Uncoding the Digital AlsobyDavidSavat DELEUZEANDNEWTECHNOLOGY(co-editedwithMarkPoster) Uncoding the Digital Technology, Subjectivity and Action in the Control Society David Savat TheUniversityofWesternAustralia,Australia ©DavidSavat Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-0-230-27815-8 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthiswork inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2013by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-32601-3 ISBN 978-1-137-02501-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137025012 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Savat,David. Theuncodingthedigital:technology,subjectivityandactionin thecontrolsociety/DavidSavat. p. cm. Summary:“Examiningtheimpactofdigitalmediaonsurveillance, powerandpeople’scapacityforaction,thisbookexploreshow peopleact,andareactedupon,inanincreasinglyconnected world”—Providedbypublisher. 1. Technology—Socialaspects. 2. Humanbehavior. 3. Socialcontrol. I. Title. T14.5.S282012 303.48(cid:2)3—dc23 2012022280 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 To Katinka, for all the joy This page intentionally left blank Contents ListofTablesandFigures viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 Part I TheDatabase 1 TheEmergenceofModulation 13 2 Dividuality 38 Part II TheInterface 3 TheHuman-MachineAssemblage 63 4 MechanicalBeing 83 5 DigitalBeing 107 Part III TheNetwork 6 SolidPolitics 151 7 FluidPolitics 170 8 TheBoundaryLayer 193 Conclusion 210 Notes 215 Bibliography 226 Index 238 vii Tables and Figures Table 2.1 Characteristicsofdisciplineandmodulation 43 Figures 3.1 Ahuman-machineassemblage(artistunknown,in Strandh1979,196) 63 4.1 Theindividual 97 5.1 Thesuperject 133 5.2 Dividuality 134 6.1 Leviathan(Hobbes1651) 162 viii Acknowledgements This book has been a long time coming. There are numerous people whom I would like to thank in that process. In the first instance those whose conversations and questions enabled me to think dif- ferently about a problem deserve the most thanks. Conversations with students and colleagues over the past couple of years have been especially helpful in that respect, as have conversations with many friends. The person who features high on the list is Ian Cook, whose ques- tioning and challenging was always productive as was that of Horst Ruthrof in the earlier stages of the research. Conversations with Tauel Harper were also useful at key moments in the research. Friends and family members, including those who provided fruitful distraction, as well as Stewart Woods, Helen Merrick, and all those who continue to enable me to recognize the value of play, need to be thanked. In addi- tion many friends and colleagues are thanked for their patience and supportovertheyears,mostnotablystaffinCommunicationandMedia Studies at the University of Western Australia, Australia, including Ian Saunders,Larissa-Sexton-Finck,LindaCresswell,InesBortolini,andHui ChuinPoa,aswellasmyparentsMargaandJaak. A special thank-you for patience and understanding should go to Felicity Plester and Catherine Mitchell at Palgrave Macmillan – I suspect my repeated delays could only be read as recalcitrant in nature. Elements of Chapter 4 appeared in ‘Introduction: Deleuze and New Technology’, in Deleuze and New Technology (2009, ed. Mark Poster and David Savat, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press). Aspects of the argument presented in Part I appeared in ‘Deleuze’s Objectile: From Discipline to Modulation’, in Deleuze and New Technology (2009, ed. Mark Poster and David Savat, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press). Aspects of the argument presented in Part II appeared in ‘(Dis)Connected: Deleuze’s Superject and the Internet’, in The Interna- tionalHandbookofInternetResearch(2010,ed.JeremyHunsinger,Lisbeth Klastrup,andMatthewAllen,usedwithkindpermissionfromSpringer Science+BusinessMediaB.V.). ix