| Nathan Ryan via nettime-l on Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:04:47 +0200 (CEST) |
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
| Re: <nettime> nettime-l Digest, Vol 22, Issue 14 |
Long time listener, first time caller: Thanks for this all who replied and those yet to reply. Taking notes and desperately need something besides the news cycle right now.
N
________________________________
From: nettime-l <nettime-l-bounces@lists.nettime.org> on behalf of nettime-l-request@lists.nettime.org <nettime-l-request@lists.nettime.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2025 5:20:43 PM
To: nettime-l@lists.nettime.org <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>
Subject: nettime-l Digest, Vol 22, Issue 14
Send nettime-l mailing list submissions to
nettime-l@lists.nettime.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://lists.servus.at/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
nettime-l-request@lists.nettime.org
You can reach the person managing the list at
nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of nettime-l digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Re: What do you read? (d.garcia@new-tactical-research.co.uk)
2. Re: What do you read? (Petter Ericson)
3. Re: What do you read? (Brian Holmes)
4. Re: What do you read? (Stefan Heidenreich)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2025 05:50:30 -0700
From: d.garcia@new-tactical-research.co.uk
To: "<nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets"
<nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>
Subject: Re: <nettime> What do you read?
Message-ID:
<57e172d8bfc9a8a492ed831c2b05f018@new-tactical-research.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Geert asked
I am curious what you read and find interesting, enlightening,
disturbing, beyond the ordinary news flow.
-------------
I am reading Phil Tinline's book on an influential hoax "Ghosts of Iron
Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy". Its
about a fake (1962) 'think tanky style report with lots of foot notes
'so it must be true' The Report from Iron Mountain claimed that winding
down America's vast war-making machinery would wreck the economy and
tear society apart, necessitating draconian controls over the
population.
It was published as non-fiction - and was frighteningly convincing.
Journalists tried to find out who had written it. Worried memos reached
right up to the president. It became a bestselling cause celebre.
Even though the hoax was revealed long ago many still refuse to believe
it isn't real. And it has been seized on by eager figures on the
political extremes but most energetically by the far right and militia
movement, who insist that it revealed terrifying government conspiracies
to enslave Americans and even instigate eugenics. It's been regularly
referenced by Q etc and the legacy lives on and on.
Many have defended taking it seriously on the grounds that it "feels
true". Following the journey of this conspiracy and its many lives gave
me a useful account on the shifting nature overview of what constitutes
'proof' then and now.
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:10:04 +0200
From: Petter Ericson <pettter@accum.se>
To: "<nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets"
<nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>
Subject: Re: <nettime> What do you read?
Message-ID: <Z/fDLFu2EU+pT5o9@accum.se>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On 10 April, 2025 - David Garcia via nettime-l wrote:
> Geert asked
> I am curious what you read and find interesting, enlightening, disturbing,
> beyond the ordinary news flow.
I'm currently reading a classic in Science and Technology Studies: Langdon
Winner's 'The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High
Technology', and while I'm aware that some of the examples are overblown, and
there are occasional passages where you can really tell that it was written in
the mid-80s, much of it is incredibly relevant still. I'm sure many on this
list has already read it at some point, but for those who haven't I can highly
recommend it.
Semi-relevant to David's choice is this passage, for example:
> Taken as a whole, beliefs of this kind constitute what I would call
> mythinformation: the almost religious conviction that a widespread adoption
> of computers and communications systems along with easy access to electronic
> information will automatically produce a better world for human living. It is
> a peculiar form of enthusiasm that characterizes social fashions of the
> latter decades of the twentieth century. Many people who have grown cynical
> or discouraged about other aspects of social life are completely enthralled
> by the supposed redemptive qualities of computers and telecommunications.
Best,
/P
> -------------
> I am reading Phil Tinline's book on an influential hoax "Ghosts of Iron
> Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy". Its about a
> fake (1962) 'think tanky style report with lots of foot notes 'so it must be
> true' The Report from Iron Mountain claimed that winding down America's vast
> war-making machinery would wreck the economy and tear society apart,
> necessitating draconian controls over the population.
>
> It was published as non-fiction - and was frighteningly convincing.
> Journalists tried to find out who had written it. Worried memos reached
> right up to the president. It became a bestselling cause celebre.
>
> Even though the hoax was revealed long ago many still refuse to believe it
> isn't real. And it has been seized on by eager figures on the political
> extremes but most energetically by the far right and militia movement, who
> insist that it revealed terrifying government conspiracies to enslave
> Americans and even instigate eugenics. It's been regularly referenced by Q
> etc and the legacy lives on and on.
>
> Many have defended taking it seriously on the grounds that it "feels true".
