The Exploit: A Theory of Networks - asounder

Coda 155
The point here is not that networks are inherently revolutionary
but that networks are constituted by this tension between unitary
aggre gation and anonymous distribution, between the intentionality
and agency of individuals and groups on the one hand, and the uncanny,
unhuman intentionality of the network as an “abstract” whole.
The network is this combination of spreading out and overseeing, evasion
and regulation. It is the accident and the plan. In this sense, we see no
difference between the network that works too well and the network that
always contains exploits.
Of course, from another perspective, there is a great difference between
the network that functions well and the network that fails—
from “our” point of view. And this is precisely why the examples discussed
earlier, such as Internet worms or emerging infectious diseases,
evoke a great deal of fear and frustration.
Perhaps we have not paid enough attention to the “elemental” aspects
of networks, netwars, or the multitude. Perhaps the most interesting
aspects of networks, netwars, and the multitude are their unhuman
qualities—unhuman qualities that nevertheless do not exclude
the role of human decision and commonality. This is why we have
always referred to protocol as a physics. Networks, generally speaking,
show us the unhuman in the human, that the individuated human
subject is not the basic unit of constitution but a myriad of information,
affects, and matters.
For this reason, we propose something that is, at first, counterintuitive:
to bring our understanding of networks to the level of bits and atoms, to the
level of aggregate forms of organization that are material and unhuman, to
a level that shows us the unhuman in the human.
What exactly would such an unhuman view of networks entail? 14
We close—or rather, we hope, open—with a thought concerning
networks as “elemental” forms. By describing networks as elemental,
we do not mean that our understanding of networks can wholly be
reduced to physics, or a totally quantitative analysis of bits and atoms.
Nevertheless we find in the bits and atoms something interesting, a
level of interaction that is both “macro” and “micro” at once.