calculating empires
How can we understand the operations of technology and power in our era? Our technological systems are increasingly complex, interconnected, automated and opaque. Social institutions, from schools to prisons, are becoming data industries, incorporating pervasive forms of capture and analysis. Even places that were once off-limits to capital, from our emotional expressions to outer space, are now subject to computational control and extraction. Meanwhile, the industrial transformations in AI are concentrating power into even fewer hands, while accelerating polarization and alienation. If we are to address the urgent challenges of the contemporary time - including technocratic fascism, climate catastrophe, colonial wars, and wealth inequality - we need to contend with the interwoven nature of their histories. In order to have a future, we must first confront our past. https://calculatingempires.net/
