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Dictionary of Operations Deep Politics and Cultural Intelligence
by Konrad Baker
Published by Autonomedia
158p, b&w, softcover, 4.5"x9"
$14.95
Out of Stock
Dictionary of Operations is the third in
a series of new lexica. After defining the field of "Tactical Reality"
(2002) and "Strategic Reality" (2009), this concise manual to the
contemporary cognitive environment analyzes 72 terms to access the
operative logics of social and anti-social media.
Dictionary of Operations highlights the subtext of the politics of
information and the underlying framework of media reality in digital
networks. Global conflicts over resources accelerate the social crises
of mediated representation. Cognitive algorithms question the autonomy
of the individual and its freedom of action. Looking into the intimate
relation between knowledge and control it identifies the financial
crisis as a crisis of rationality and claims "Economy as fate is the
swindle of the century".
Dictionary of Operations focuses on the subjective dimension of
information technology related to potential political action. The text
follows ancient connections between conjuring and the dark art of truth
projection and asks: If every communication is an oracle, who owns
meaning which authorizes legitimate knowledge?
Dictionary of Operations reflects illusory mirror worlds and
excavates media-archaeological ghost stories that continue to haunt the
world. Tracing the omnipresent trails of monsters, zombies and ghosts
in the infosphere it declares "To be human is to be haunted, bound in
chains to a past dominating the present."
Dictionary of Operations defines transversal practices between theory
and activism, digital media and street culture. It covers terms ranging
from A-T, from "Absolute Mammon" to "Truth Production". Drawing on
anomalies as allies against enforced normalization it builds on an
insight from an ancient Babylonian text: "one cannot escape misery
without revolting against the established powers."