1-Cybernetic totalism is, in short, the belief that computers will one day surpass human beings in intelligence. This dogma comes with it an array of other conceptual beliefs, namely that all human intricacies can be replicated and carried out by a string of equations. This belief holds true the certainty that like humans, computers will become the dominant force on the face of the planet. Another facet of cybernetic totalism is the belief that one day, the “cloud” of information (the sum of all information on the internet) will eventually be able to replicate and surpass human thought. Lainer is against this belief, and although his argument can be hard to decipher, it is strong. One of his points is that with all of the society all and idolatry of technology, we seem to forget that humans are the guiding hand behind the growth of computers. Without us, computers, the internet and all other sorts of interactional media formats are useless. Human beings are the driving force behind the advancement of computers. Another one of Lainer's criticism is that a machine has no sense of “self”, and lacks the intrinsically human idea of “creativity”.
2- The idea of a “lock in” is pretty simple to understand. It is originally a programming term, but it can be applied to subjects outside of that field as well. In programming, a lock-in is when a specific algorithm or file type is used for the creation of a bigger program. The specific algorithm, although fulfilling it's duty, eventually becomes outdated, and more efficient algorithms are discovered. However, by this point in time, the initial algorithm is used so many times, across many different programs and uses, that replacing it is nearly impossible. Thus, the initial, now inefficient algorithm is “locked in”. When applying this term to society, a “lock-in” can be any sort of fundamental belief that is expanded upon, and eventually becomes engrained in the national psyche. Although this ethos may not be the most efficient, it had a use at some point in time.
3- Lainer is firm in his belief that flat information networks are eroding creativity. First off, he defines flat information networks as the medium (or lack thereof) that allows people to share data and files over the internet. Such data can include music, movies and sometimes books. Lainer does not believe that sharing music is stealing per say. In order to steal, one would need to remove the original piece and deny it to others. However, this is not the case in the current file-sharing problem. In file sharing, copies are made of the original and distributed to others. Lainer says that the act of flooding the market with art devalues the original to the point of worthlessness. For example, if the original Mona Lisa was copied hundreds of times in a way that you could not tell the original from the copy, the original would lose it's value. If you apply the same principle to the art that is being copied today, it is easy to see how artwork is losing value. Because of this, artists are less willing to put creative effort into producing new works. Why work on art if you cannot even make a living off of it? Also, Lainer asserts that the current atmosphere in the music world idolizes big acts but pays little attention to amateurs. This, combined with the devaluation of art, provides for an environment not exactly hospitable to creativity.
4- Free choice absolutely results in the rise of “stars”. In the case of the internet and digital networks, this phenomenon can best be described using power laws. When applying it to digital networks, a power law states that the more frequently something appears on the internet, the more hits it will get. Popularity of a website exponentially grows. Because of this, “popularity” on the internet is focused to a few, large sites. It is extremely difficult for smaller websites to get noticed and become popular. We find that on the internet, as well as in music and with books, there are a few big hits, and a large number of websites/songs/books that never even get recognized. We see that “free-choice” isn't really all that free, and that due to power laws, we are herded towards specific big players on the internet.
5- The lifestyle of the late 80s “Californian” mindset is an oft-referenced and criticized state of mind. The story has been heard before: socially awkward math geniuses utilize their skills to create a highly useful and popular website/computer/useless trinket. These inventors are lauded and become immensely wealthy. However, the success they have found came with an ideological price. While they were once on the wrong side of society, they now find themselves smack dab in the middle of it, often playing the role of “the man”. The criticisms of this mindset are many. For one, the people who made all of these technological innovations often did it to escape the inequality of the “real world”. The internet was dreamed as a value-free area where data and knowledge could be exchanged for free, increasing and bettering it's users. However, what we see today is a perversion of that original ideal. The internet is used as a place to escape reality, procrastinate and live out our taboo sexual fetishes. However, instead of renouncing this use of the internet, it's creators and caretakers have embraced it, profiting from this “misuse”. The inequalities that the pioneers of the 80s sought to escape have become a part of the production of technology. Take for example the recent unearthing of the Apple factory worker suicides in China.
6- Terranova envisions “the mass” as a group of consumers being dictated by a group of oligarchical business lords. This mass is mindless and can be easily persuaded by the powers at be. The mass can situate themselves around any sort of symbol, be it a holiday, consumer good or any other sort of spectacle. This definition of the mass is integral to modern network culture. Social media relies on the mass to work; without a “mass”, social media is useless. It is the users of these sites that provide them with content. Terranova uses the mass as a basis on which to re-examine the basis of political discourse and political arenas. Because of the mass' obsession with symbols and phenomenon, it has become increasingly apparent that voters will be swept up in the hysteria that is national elections. Voters are more likely to be swayed by what they perceive to be the most popular candidate, rather than the sum of their political beliefs.
