Re: <nettime> Supreme Court Rulling consequeces

I believe that Nettime is now more relevant than ever. To suggest that this transnational network (however insubstantial it may seem) has somehow lost relevance is far from the truth. A non-commercial, thoughtful and lightly curated list that brings together thinkers and doers, artists and writers from across the world is something that may constitute a key element of resistance in the dark days that may be ahead.

This is a moment of special relevance for Nettime. Reactionaries (of the of the most loathsomely undemocratic kind) have demonstrated that they understand complexity - they are versed in systems thinking, and they are building and exploiting subversive transnational networks in order to pursue their (at best) tawdry, or (at worst) terrifying ends.

In such a situation of cultural conflict, there is no such thing as irrelevance. I value Nettime because it might be a hotline to intellectual and cultural perspectives and support when other channels may be blocked or subverted. I'm certainly not minded to rely on commercial social media platforms as reliable means of connection and discussion.

Perhaps the specificity of the list as a discussion of "Network Culture" is less relevant - but this irrelevance is quite illusory, echoing the trajectory of the Media Lab - at first we were all very excited by the idea of a shared, creative, multimedia digital space, it moved from universities into offices, onto desktops, and now into citizens' pockets. The idea that the Media Lab is over is not at all true - the Media Lab has now transformed, become mobile, networked and pervasive.

In just the same way, Network Culture and an engagement with networks has become pervasive and more powerful than ever. Now is not the time for critical thinkers to abandon their networks and disconnect.

Network Cuture has, in the words of the sage, "become more powerful than you can possibly imagine". (I like to keep it highbrow.)

Just yesterday, 30 minutes after the Supreme Court judgement that confirmed that (my emphasis) THE UNITED KINGDOM IS A PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY, NOT AN ELECTED DICTATORSHIP, a tiny company called Balcony Shirts received 2000 orders for its new product, developed MINUTES previously.

The product was a T-Shirt that depicted the Spider Brooch worn by Lady Justice Hale as she read the unanimous judgement.

Since then Balcony Shirts have sold 6500 shirts - their whole stock. They need more shirts!

Within minutes of the judgement the "Spider" Emoji spiked in popularity as Twitter users added the spider emoji to their Twitter profiles.

Hi Ted,

I appreciate that nettime should retain a focus on network-dynamics (in culture, politics, media, communication, art, etc.).

However, I must say that I quite enjoy the ‘nettime-take’ on global political events (such as the impeachment enquiry in the US, the climate crisis, or Brexit). I stopped using facebook actively years ago, never used twitter, and use some networks such as linkedin, academia and so on for a professional online presence.

So next to browsing around like we all do, nettime is still a good pointer to relevant debates.

I do welcome if we can revert a bit more to discussing what the list was originally set up for (net.criticism in the broadest sense).

What i miss here most is a critical discussion of how 'the network’ is weaving in the fine textures of the physical world (mobile, wireless, iot, biometrics and so on), which I have written about, organised events, workshops, whatever - most recent around the affect space concept - but it would be good to hear other takes on that and discuss this.To me still seems a blind spot in network theory..

anyway - keep the list going I’d say.

bests,

Eric

On 25 Sep 2019, at 16:20, tbyfield <tbyfield@panix.com> wrote:

Felix and I have been thinking about shutting down nettime-l because (as I'd put it, he may well differ) the list should preserve its historical specificity and energy rather than devolve into yet another forum for debates that are easily available in other venues.

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