"21st Century War Poet-"

    "21st Century War Poet-"       1- Listen to this podcast: "21st Century War Poet-" httpzllwww-bbc-co-uklprogrammeslpo3l739k 2- Read the followin" rel="nofollow">ing excerpts from the attached essay by virtual culture critic Alexander R- Galloway. With the progressive arrival of new forms of media over the last century or so and perhaps earlier there appears a sort of lag time, call it the ”thirty-year rule,” startin" rel="nofollow">ing from the in" rel="nofollow">invention of a medium and endin" rel="nofollow">ing at its ascent to proper and widespread functionin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in culture at large- This can be said of film, from its birth at the end of the nin" rel="nofollow">ineteenth century up to the blossomin" rel="nofollow">ing of classical film form in" rel="nofollow">in the 193os, or of the Internet with its long period of relatively hidden formation durin" rel="nofollow">ing the 197os and 198os only to erupt on the popular stage in" rel="nofollow">in the mid-190os- And we can certain" rel="nofollow">inly say the same thin" rel="nofollow">ing today about video games: what started as a primitive pastime in" rel="nofollow">in the 196os has through the present day experienced its own evolution from a simple to a more sophisticated aesthetic logic, such that one might predict a comin" rel="nofollow">ing golden age for video games in" rel="nofollow">into the next decade not unlike what film experienced in" rel="nofollow">in the late 193os and 194os-" (Galloway, p- 85) But how may one critically approach these video games, these uniquely algorithmic cultural objects? Certain" rel="nofollow">inly they would have some- thin" rel="nofollow">ing revealin" rel="nofollow">ing to say about life in" rel="nofollow">inside today’s global in" rel="nofollow">inforrnatic networks- They might even suggest a new approach to critical in" rel="nofollow">interpretation itself, one that is as computercentric as its object of study." (Galloway, p- 87) In his “Postscript on Control Societies,” a short work from 1990, Deleuze defin" rel="nofollow">ines two historical periods: first, the “disciplin" rel="nofollow">inary societies” of modernity, growin" rel="nofollow">ing out of the rule of the sovereign, in" rel="nofollow">into the “vast spaces of enclosure,” the social castin" rel="nofollow">ings and bodily molds that Michel Foucault has described so well; and second, what Deleuze terms the “societies of control” that in" rel="nofollow">inhabit the late twentieth century-these are based around what he calls logics of “modulation” and the “ultrarapid forms of freefloatin" rel="nofollow">ing control-”6 While the disciplin" rel="nofollow">inary societies of high modernity were characterized by more physical semiotic constructs such as the signature and the document, today’s societies of control are characterized by immaterial ones such as the password and the computer. These control societies are characterized by the networks of genetic science and computers, but also by much more conventional net- work forms- In each case, though, Deleuze poin" rel="nofollow">ints out how the prin" rel="nofollow">inciple of organization in" rel="nofollow">in computer networks has shifted away from confin" rel="nofollow">inement and enclosure toward a seemin" rel="nofollow">ingly in" rel="nofollow">infin" rel="nofollow">inite extension of controlled mobility: A control is not a disciplin" rel="nofollow">ine- In makin" rel="nofollow">ing freeways, for example, you don’t enclose people but in" rel="nofollow">instead multiply the means of control- I am not sayin" rel="nofollow">ing that this is the freeway’s exclusive purpose, but that people can drive in" rel="nofollow">infin" rel="nofollow">initely and “freely” without bein" rel="nofollow">ing at all confin" rel="nofollow">ined yet while still bein" rel="nofollow">ing perfectly controlled- This is our futu re- Whether it is an in" rel="nofollow">information superhighway or a plain" rel="nofollow">in old freeway, what Deleuze defin" rel="nofollow">ines as control is key to understandin" rel="nofollow">ing how computerized in" rel="nofollow">information societies function- It is part of a larger shift in" rel="nofollow">in social life, characterized by a movement away from central bureaucracies and vertical hierarchies toward a broad network of autonomous social actors-" (Galloway, p- 88)   So while games have lin" rel="nofollow">inear narratives that may appear in" rel="nofollow">in broad arcs from begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing to end, or may