The Cyber Show: Remember That Code is Art
The Cyber Show has a new article in the series on code and ethics or "ethics for hackers" ("Why I code (Part 9)"). To quote some portions from it:
The creators have no love for individual freedom, prosperity and dignity, but alarmingly they show contempt for humanity as a whole. The longer we hang out in the shadow of their dark art the more miserable we feel, but also the more we are in danger, from;
- various forms of mental illness like depression, anxiety and psychosis
- social unrest through division, inequality and resource conflict
- environmental despoiling from energy overuse and e-waste
- societal collapse of key institutions, police, health, education
This is not because of technology. It's because of VERY BAD technology - which is designed to extract, impose, coerce and undermine people instead of provide utility. As everyone has figured out by now "changing the settings" won't help.
There is however such a thing as good technology. Remember that? Technology didn't turn bad. The people running it became monsters and tried to create a society in which you couldn't escape their claws.
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In this series "Why I Code" I'm arguing that the practice of computer programming is much more than a dull "STEM" subject for nerds to make money and for governments to count taxes. It's a potential revolutionary agenda in a world where computer code has become everything. It means if you can code you can change the world for the better. Moreover, it offers the possibility of a bloodless, peaceful and devastatingly powerful revolution. That's the strongest argument anyone could give for young people to get into code. Not for money or as passive acquiescence, to conform to a career stereotype and "be just as good as the big boys", but to "turn this world inside out" as Toyah once put it.
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Right now human society is very much stuck in input mode. We watch screens. We listen to news and propaganda called advertising. We are passive. Our expression (action in the world) is weak and limited, including scant physical activity or meaningful work which manifests in reality. We drive everywhere. We exist within something that feels like it does not belong to us and which we feel unable to change. Twenty first century living is altogether too much comfort and convenience.
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Most creators do not make things for money and those who play at mass production and scale are always vulnerable to automation. Neither do artists necessarily aim to maximise reach as the myths of memetics and propaganda would have you assume. Real artists are motivated by stronger forces.
So here's a very serious question;
Why don't film-makers, musicians, writers and all other artists pay people to enjoy their work?
Indeed, there are "pay to play" music platforms and so-called "open access" journals that charge academic authors for their research to be published. Professional proofreaders charge money.
There is a huge problem at the heart of all creative "industries".
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Let's return to the artists' relation to audiences, as opposed to industry. In the end "industry" has nothing to do with quality, discovery, selection, peer-review or any of the claims made to justify the multi-trillion dollar network of middle-men; publishers, distributors, advertisers, copyright lawyers and so on. They feed off the relation between artist and audience. The middle-men (mediators) grew out of pre-digital dynamics of scarcity. For the last half-century they've offered decreasing value but sought ever more control.
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The "tech industry" is perverted in its desire to get inside that loop, to install itself as a mediator between audiences and artists, to observe, regulate and exploit.
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Creating a false sense of scarcity and insecurity for both audience and artist is the game. It's what social media did by encouraging people to make pop art of their most mundane yet personal life activities - to sell themselves to their own friends and family as an attractive social commodity.
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Remember that code is art. Now, since arts attract parasites, so long as there have been bits and bytes there have been snake-oil salesmen, virus checkers, backdoors for sale. There has always been brutal competition and criminality to conquer tech markets. Most of those exploiting the scene are not technically minded. As in many industries the leading business-people are failed practitioners who then discovered they were "more of a visionary and a people-person".
Like a "classy" red-light district, tech doesn't look shady on the surface, if all you see is limousines. You see a shiny iPhone, not the look on the face of the 13 year old girl who made it. Blood diamonds look just fine if you sell them from a posh shop in Regent Street. The relationship between coders and the tech industry is therefore exactly as that between artists and the old music industry - a tale of exploitation, theft and broken promises - but to the eye all gloss and razzle.
The article is very long, very profound, and speaks of "the next installation". █