> Following the journey of this conspiracy and its many lives gave me a useful
> account on the shifting nature overview of what constitutes 'proof' then and
> now.
>
>
>
> --
> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> # more info: https://www.nettime.org
> # contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org
--
Petter Ericson (pettter@accum.se)
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:09:54 -0500
From: Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldrift@gmail.com>
To: "<nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets"
<nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>
Subject: Re: <nettime> What do you read?
Message-ID:
<CANuiTgz-7LkXpeX7HWb442SiZukQ7mXGX-+DUX7ogprO1Qkftg@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
That's a really useful idea, Geert. Let the reading lists bloom.
Obviously nettime is mostly concerned with Silicon Valley, technocracy,
etc. But as the discussion of Christian Nationalism shows, what's happening
in the US involves a convergence of wildly different conservative forces,
libertarian, industrialist, religious, and populist. It's a mashup and a
breakdown simultaneously. To understand how the right thought it could sail
this leaky galleon, I am currently reading political philosopher Wendy
Brown's 2019 book "In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of
Anti-Democratic Politics in the West." It's damn good, and as the title
suggests, not limited to the US case. She examines the main variants of
neoliberal political philosophy as it has developed over the last half
century, reveals how they promise to integrate the different conservative
currents, and also shows their failures, which we can all see on display. A
quote in that direction:
"Democracy has been throttled and demeaned, yes. However, the effect has
been the opposite of neoliberal aims. Instead of
being insulated from and thus capable of steering the economy, the state is
increasingly instrumentalized by big capital?all the
big industries, from agriculture and oil to pharmaceuticals and finance,
have their hands on the legislative wheels. Instead of
being politically pacified, citizenries have become vulnerable to demagogic
nationalistic mobilization decrying limited state sovereignty and
supranational facilitation of global competition and capital accumulation.
And instead of spontaneously ordering and disciplining populations,
traditional morality has become a battle screech, often emptied of
substance as it is instrumentalized for other ends. As antidemocratic
political powers and energies in constitutional democracies have swollen in
magnitude and intensity, they have yielded a monstrous form of political
life? one yanked by powerful economic interests and popular zeal, one
without democratic or even constitutional coordinates, spirit, or
accountability, and hence, perversely, one without the limits or
limitability sought by the neoliberals. Thus do parties of ?limited
government? morph into parties of exorbitant state power and spending."
There's a November 2024 podcast with Brown and Quinn Slobodian that can
give you a flavor of this book:
https://thedigradio.com/podcast/maga-w-quinn-slobodian-wendy-brown
I have also started reading Brian Massumi's very recent book, "The
Personality of Power: A Theory of Fascism for Anti-Fascist Life." This is
media theory, and it's also an answer to the kind of mini-debate we had
here a while ago about whether personality matters in contemporary
politics. Where traditional theories of fascism postulate a fusional
identification of the masses with the figure of a charismatic leader,
Massumi goes to something more sophisticated and more realistic. He
describes a rhythmic oscillation between fascination with the superhuman
agency or "full body" of Trump the strongman, and then a fractalization of
this agency provoked by moments of apparent intimacy or fragility (a
fragmented body). This second moment of fractalization produces a chaotic
distribution of power among the highly individualized populations of our
mediated (post-)democracies. We were actually going to host a live
discussion at Watershed Art & Ecology between Massumi and the Chicago-based
performance artist Matthew Goulish, but whaddayaknow, Masssumi now judges
that he's too likely to get stopped at the border coming over from
Montreal, so he'll beam in and maybe we can offer some kind of livestream,
not sure about that yet.
best to all in these dark enlightenment times, Brian
On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 8:10?AM Petter Ericson via nettime-l <
nettime-l@lists.nettime.org> wrote:
> On 10 April, 2025 - David Garcia via nettime-l wrote:
>
> > Geert asked
> > I am curious what you read and find interesting, enlightening,
> disturbing,
> > beyond the ordinary news flow.
>
> I'm currently reading a classic in Science and Technology Studies: Langdon
> Winner's 'The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High
> Technology', and while I'm aware that some of the examples are overblown,
> and
> there are occasional passages where you can really tell that it was
> written in
> the mid-80s, much of it is incredibly relevant still. I'm sure many on this
> list has already read it at some point, but for those who haven't I can
> highly
> recommend it.
>
> Semi-relevant to David's choice is this passage, for example:
> > Taken as a whole, beliefs of this kind constitute what I would call
> > mythinformation: the almost religious conviction that a widespread
> adoption
> > of computers and communications systems along with easy access to
> electronic
> > information will automatically produce a better world for human living.
> It is
> > a peculiar form of enthusiasm that characterizes social fashions of the
> > latter decades of the twentieth century. Many people who have grown
> cynical
> > or discouraged about other aspects of social life are completely
> enthralled
> > by the supposed redemptive qualities of computers and telecommunications.