appear in" rel="nofollow">in cin" rel="nofollow">inematic segues and in" rel="nofollow">interludes, they also have nonlin" rel="nofollow">inear narratives that must unfold in" rel="nofollow">in algorithmic form durin" rel="nofollow">ing gameplay- In this sense, video games deliver to the player the power relation- ships of in" rel="nofollow">informatic media firsthand, choreographed in" rel="nofollow">into a multivalent cluster of play activities- In fact, in" rel="nofollow">in their very core, video games do nothin" rel="nofollow">ing but present contemporary political realities in" rel="nofollow">in relatively unmediated form- They solve the problem of political control, not by sublimatin" rel="nofollow">ing it as does the cin" rel="nofollow">inema, but by makin" rel="nofollow">ing it coterrnin" rel="nofollow">inous with the entire game, and in" rel="nofollow">in this way video games achieve a unique type of political transparency." (Galloway, p- 92) After the in" rel="nofollow">initial experience of playin" rel="nofollow">ing Civilization there are perhaps three successive phases that one passes through on the road to critiquin" rel="nofollow">ing this particularly loaded cultural artifact- The first phase is often an immense chasm of pessimism arisin" rel="nofollow">ing from the fear that Civilization in" rel="nofollow">in particular and video games in" rel="nofollow">in general are somehow immune to meanin" rel="nofollow">ingful in" rel="nofollow">interpretation, that they are somehow outside criticism- Yes, games are about algorithms, but what exactly does that matter when it comes to cultural critique? Pemaps video games have no politics? This was, most likely, the same sensation faced by others attemptin" rel="nofollow">ing to critique hitherto mystified artifacts of popular culture- Janice Radway with the romance novel, Dick Hebdige with punk style, or Roland Barthes with the striptease- Often it is precisely those places in" rel="nofollow">in culture that appear politically in" rel="nofollow">innocent that are at the end of the day the most politically charged-" (Galloway, p- 95) The American Indians in" rel="nofollow">in this game follow a less-than-flatterin" rel="nofollow">ing historical stereo- type, both in" rel="nofollow">in their onscreen depiction and in" rel="nofollow">in terms of the characteristics and abilities they are granted as part of the algorithm- Later, in" rel="nofollow">in Civilization III, Meier expanded his stereotypin" rel="nofollow">ing to in" rel="nofollow">include sixteen historical identities, from the Aztecs and the Babylonians to the French and the Russians- In this game, one learns that the Aztecs are “religious" but not “in" rel="nofollow">industrious," characteristics that affect their var- ious proclivities in" rel="nofollow">in the gamic algorithm, while the Romans are “militaristic" but, most curiously, not “expansionist-" Of course, this sort of typin" rel="nofollow">ing is but a few keystrokes away from a world in" rel="nofollow">in which blacks are “athletic" and women are “emotional-" That the game tactfully avoids these more blatant offenses does not exempt it from endorsin" rel="nofollow">ing a logic that prizes the classification of humans in" rel="nofollow">into types and the normative labelin" rel="nofollow">ing of those types-" (Galloway, p- 97) Identity is a data type, a mathematical variable- The construction of identity in" rel="nofollow">in Civilization gain" rel="nofollow">ins momentum from offlin" rel="nofollow">ine racial typin" rel="nofollow">ing, to be sure, but then moves further to a specifically in" rel="nofollow">informatic mode of cybernetic typin" rel="nofollow">ing: capture, transcodin" rel="nofollow">ing, statistical analysis, quantitative profilin" rel="nofollow">ing (behavioral or biological), keyin" rel="nofollow">ing attributes to specific numeric variables, and so on- This is similar to what Manovich calls the logic of selection-or what Lisa Nakamura calls “menu- driven identities"-only now Manovich’s pick-and-choose, win" rel="nofollow">indow- shopper logic of graphical in" rel="nofollow">interfaces governs a rather distin" rel="nofollow">inct set of human identity attributes- As Nakamura laments, “Who can-or wants to-claim a perfectly pure, legible identity that can be fully expressed by a decision tree designed by a corporation'?"" (Galloway, p- 102)     So the skin" rel="nofollow">in tone parameters for player character construction in" rel="nofollow">in everythin" rel="nofollow">ing from Sissyfight to World of Warcraft are not an in" rel="nofollow">index for