[-empyre-] The logical extension?

[Lichty, Patrick]

I think the cure to the downward spiral is that of the law of diminishing returns.  The doom of humanity under ubisurv is really dependent on 100% efficiency of the surveillance apparatus.  Bu t this is far from the  case - at best, it is a set of architectonics or localized situations of power (larger or smaller).  Why? because there are so many cameras, objects, texts, whatever, that no one can monitor them all.  This is evident in the outsourcing of camera watching in Britain, with pay being dependent on prevention of crime.  So strange.  Perhaps this is the netopticon proper.  The ubiquitous camera/community mix, with no guarantee that anyone is watching the camera, liking your photo, reading your feed, or liking you at all.  The eye is universal, but the gaze is uncertain, the link is tenuous, but this is Foucault/Bentham, anyway?


Patrick Lichty
Asst. Professor
Dept of Interactive Arts & Media
Columbia College Chicago
916/1000 S. Wabash Ave #104
Chicago, IL USA
"Never mind the logic of the thing..." - H. S. Thompson