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INFOWAR: Re: Notes on a personal theory history
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ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 98
INFOWAR. information.macht.krieg
Linz, Austria, september 07 - 12
http://www.aec.at/infowar
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Parameters/Locus/Points of Intersection
By Zina Kaye
INFOWAR is such a big concept, the kind of headline that is used to blank
out anything around it. This is, of course, one of the blunter tactics
used in infowar, used by the kind of people that Paul Garrin has drawn our
attention to recently. This list constitutes a referential arena, as much
as art is a referential arena, as much as infowar is a referential arena.
We are gathered here under a loud word but we don't have to look up and
shout at it.
Parameters then: began with technology. I agree that the development of
technology is interesting, and indeed war in general is often fought and
won on the strength of new technologies. South Turkey was once a silicon
valley, having pioneered the smelting of iron and then the invention of
stirrups. Stirrups allowed a warrior to be suitably anchored to a horse
and thus better secured in mounted combat. Some long while later, a
Chinese man invented gunpowder. It was such a success that its use spread
to Europe where it was used to propel heavy objects at the heavily
armoured horse-riding aristocracy. Up until then, only they could afford
defence technology, and now found their position as natural rulers
threatened. Their castles were not much good either.
History reveals that it is often the bright spark that finds some clever
way to use these technologies that results in the biggest perceieved gain.
A controversial example was the seemingly invincible ENIGMA encryption
machine used by the German army during WWII. A group of British scientists
headed by a Polish scientist managed to crack the code and recreated a
copy machine. However, so as not to let on, the British army, on the
orders of Churchill, decided not to act on all the information, even
though the consequences were sometimes dire.
As citizens of this time we seem to be dealing with two kinds to infowars.
On one hand, the conventional military/boundary war. On the other,
inter-corporate war which invokes national boundaries conveniently as a
tactic.
To me both strains of infowar are grounded in human potential. But then it
is hard to classify humans into different sets. Those that belong to the
army/corporation wear a badge on their pay check. But badges are not the
same as beliefs. It has been noted that "good and bad" is a redundant
binary, but "military and civilian" is as hard to invoke when one uses the
other so effectively. Even different sets of enemies are beginning to look
like one homogenised group when the world's military buyers flock to
something as levelling as international military air shows. Or seemingly
oppositional companies suddenly join together tentatively in the name of
greater sales.
"Buyer and seller" seems to be the most useful paradigm, even over "profit
and loss", making it easier. for example, for military observers to keep a
check on what is going on, as the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (www.sipri.se) proves. At least with buyer and seller we all
know which box to check. And from the former binary the latter may be
extrapolated. What kinds of buying stabilise what kind of relationship, or
harm what other opportunity. The SIPRI web site is interesting in its
treatment of economics, publishing reports that discuss financial concerns
and a military budget's effect on a nation's future. Independent observers
of corporate war are far too quiet and perhaps we would benefit from more
7 o clock news items on the effect on national stability of Warner Bros or
Sony.
Locus: Obviously military war is the cause of horrific death and
destruction. There is no actual blood shed in the sale of cigarettes or
sneakers. Not directly anyway. Yet we seem to have hit new heights of
global decadence hidden only slightly by our glorious technological
renaissance. Human cruelty is still around and doubly so since it has
become so entangled in the entertainment industry. Our grandparents just
cannot understand the position that their descendents have taken by buying
into televised cruelty. The Medieval spectacle of a lifeless Pol Pot on
tv this week...in some strange way I kept expecting to see his head on a
stick.... What part of what war is that? What did the citizens of Cambodia
expect to see?
It is humans that create the market. It doesn't come into being by itself.
The bright spark that once invented stirrups is now reincarnated as a
Murdoch executive and is trying to figure out a long term strategy to
capatalise on the rest of the British Royal Family. Meanwhile I would urge
you to check out the real video advertisement for Janes Defence Weekly:
(http://www.janes.com/company/video/videoset.html) which so eloqunetly
describes the market in change.
Points of intersection: Infowar is taken seriously by so many individuals:
as a job and as a desire to maintain it as a construct. I wonder what
would happen should Mongoven, Biscoe, and Duchin be invited to this
debate. How about some spokespeople from Janes and SIPRI?
Meanwhile, we are wrapped in infowar, each having our own strategy and
agenda. Who can declare themselves here as the impartial observer?
Zina Kaye.
_____________________________________________
Anti-Destination Society
PO Box 950, Darlinghurst NSW 2010, Australia.
world.net/~laudanum/walltalk/
world.net/~zina/
irational.org/zina/
weekly internet broadcast returns wed april 22nd 9pm-midnight by the
australian clock...
in time for NASA STS-90 .. more info. at www.va.com.au/radioqualia/ .
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