Politics and Technology
Manuel de Landa, New York
The philosophy of virtual events that Manuel DeLanda has developed in several books and articles seems to call for a thorough reorganization of some fundamental ideas pertaining to political structure. For instance, who is a political agent in this philosophy without stable subjects, and what are the means with which an agent's acts can be empowered and restrained? Is for example democracy or human rights ? as we have grown accostumed to thinking it in Europe and America ? political terms that are fundamental for this conceptualization of politics, or do they merely signify one particular organisation of the political stratum?
The coupling of politics and technology is not necessarily an invitation to focus on the rise and fall (?) of Howard Dean, Janet Jackson, Mel Gibson or other media personalities whose recent activities may or may not be considered political. Rather, it is a will to probe for a more philosophical, or perhaps historical, account of how technology intertwines with politics. If it is hardly possible to draw a clear line between technology and politics, it is all the more important to draw up a philosophical framework in order to map and understand the forces at work therein.