Morlock Elloi on Sun, 17 Jul 2016 23:42:45 +0200 (CEST)


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Re: <nettime> Fwd: Re: Forms of decisionism


The problem with global social theories that deal with long time constants is that they are next to impossible to prove, unless one has access to parallel universes (even assuming that existence of correct theory is possible, which may not be true due to the underlining complexity which at some point may connect to quantum noise and Heisenberg.)

This resulted in various constructions used to promote specific agendas of their constructors, while excusing the process on the plausible theory (if A then B, trust us.) Anyone can make one, but those with power will have real fun. And they do.

The theory construction itself may offer good insight into the societies that construct them (not unlike the instrumentalization of utopias in Jameson's "Archaeologies of the Future".)

What I think is the recent novel component, is virtualization of causes and effects which leans on the basic fallacy of Big Data ("sufficient number of data points must make sense"). While the resulting recursion makes it impossible to even grasp what the theory is saying, there is a *faith* component that somehow it will, at some point, become clear, just trust us in the meantime. Instead of drawing on ideals and morality (so 20th century), these are drawing on the new faith (promoted by 5 corporations, making power grab in intelligentsia-space.)

In the meantime the pragmatists fall back on local theories with short time constants, which work well ("if you shoot enough people that are bothering you, you will be bothered less.") Judging by the past few years, pragmatists are getting the upper hand.

It's hard to say which kind is less damaging.


On 7/17/16 7:35 , Felix Stalder wrote:

The approach has much to offer, not the least that brings into view
complex, large-scale and heterogeneous dynamics that nevertheless
follow some internal logic. It also suggests that is it is possible
to spot patterns of the new paradigm early on. Following this theory,
we can except a transformation from an informational paradigm to some
sort of ecological paradigm, which could range from eco-fasicsm (build
a wall, let them drown!) to some sort of federation of resilient
communities (p2p society).

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