AUTHOR :
DATE POSTED : 12/6/2003
CATEGORIES : nettime
TAGS : architecture minimalism objectification rant

Re: The War Between the Two Technologies

wade tillett on Wed, 6 Mar 2002 00:56:24 +0100 (CET)

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Re: <nettime> The War Between the Two Technologies

electrical/mechanical mind/body language/action infinite/finite individual/autonomous > one odd thing in the juxtaposition of the mechanical and the electronic/electrical is that they are not, as far as i know, mutually exlusive. (bc (human@electronetwork.org)) -This sums up the crux of the crisis we are encountering. In fact, the economies, laws, morals, etc. (the power structure) are based on this binary. One is allowed free speech, not free action. One is allowed freedom of belief, but not freedom to act on those beliefs. One is encouraged to have an individual mind, but is prohibited from constructing individual space. Said another way, the old stratagem of containing actual mechanical action by creating an electrical utopia of freedom (free speech, etc.- a utopia that is in fact constructed within a mechanical structure in order to subvert/delay/plan bodily power and action), is no longer tenable. As the electrical/mechanical language/action converge, the binaries of the structure come to look absurd, and whats worse, expose the real limits of the mechanically-constructed electric utopia. For example, look at the DeCSS case. With code, language becomes action. There is suddenly a problem: is code language, free speech, belonging within the confines of the electric utopia, or is code an action that redefines the mechanical (political) bounds of the electric. Code has the potential to self-configure an environment, individual and autonomous. Code potentially escapes its own boundaries by redefining them. Language is no longer purely electrical. Action is no longer purely mechanical. And what really shakes the structure is that it is now possible to see that the binary never was pure, it has ALWAYS been an enforced division. What was relegated to exceptional grey areas becomes apparent as the norm. This is the problem for the structure of power, no longer does language operate within the mechanical confines. There is therefore an overwhelming (political) desire to force it back within them: to control access, to force identification, to require a finitude (via copyright/sssca/etc.). But the problem is that the mechanical limits of the electric utopia are apparent, and imploding. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and “info nettime-l” in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net