7- Terranova makes a point to highlight the difference between “noise” and “information”. According to Terranova, noise is all of the information that gets in the way of what we really want to know, where as information is the core of knowledge that we seek to obtain. One way of thinking of noise is as static on a radio station and information as the actual radio program being transmitted. A modern example that I thought of is the recent Julian Assange scandal.
8- The architecture of the internet is set up in a way that it promotes differentiation and divergence. The internet is set up in networks, with each network occupying a specific interest-zone. As the internet increases, more data is being added, and people interests become more specific. A person who is only interested in humor can find a site on the internet that is catered exactly to his or her interests. This happens across all lines of interest on the internet, with websites tailoring their pages to appeal to a specific group of people. The end result are thousands of websites that are specific to a certain group of people. To combat this, the internet has adopted an open architecture. The open architecture of the internet allows for the communication of messages across separate networks. However, these networks can still appear to be separate from one another. As stated in Network Culture, open architecture results in “...bridges between what is separated to start and brings together again what has diverged to far from a common line”.
9- Symbolic Efficiency is the ability of a “symbol” to be communicated across different formats, mediums, and in different situations. A symbol can be just about anything, as long as it has relevance to a number of different people. I believe that humor provides a good example of symbolic efficiency. Why did the chicken cross the road?” is a pretty much universally understood lead-in to a joke in the United States. Because of this, it has a great amount of symbolic efficiency. However, with the advent of the internet, and the small, closed communities it has resulted in, symbolic efficiency is declining. There are hundreds of “memes” on the internet, or mini-tropes that specific groups of people find funny. To outsiders, these memes have no relevance whatsoever. The idea of declining symbolic efficiency can be applied to areas outside of humor as well. For example, any sort of technical vocation can have an online community. Within this community, the members can be so entrenched in their own jargon and community-specific events that it becomes difficult for someone outside of the community to both gain entrance and understand what is going on within the group. This is a problem because it promotes the idea that only knowledge relevant to the user-community is important. There is little effort made to communicate ideas to other communities, or even worse, the greater “community” of society.
10- Blogs are internet webpages catered to the transition of one's thoughts to others. There are several characteristics of blogs that differentiate them from other kinds of web pages. First off, blogs are updated using “posts”. Posts are inputs of data that are user-generated. The user types down whatever they want to, be it a link to a funny video, the latest fashion craze, or discourse about a book being read in a college classroom. The post is then published and available to be read by outsiders. All posts are organized in reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry being placed at the top of the page. Posts are also archived and stored on the blog. Blogs have many things in common with search engines. Firstly, they're origins are the same. Blogs, like search engines, attempted to make “surfing” the net easier by compiling information in one place. There are a log of websites on the internet, and both blogs and search engines made finding data that was useful to the individual user easier.
11- Cinema and networked media produce subjects in a much different way. The venue for the reception of data is the most noticeable divergence between the two. Networked media is accessible through our own individual devices. Using your computer and smartphone is an explicitly individual experience. All “interaction” that occurs between people on networked media occurs on a medium that is separate from reality. In this sense, although networked media is meant to unite users of the internet, it is assumed that all discourse concerning the network occurs through a virtual medium, and not through reality. Cinema, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. The venue for cinema is most often public, be it a movie theater or a living room. These arenas of reception are not meant to be interactive and individual, like networked media. Rather, cinema is an output of data that requires the users to bond. Cinema is a shared experience that occurs within a realistic sphere. Discourse concerning the experience occurs in real life, and sometimes over the internet. However even if the experience is discussed online, the original experience occurred outside of virtual reality. In this sense, networked media and cinema produce subjects in markedly different ways.
12- According to Dean, an intrinsic property of affective networks is their ability to “capture” users. They do this simply by being active. Affective networks rely on user input in order to remain operating. User-generated content is used to stock the network with information. The more information that the user group contributes, the more information is available for the individual users to browse. Facebook, Twitter and Blogspot are all examples of networks that rely on the input of users in order to function. On these websites, the content generated by the “hive” captures users in a net of user-submitted information. There is such a massive amount of data on the networks that users spend their time sorting through the data in order to find something pertinent to their own interests.
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