>
> Best,
>
> /P
>
> > -------------
> > I am reading Phil Tinline's book on an influential hoax "Ghosts of Iron
> > Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy". Its
> about a
> > fake (1962) 'think tanky style report with lots of foot notes 'so it
> must be
> > true' The Report from Iron Mountain claimed that winding down America's
> vast
> > war-making machinery would wreck the economy and tear society apart,
> > necessitating draconian controls over the population.
> >
> > It was published as non-fiction - and was frighteningly convincing.
> > Journalists tried to find out who had written it. Worried memos reached
> > right up to the president. It became a bestselling cause celebre.
> >
> > Even though the hoax was revealed long ago many still refuse to believe
> it
> > isn't real. And it has been seized on by eager figures on the political
> > extremes but most energetically by the far right and militia movement,
> who
> > insist that it revealed terrifying government conspiracies to enslave
> > Americans and even instigate eugenics. It's been regularly referenced by
> Q
> > etc and the legacy lives on and on.
> >
> > Many have defended taking it seriously on the grounds that it "feels
> true".
> > Following the journey of this conspiracy and its many lives gave me a
> useful
> > account on the shifting nature overview of what constitutes 'proof' then
> and
> > now.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
> > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> > # more info: https://www.nettime.org
> > # contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org
>
> --
> Petter Ericson (pettter@accum.se)
> --
> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> # more info: https://www.nettime.org
> # contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org
>
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2025 22:20:23 +0200
From: Stefan Heidenreich <mail@stefanheidenreich.de>
To: Geert Lovink via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>
Subject: Re: <nettime> What do you read?
Message-ID:
<5f6c7131-a817-42ca-b4b1-5a1464d6e6f1@stefanheidenreich.de>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
- Marshall McLuhan: Forword to: Harold Innis: Empire and Communication
(1972 ed.): Media as "living vortices of power".
- Alexander Karp / Nicholas Zaminska: The Technological Republic
post-libertarian call to re-nationalize tech and leave consumers aside.
- Ingeborg Bachmann: Drei Wege zum See (three paths to the lake), bcs
I've stumbled upon it in Peter Thiel's syllabus for his Standford German
Literature Seminar (2019) - "explores the subjective experience of
cosmopolitan life, amid questions of empire and the authenticity of
provinicial localism". I'm writing an article this choice.
- Montesquieu: Spirit of Law - begs to acknowledge the difference
between written law/rules and political practice / principles.
In the meantime I'm still wondering if Trump lost in tarif-jungle is
a) dumb as a sack of bricks
or
b) following a very sophisticated AI with seemingly chaotic orders which
happen to achieve intended results (Europeans pumping up military
industry, falling $ ...)
Yours
Stefan
Am 10.04.25 um 11:10 schrieb Geert Lovink via nettime-l:
> Dear nettimers,
>
> silence here is not really justified. Let?s move on as there?s so much happening in the world. The ?christian nationalism? thread was extremely good and informative. I am curious what you read and find interesting, enlightening, disturbing, beyond the ordinary news flow. All link lists are subjective and so is this one. As I said before, the original idea of nettime was not only to debate and produce ?internet criticism? but also to practice ?collaborative filtering? of vital content you want others to read. Both search engines and AI cannot do that task of collective ?intelligence?.
>
> Yours, Geert
>
> ?
>
> ?Techgnosis? Erik Davis on how to navigate the weirdness aka survive the current regime
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=GGxtbQ8fkho&t=1355s
>
> Background of DOGE, from a conspiratotial US perspective
> https://unlimitedhangout.com/2025/03/investigative-reports/the-dark-maga-gov-corp-technate-part-1/
> https://unlimitedhangout.com/2025/03/investigative-reports/the-dark-maga-gov-corp-technate-part-2/
>
> Are there any good articles on DOGE that you can recommend?
>
> Will tariffs bring back manufacturing to the US? An expert reports
> https://www.molsonhart.com/blog/america-underestimates-the-difficulty-of-bringing-manufacturing-back
>
> First letter from LA to European friends, by Peter Lunenfeld
> https://networkcultures.org/blog/2025/03/24/triumph-of-the-feels/
>
> Second letter from LA to European friends, by Peter Lunenfeld
> https://networkcultures.org/blog/2025/04/10/heir-of-the-dog-that-bit-you/
>
>
------------------------------
Subject: Digest Footer
--
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: https://www.nettime.org
# contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org
------------------------------
End of nettime-l Digest, Vol 22, Issue 14
*****************************************
--
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: https://www.nettime.org
# contact: nettime-l-owner@lists.nettime.org