network of satellites, whizzing miles above your head and making the modern world of Emojis, GPS, time zones, and talk shows possible. The underlying infrastructure of the digital world just so happens to be suspended in space where it might just crash into now defunct parts of itself. What’s worse, when it does inevitably crash, it makes a real mess.

Thousands of tiny particles of ex-satellite go off in every direction and continue to move at supersonic speeds. This summer, an astronaut aboard on the International Space Station (ISS) had to plug a hole that was created by small particles of space debris from leaking air with his finger before using more advanced methods involving duct tape.

Growing Interest and Risk

The number of satellites launched each year keep increasing. But the good news is that there has been research and legislation on this problem for decades. NASA has recognized this as far back as 1995 when it published the first Orbital debris mitigation guidelines. This led to some governmental interest first by the US, then other countries like Japan, Russia and France, and the European Space Agency, eventually leading to adoption of protocols on debris mitigation by the UN in 2008. These days any states or companies that want to launch a satellite have to have a plan for bringing down the satellite within 25 years. But all the while, space is getting more profitable as private companies see huge opportunities. Investment in the sector totalled $8 Billion between 2012 & 2017.

Smaller states like Laos, Ghana, and Finland are also joining the party. Space launches are a source of international prestige, as well as a good way of fostering interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. So as demand for satellites keeps going up, supply of available space keeps getting smaller. Before 2009, all recorded orbital collisions had been between satellites and these small pieces of debris, but then a deactivated Russian Military Satellite crashed into an active US communications satellite above Siberia, creating 2000 new pieces of debris to fly off into random orbits. Even small particles can cause a lot of damage when they move at 7 kilometers per second. And collisions only create more particles, which create more collisions…you see where I’m going with this.

So along with those 2877 intact but defunct satellites, there are 21,000 objects measuring 10cm in length, and half a million particles less than a centimeter in length. None of this you want to touch anything valuable or expensive, like a functioning satellite. It is a wonder of engineering, navigation, and luck that we can get anything at all off the ground and into space through this terrifying killer cloud of space trash. The problem is only going to get worse as more satellites are launched into an increasingly congested and perilous place for satellites to be, making the likelihood of collisions ever higher. This problem was given a name back in 1978; Kessler Syndrome. The increase of objects sharing low earth orbit could eventually reach a threshold that sparks a domino effect of orbital collisions.

Worst case scenario: we trap ourselves on earth, unable to safely launch anything into space, not to mention collectively finding ourselves suddenly back in 1959, technologically speaking. The implications are hard to even imagine, a sudden collapse of the global communications system could ignite who-knows-what kinds of geopolitical trouble.

Space Trash Disposal

Currently, disposal happens by nudging defunct satellites back down towards earth which either burn up in the process or land in the satellite graveyard, a remote area of the South Pacific in between New Zealand and Chile. Alternatively, satellites can be pushed higher up into an unused orbit. But this only deals with the intact satellites that can be remotely controlled. We still need to deal with the cloud of deadly particles, so scientists are thinking up solutions to clean up space, involving all the most science-y stuff (Lazers, magnets, Space harpoons…).

Orbital Weapons systems, like those promoted by Reagan and Trump are also a terrible idea if you want to keep space tidy due to their enormous size. It is also pretty obvious that if we started a shooting war above the atmosphere, it would make a big mess. In 2007 China drew international condemnation by creating thousands of pieces of debris by blowing up one of its own satellites to demonstrate its anti-satellite weapon system. With the likely growth of space tourism within a decade, it is becoming evident in the infant private space sector that it is in everyone’s interest to have space be safe and debris free.

Space has always given me a childlike excitement. I share the hopes of the late great Stephen Hawking that humanity can, and must, spread out from its home. Going into the unknown, achieving more and creating a better future. This is the has been the hope at the edge of all frontiers. But time and again it has been short sightedness, tribalism, and the tragic greed that lead to failure, cruelty, and injustice.

