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<p class="navbar"> <a
href="http://cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/"
class="homename"> <b>Alexander R. Galloway</b></a> · <a
href="http://cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/">blog</a> · <br>
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<h1 class="entry-title">The World Computer</h1>
<div class="entry-meta"> <span class="date"><a
href="http://cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/the-world-computer"
title="Permalink to The World Computer" rel="bookmark"><time
class="entry-date" datetime="2021-03-22T12:59:33+00:00">March
22, 2021</time></a></span> </div>
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<p>Jonathan Beller's new book, <a
href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-world-computer"><i>The
World Computer</i></a>, is on the intimate relation between
information and power. Characterized by the author as “political
in intention, speculative in execution, and concrete in its
engagement” (70), the book touches on computers, photography,
film, and finance, all the while attending to the specific details
of racialization and proletarianization. Beller's book is part of
a growing wave of new titles devoted to politics and technology,
from Katherine McKittrick's new book <a
href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/dear-science-and-other-stories"><i>Dear
Science</i></a>, to McKenzie Wark's <a
href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/3762-capital-is-dead"><i>Capital
is Dead</i></a>, to Jason Smith's <a
href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo70564105.html"><i>Smart
Machines and Service Work</i></a>, along with many others.</p>
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Beller approaches the question of information and power by
triangulating three areas, racialization, computation, and
capitalism. His mission is to show that these three areas are
inextricably linked, and that racialization is the ultimate logic
that fuels both computation and capitalism. I applaud Beller for
his willingness to expand the historical frame, not just to the
post-1945 period, or even the 20th C as a whole, but back some
"seven centuries ago" (17) to the development of modern capitalism
through what Marx called primitive accumulation. Indeed one might
follow this path even further, given that <u>quantification is a
problem in metaphysics </u>more generally, not just in
capitalism.</p>
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<p>[...]<br>
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