Re: <nettime> Christchurch and the Dark Social Web by Luke Munn

[Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldrift@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 11:28 AM Francis Hunger <francis.hunger@irmielin.org> wrote:

So I wonder, why does the discussion want to look into the
"sociotechnical properties of that environment" instead of looking into
the political dimension which forms and enables humans who wish to kill
other humans.

 This is spot on, and it calls for some revision of an old project: "an immanent critique of the networks" -- which was the idea that Geert, I believe, launched long ago (please set the record straight if it was someone else, or a more collective ambition from the get-go).

A focus on, of and for computer networks has been valuable, no question. But now all social relations in all the developed societies are in some way mediated by networks. That means two things simultaneously: computer networks seep into all culture, and all elements of culture - including the worst and most rancid white supremacy - seep directly into computer networks. The daunting conclusion might be that the critique of networked cultures (Frankfurt School in a Linux box) must again become a general anthropology of globalizing society. Kulturkritik, full stop.

Thoughts?

Brian

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