In Guattari's work, Chaosmosis, he addresses the intertwining of social forces and the power struggles that occur as a result by creating a theoretical model, called The Machine. One of the most crucial manifestations of the Machine in our world today is in Media. However, in order for us to grasp media as a site to explore the machine, we need to understand the foundational components of the machine. 

The first aspect of the machine that we must come to terms with is that it is not universal, but rather it is a product of who uses it and what passes through it. It is a large collection of forces which includes tools that are used for a specific purposes. However, the tool is useless without a hand guiding it. To complicate matters further, this hand has its own social forces and ideologies that give meaning to it, and as a result actions and outcomes are not universal either, but rather are specific to the assemblage. In investigating Guattari's most simplified writing on the machine, he says, "let us associate the hammer with the arm, the nail with the anvil. Between them they maintain relations of syntagmatic linkage. And their collective dance brings things to life" (Guattari 35-6). The hammer is an example of the machine as a tool. It is connected to the arm in the same way that the machine is connected to its user. Guattari describes these merky, complex, and unstable set of relations by using this analogy.

The machine, which in this case is media, constantly pulls new forces together in a way that is far to complex for a full analysis. Instead, it is more effective to look specifically at how new kinds of thinking brought about by media fall in line with Guattari's theoretical, "abstract machine". Guattari says, "abstract machines install [...] themselves transversally to the machinic levels previously considered (material, cognitive, affective and social) [..] The abstract machine is transversal to them, and it is this abstract machine that will or will not give these levels an existence, an efficiency, a power of ontological auto-affirmation" (35).

The machine also behaves as the connective tissue between many forces which leads to the emergence of virtual possibility. Guattari supports this when he says, "the term assemblage does not imply any notion of bond, passage, or anastomosis between its components. It is an assemblage of possible fields of virtual as much as constituted elements, without any notion of generic or species' relation" (35). In between the tangible components of the social, political, cognitive, and other forces at work lies this space of virtual possibility. 

The machinic assemblage is so entirely consumed with virtual possibility, reshaping culture, and subsequent fragmentation and creation that the boundaries of the machine as a theory lie in the fundamental assumptions that not everything can be accounted for. The machine inevitably unravels in trying to use itself. Desire to answer questions leads to more questions about more desires. The machine digs its own hole deeper and deeper until it simply cannot climb out. Guattari articulates this when he says that machines are, "haunted by a desire for eternity. [It] is shaped by a desire for abolition. Its emergence is doubled with breakdown, catastrophe-the menace of death" (38). Although this may seem catastrophic, Guattari is not worried about this flaw. In fact, it further strengthens his theory because his overall purpose is not to give a rigid conclusion of what a machine is or isn't. He wants people to accept that it is okay to misuse the tools and to have more questions about the machine than answers. That being said, it is crucial to have some basic understanding of the machine in its material existence. The hand metaphorically represents an individual or society. The hand gives a machine its purpose by using it for some task. For our sake, we will view the hand as the individual, group, or society that uses the machine of media to accomplish different objectives. The machinic linkage between media and its users is incredibly powerful. These objectives are not necessarily pre-meditated, but rather emerge and transform with the ebbs and flows of society as a whole.

While my overview of the machine is broad, Kevin analyzes some of the more specific mechanisms that make up the machine. Following this path will allow you to explore some of the smaller components of the machine. Additionally, the path will expose you to Guattari's take on simulation spaces, a unique region in between the real world and the virtual world.