A brilliant autopsy. Latour showed us that politics is frozen into objects. Today, we live in a hell of those objects all pulling in different directions. The call to 'become mechanics' is noble, but it’s a call to maintain the ICU. Does the logical, terrifying, and perhaps necessary next step point not to more mechanics, but to a single, competent doctor for the entire patient?
The speed bump metaphor is brilliant. It makes the invisible power of material objects painfully obvious. The Robert Moses example gets at something uncomfortable: design isn't neutral. Every infrastructure choice is a political choice, and most of the time we're unaware we're even making them. The point about data needing to pass through US jurisdictions hits hard.
The “Cloud” is not ethereal it’s concrete, wired, and controlled. Philosophy reminds us: objects shape power as much as people do. True freedom begins when we stop staring at screens and start seeing the wires.
A brilliant autopsy. Latour showed us that politics is frozen into objects. Today, we live in a hell of those objects all pulling in different directions. The call to 'become mechanics' is noble, but it’s a call to maintain the ICU. Does the logical, terrifying, and perhaps necessary next step point not to more mechanics, but to a single, competent doctor for the entire patient?
Really interesting piece guys, thanks!
The speed bump metaphor is brilliant. It makes the invisible power of material objects painfully obvious. The Robert Moses example gets at something uncomfortable: design isn't neutral. Every infrastructure choice is a political choice, and most of the time we're unaware we're even making them. The point about data needing to pass through US jurisdictions hits hard.
I teach my students this very thing. Metaphors are powerful things.
The “Cloud” is not ethereal it’s concrete, wired, and controlled. Philosophy reminds us: objects shape power as much as people do. True freedom begins when we stop staring at screens and start seeing the wires.