Libertarian Critique
The history of computing is replete with ideologies of individualism and autonomy. John Perry Barlow's Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace (1996) opens with the line, "Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather."
Autonomy, independence and rugged individualism resonate powerfully throughout the transition period of the computer age from mainframe, corporate and military-controlled computing systems to the individualized, domestic consumption of the personal-computer age. Barlow's manifesto is only the most overt statement of these values, which are pervasive throughout the history of computing. And Hollywood, as we know, loves a good binary: the specialized technocrat who espouses machine logic versus the lone hero who acts on instinct, resisting rulebooks and institutional constraints at every turn. The history of cyberlibertarianism has long resisted the totalizing tendencies of government and institutional data structures. In its Hollywood manifestation, however, this resistance is overinvested in rejectionism, an decreasingly viable solution in an increasingly technologized society.
In 1974 Ted Nelson (1987) warned against the potential tyranny of the "priesthood" of computer specialists. Like many others of his generation seeking to align computer technology with emancipatory social ideals, Nelson resisted ceding control over computers to a privileged elite. The problem was that the revolution they foresaw was predicated on total social upheaval, even separatism from mainstream society. They proposed the creation of an alternate universe not governed by the laws of society. This idealistic rhetoric played neatly into the hands of the technocratic narratives of early computing.
Autonomy, independence and rugged individualism resonate powerfully throughout the transition period of the computer age from mainframe, corporate and military-controlled computing systems to the individualized, domestic consumption of the personal-computer age. Barlow's manifesto is only the most overt statement of these values, which are pervasive throughout the history of computing. And Hollywood, as we know, loves a good binary: the specialized technocrat who espouses machine logic versus the lone hero who acts on instinct, resisting rulebooks and institutional constraints at every turn. The history of cyberlibertarianism has long resisted the totalizing tendencies of government and institutional data structures. In its Hollywood manifestation, however, this resistance is overinvested in rejectionism, an decreasingly viable solution in an increasingly technologized society.
In 1974 Ted Nelson (1987) warned against the potential tyranny of the "priesthood" of computer specialists. Like many others of his generation seeking to align computer technology with emancipatory social ideals, Nelson resisted ceding control over computers to a privileged elite. The problem was that the revolution they foresaw was predicated on total social upheaval, even separatism from mainstream society. They proposed the creation of an alternate universe not governed by the laws of society. This idealistic rhetoric played neatly into the hands of the technocratic narratives of early computing.
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