Lecture on New Extractivism and Assemblage of Concepts

Introduction

• Pleasure of presenting live rather than over Zoom
• Attempt to condense a semester's worth of content into a short lecture
• Discussion on "New Extractivism" and "Assemblage of Concepts and Allegories"
• Assemblage: collection of concepts into a semi-coherent map or worldview

Mapping Invisible Infrastructures

• Previous work involved mapping invisible infrastructures like AI and social media factories
• Realization that technical investigation alone is insufficient without philosophical understanding
• The current map is a side effect of trying to understand complexities of digital systems

Key Concepts and Allegories

1. Gravity

• Massive platforms like Google and Facebook act like black holes
• These platforms reshape the internet's time and space, attracting users and content

2. Social Forces

• Various societal vectors contribute to the "gravity" of platforms
• Fear of social isolation, economic insecurity, and tailored addictions play roles

3. Black Holes

• Platforms create barriers to leaving, akin to a "point of no return"
• Social and economic costs of opting out are high

4. Allegory of the Cave

• Using Plato’s allegory to describe modern digital existence
• Algorithmic machines as directors of shadows on the cave walls
• Content filtered and moderated by these algorithms

5. Walls of the Cave

• Constructed from opaque layers of code, hardware, patents, and secrets
• Layers inhibit understanding of reality

6. Interface

• Interfaces frame the digital spectacle and determine user capabilities
• Act as both a tool and a form of discipline within the digital space

7. Shadows and Capture Agents

• Digital shadows are extracted for data by various surveillance tools
• Each movement or reaction is recorded as a form of labor

8. Plutopticon

• Invisible panopticon structure formed by millions of individual "caves"
• Central tower projects content and surveils digital shadows

Processes within the System

9. Information Retrieval

• Data streams into central databanks, shaping individual portraits
• User labor products stored and analyzed

10. Creation of Data Body

• Online behavior processed into statistical portraits
• Data bodies are more advanced virtual forms existing for corporate use

11. Individuals and Condividuals

• Individuals become divisible data representations
• Condividuals form collective agents with shared properties

12. Surveillance Assemblage

• Data spread across data centers, forming a surveillance economy

13. Content Extraction

• Content analyzed for signals, creating corporate resources

14. Instruments of Measurement and Perception

• Algorithms project images serving platforms' interests
• Define what can be seen and said, influencing digital truth

15. Projection of the World

• Spectacle of information defines order and truth in digital regime

New Extractivism

16. Engines of Extraction

• Everything becomes a target for data extraction
• New extractivism reaches into biosphere and human cognition

17. Enclosure and Affinity to Infinity

• Endless creation of new territories for capital accumulation
• Each conquered territory becomes enclosed for exploitation

18. Fractal Supply Chains

• Supply chains as black boxes akin to neural networks
• Represent phases from birth to death of consumer products

19. Blood, Sweat, and Toxic Lakes

• Every digital action has hidden ecological costs
• Supply chain optimized for profit, not sustainability

Historical Context

20. Triangular Trade

• Modern supply chains rooted in historical practices of exploitation

21. Chains of Digital Colonialism

• Digital economy mirrors traditional colonial practices

Conclusion

• Assemblage creates a fractal allegorical structure
• Attempt to create a big picture understanding of digital exploitation
• Exploration of how internet ideals transformed into exploitative systems