The Exploit: A Theory of Networks - asounder

Prolegomenon 17
rorism in the same way that the overprescription of antibiotics creates
new bacterial resistances. We mean that terrorism has evolved
over time as a viable conflict strategy, one that is able to penetrate
massified power blocs with extreme precision. As heterogeneity dis -
appears, difference becomes all the more radical.
The more the West continues to perfect itself as a monolith of pure,
smooth power, the greater the chance of a single asymmetrical attack pene -
trating straight to its heart.
The more Microsoft solidifies its global monopoly, the greater the
chance for a single software exploit to bring down the entire grid.
The more global health networks succeed in wiping out disease, the
greater the chance for a single mutant strain to cause a pandemic.
This is what we mean when we say the West created terrorism. The terrorist
carries the day whether or not anyone dies. The stakes of the
debate are forever changed.
The cruel truth is that terrorism works. But this is obvious, almost tautological,
for in a networked milieu it cannot but work.
The power centers know this. And while the rhetoric of the American
administration is about triumphing over the terrorists, the reality
is that Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and many other state power
structures are becoming more network oriented. “Assuming that Osama
bin Laden’s al - Qaeda network is our principal adversary, then we must
outperform his network at all five levels at which information - age
networks need to excel: the organizational, narrative, doctrinal, technological,
and social,” write the military strategists John Arquilla and
David Ronfeldt about the West’s current defensive posture. “Simply
put, the West must build its own networks and learn to swarm the
enemy network until it can be destroyed.” 7
When Arquilla and Ronfeldt warn that the West must “learn to
swarm the enemy,” they mean that the massified power blocs of the
West must cease being massified power blocs. Centralized and decentralized
architectures, which worked so well for so long during
the modern period, are failing today, and thus the West must next