PERFORMATIVITY ON THE NET: "PROTOCOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT" AND THE "SOCIETIES OF CONTROL".

In contrast to Foucault's concept of "the political technologies of individuals," the Internet protocol (theorised, e.g., by Alexander Galloway) can be interpreted as an instance of a political technology of "dividuals" (Gilles Deleuze). The performance of protocols, or the execution of "distributed...

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Published in:Litteraria Pragensia: Studies in Literature & Culture Vol. 35; no. 70; pp. 175 - 187
Main Author: Procházka, Martin
Format: Article
Published: Charles University Prague, Faculty of Arts 2025
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        atl: PERFORMATIVITY ON THE NET: "PROTOCOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT" AND THE "SOCIETIES OF CONTROL".
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        au: Procházka, Martin
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        Internet protocols
        Recommender systems
        Deleuze, Gilles, 1925-1995
        Social systems
        Guattari, Félix, 1930-1992
        Intelligent agents
        Political systems
        Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984
        Social media
        Cybernetics
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        subj:
          Internet protocols
          Recommender systems
          Deleuze, Gilles, 1925-1995
          Social systems
          Guattari, Félix, 1930-1992
          Intelligent agents
          Political systems
          Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984
          Social media
          Cybernetics
      keyword:
        Alexander Galloway
        biopolitics
        collaborative filtering
        distributed network
        dividuals
        Gilles Deleuze
        Internet protocol
        protocological management
        recommendation engines
        society of control
      ab: In contrast to Foucault's concept of "the political technologies of individuals," the Internet protocol (theorised, e.g., by Alexander Galloway) can be interpreted as an instance of a political technology of "dividuals" (Gilles Deleuze). The performance of protocols, or the execution of "distributed management", is based -- among others -- on a problematic identification of life with a code and a medium. It is believed to generate a new form of life, described as a "cybernetic system of man and machine" (Galloway) and a new type of individual who differs from the subject of the Enlightenment liberalism. On the one hand, these individuals are mere "body-objects," on the other hand they are endowed by a power of resistance. This is paradoxical, if not absurd, since "by definition, there can be no resistance to protocol" (Galloway). The most problematic example of "protocological management" is the technique of "collaborative filtering" typical of the "recommendation engines"), which opens the network to homogenizing manipulation of political or economic forces. Individuals active on the net are processed into "dividuals" (or sets of statistical data comprised in their diverse profiles), whose "personal identity is formed only on certain hegemonic patterns" (Galloway). As a result, the "bio-political self-organization" of "the multitude" (Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri), is supplanted by the operation of social media platforms. These function as "plateaus of intensity," which construct "continuums of intensity" (Deleuze and Guattari) out of the affects, emotions and desires of their users, who have become "dividuals." The social media platforms enable "the operation of markets," both economic and political, to function as "the instrument of social control" (Deleuze).
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