If space is too deadly or expensive or big to explore, I wont mind. But if we lock ourselves on earth by basically littering, then it’s just too sad to be funny.

by Gerard Rodan

Photo Credits

NASA Johnson, iss046e043433: CC BY-NC 2.0

NASA

iss027e008683, NASA Johnson, CC BY-NC 2.0

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China and all things ungood

Oliver Ösmark — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 14:57:21 +0000

Something is amiss in China. It has become a place that is the proof every paranoiac dreams of. Flocks of robotic doves surveil, and concentrate over, regions home to suppressed minorities. One of China’s most prominent movie stars is missing since 1 July after allegations of tax evasion as well as earning a 0 out of 100 on an annual “Social Responsibility Report”. Abusive crackdowns on religious practices have intensified and declarations that religions in China need to be “Sinicized” and have their foreign influence purged have been put into action; Muslims are banned from letting their children attend religious activities and are being forced—an estimated 1 million people—into “reeducation” camps; Catholic churches have been forcibly vacated and leveled by bulldozers; authorities have put up QR codes on homes in minority communities and employ high-tech mass surveillance systems, such as biometrics, artificial intelligence, phone spy ware and big data, and encourage people to spy and report on each other.

Chinese democracy

In 2014, China’s State Council formulated a plan for the implementation of a Social Credit System. This system is set to be fully standardized by 2020. The system is set to assess citizens’ and businesses’ economic and social reputation, or “credit”, where the score is based on a combination of factors drawn from thousands of items of information collected from nearly 100 government agencies—among these are medical, financial and legal records.

Ant Financial, the finance arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, launched a product called Sesame Credit in 2015 that was China’s first effective credit scoring system functioning as a loyalty program but also as a social credit scheme. Scores are increased by so-called “positive acts”, such as paying bills on time, engaging in charities, separating and recycling rubbish, obeying traffic rules and, in some places, donating blood. A wide assortment of benefits can be reaped with a high Sesame Credit score—ranging from 350 to 950—such as no-deposit apartments, bicycle rentals, favorable rates on bank loans, free gym facilities, cheaper public transport, shorter wait times in hospitals, more matches on dating websites.

The government has clearly taken an interest in this. For example, the Chinese Supreme court shares a “blacklist” of debt defaulters and punishes them by lowering their Sesame credit scores. The courts can also introduce a recorded message on mobile phone numbers to strongarm them into paying their fines; when someone calls one of the debtors they first hear a recorded message telling them that the person they are calling has been put on a blacklist.

The harsh consequences of a low credit score are vast and serious. Millions of people have already been blocked from buying tickets for domestic flights. People who have refused to carry out military service have been barred from enrolling in higher education. People who buy too many, and spend too much time playing, video games; engage in excessive splurging or posting on social media; or—unknowingly or deliberately—spread “fake news”, can all have their internet speeds throttled. Public shaming of blacklisted citizens is also a common practice online, with several provinces taking this to the next level by using TV and LCD screens in public places to expose people. This “IT-backed authoritarianism” is unlike anything seen before.

The stories we [they] tell ourselves

Today, access to inexhaustible amounts of information has made it difficult to know where to turn to for credible news. A survey conducted in 2017 showed that 67% of Americans reported that they get at least some of their news on social media; with 20% doing so often. Of these, 45% get their news from Facebook. Facebook is known for categorizing users by political preference. Such data has been used to manipulate people and tip the scales in elections and referendums by specifically targeting people with misinformation customized to fit their profile; Cambridge Analytica was reportedly involved with the pro-Brexit campaign and Trump’s 2016 US presidential campaign. And it works.

Almost all aspects of people’s lives in China are monitored and recorded by the State. No one, who is a registered citizen, is anonymous and content is spun so that it falls in line with the sensibilities of the Communist Party. Much like how the news feeds of Facebook are personalized based on a person’s past clicks and like-behavior—effectively tailoring news stories to your biases and political leanings—China streamlines information by elimination, and this goes beyond online social media and into everyday life.

With the Chinese State’s monopoly on media distribution, it has become a case of where the exclusion of diverse sources of information and perspectives is the standard. Where liberty is concerned, disobedience and public dissent are constitutive. The freedom of the press and the state of a functioning free democracy are known to be strongly correlated. When dissidence and access to free, reliable media are heavily suppressed, the resulting vacuum becomes breeding ground for propaganda, falsehoods and hearsay.

The Agonist

George Orwell wrote in his essay “The Freedom of the Press” from 1945, “The enemy is the gramophone mind, whether or not one agrees with the record that is being played at the moment.” If one doesn’t know, or can’t know, what one doesn’t know, how susceptible do we become to the whims of those who would abuse their power? The glaring and perhaps demoralizing response to this can be met with yet another question: Who, then, is best equipped to carry the burden of proof? With the proliferation of misleading or completely fabricated information disguised as news distributed and shared on a mass scale, the role of the independent news institutions becomes even more important. If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. Even if it’s dangerous.

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Photo Credits:

Surveillance Cameras, Jay Phagan (CC BY 2.0)

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