older, offlin" rel="nofollow">ine constructions of race and identity, although they are a direct extension of this larger social history, but in" rel="nofollow">instead an in" rel="nofollow">index for the very domin" rel="nofollow">inance of in" rel="nofollow">inforrnatic organization and how it has entirely overhauled, revolutionized, and recolonized the function of identity." (Galloway, p- 102) So the skin" rel="nofollow">in tone parameters for player character construction in" rel="nofollow">in everythin" rel="nofollow">ing from Sissyfight to World of Warcraft are not an in" rel="nofollow">index for older, offlin" rel="nofollow">ine constructions of race and identity, although they are a direct extension of this larger social history, but in" rel="nofollow">instead an in" rel="nofollow">index for the very domin" rel="nofollow">inance of in" rel="nofollow">inforrnatic organization and how it has entirely overhauled, revolutionized, and recolonized the function of identity." (Galloway, p- 102) In other words, The Sims is a game that delivers its own political critique up front as part of the gameplay. There is no need for the critic to unpack the game later. The boredom, the sterility, the uselessness, and the futility of contemporary life appear precisely through those thin" rel="nofollow">ings that represent them best: a middle- class suburban house, an Ikea catalog of personal possessions, crappy food and even less appetizin" rel="nofollow">ing music, the same dozen min" rel="nofollow">indless tasks over and over-how can one craft a better critique of contemporary life?" (Galloway, p- 104) As an entire genre, the first-person shooter also illustrates this type of allegorical in" rel="nofollow">interpretation of in" rel="nofollow">info-politics- Dash the naysayers, the shooter is an allegory of liberation pure and simple- This complicated genre is uncomplicated- There can be no better format for en- codin" rel="nofollow">ing and reprocessin" rel="nofollow">ing the unvamished exertion of affective force- I thin" rel="nofollow">ink of Unreal Toumament or Counter-Strike as the fin" rel="nofollow">inal realization of André Breton’s dream of the purest surrealist act: the desire to burst in" rel="nofollow">into the street with a pistol, firin" rel="nofollow">ing quickly and blin" rel="nofollow">indly at anyone complicit with what he called ‘the petty system of debasement and cretin" rel="nofollow">inization-” The shooter as genre and the shooter as act are bound together in" rel="nofollow">in an in" rel="nofollow">intimate unity. The shooter is not a stand-in" rel="nofollow">in for activity. It is activity. (Just as the game is not a stand-in" rel="nofollow">in for in" rel="nofollow">informatics but is in" rel="nofollow">informatics)" (Galloway, p- 104) Video games are allegories for our contemporary life under the protocological network of contin" rel="nofollow">inuous in" rel="nofollow">inforrnatic control- In fact, the more emancipatin" rel="nofollow">ing games seem to be as a medium, substitutin" rel="nofollow">ing activity for passivity or a branchin" rel="nofollow">ing narrative for a lin" rel="nofollow">inear one, the more they are in" rel="nofollow">in fact hidin" rel="nofollow">ing the fundamental social transformation in" rel="nofollow">into in" rel="nofollow">informatics that has affected the globe durin" rel="nofollow">ing recent decades- In modernity, ideology was an in" rel="nofollow">instrument of power, but in" rel="nofollow">in postmodemity ideology is a decoy." (Galloway, p- 106) 3- Thin" rel="nofollow">ink about how the 21st Century War Poet relates to what Galloway is writin" rel="nofollow">ing about- 4- Thin" rel="nofollow">ink about the answers you provided for the Warm-up exercise- 5- Design an algorithm that explain" rel="nofollow">ins algorithms- Your algorithm should explain" rel="nofollow">in your current understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of algorithms in" rel="nofollow">in their cultural context, usin" rel="nofollow">ing the materials in" rel="nofollow">indicated above, and the videos from the warm-up exercise as raw in" rel="nofollow">input- This means that your algorithm should make direct and explicit reference to this media, and may even encourage the reader to watch some of it- Assume the person you are explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing this to has little exposure to the topic- The algorithm should verify that the user has actually comprehended some aspect of what you are explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing- In other words, it should test them-