Deserting the Digital Utopia
- Added to Catalog: 2014
- Print Version: Download
This zine was added to our catalog more than 5 years ago. You may want to verify information contained within is still relevant.
Deserting the Digital Utopia is an essay by Crimethinc that explores how the digital (computers, social networks, etc) is shaping our lives. There is a lot covered in this short essay, but topics covered include social media, the enclosure of the commons, domination, hierarchy, digital utopianism, and more. This is a very well written critique of the current era.
Excerpt
“In our age, domination is not just imposed by commands issued from rulers to ruled, but by algorithms that systematically produce and constantly recalibrate power differentials. The algorithm is the fundamental mechanism perpetuating today’s hierarchies; it determines the possibilities in advance, while offering an illusion of freedom as choice. The digital reduces the infinite possibilities of life to a lattice of interconnecting algorithms—to choices between zeros and ones. The world is whittled down to representation, and representation expands to fill the world; the irreducible disappears. That which does not compute does not exist. The digital can present a breathtaking array of choices—of possible combinations of ones and zeros—but the terms of each choice are set in advance.”
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