Technical Sensoriums -- Phd Thesis -- University of Leeds -- John Macwillie.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TECHNICAL SENSORIUMS: A Speculative Investigation into the Entanglement and Convergence of Surveillance and Technology John MacWillie Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds The School of Media and Communication August 2015 ii Intellectual Property and Publication Statements The candidate affirms that the work submitted is his own and the appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. c. 2015. The University of Leeds. John MacWillie The right of John MacWillie to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. iii Acknowledgements I am indebted to a number of people who contributed in a number of different ways to the development of this thesis. First, is my grandfather, Dr. John MacWillie, physician, diplomat, and China-hand, who, just before he passed away, encouraged me to take as many chances in life as possible, and to make one life into three or four. Second, Professor Natalie Zemon Davis at UC Berkeley, who insisted that I should go to graduate school -- even if it took forty years before I acted on it. Third, Professor Mohammad Azadpur, with his challenging readings of Heidegger redirected my interest from cultural to philosophical analysis. Very early presentations of some of the concepts developed in this thesis were given at Claremont Graduate School, Texas A & M, California State University - East Bay, and a forum sponsored by the Osher Foundation. Conference presentations focusing on Heidegger and surveillance included Surveillance and/in Everyday Life at the University of Sydney and the International Crime, Media & Popular Culture Studies conference hosted by Indiana State University. I am very grateful for the patience and support of my principal supervisor, Paul Taylor, as well as my secondary supervisor, Allison Cavanagh. My research was greatly assisted by the staff and resources of the Library of the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery AL, Computer History Museum in Mountain View CA, the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota, and the Doe Library at the iv University of California, Berkeley. Over the years of my professional work in law enforcement policy and information security, I have been privileged to learn from and discuss the many aspects of surveillance and hacking with members of the NYPD, Symantec, ArcSight (HP), Internet Security Systems (IBM), and Oakley Networks (Raytheon). I am very grateful for my long friendship with Phillip Hofstetter, with whom I have often discussed philosophical and technical issues about media, surveillance, and technology. Finally, and truly most importantly, I could not have undertaken nor completed this thesis without my wife, Jan. She sustained our three German Shepherds and me with love, patience, and understanding. She asked for only one commitment from me -- that I never do this again. v Abstract Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the proliferation of which is abetted by an ever increasing profusion of products and services extending the competencies of these capabilities into new opportunities and markets worldwide. More significantly, this momentum is leading to a convergence of these disparate competencies towards a common techno-surveillant milieu. Yet much of what is written and theoretically understood about these topics (singularly and collectively) fails to provide for a unified accounting that anticipates either the trajectory or the heterogeneous forms of this converging phenomenon. This projects sets out to excavate why our understanding of techno-surveillance is so myopic. Following the evidence, I assert that this short-sightedness is not simply the result of methodological shortcomings. Rather, most researchers of surveillance and technology are blinded by philosophical presumptions (primarily grounded in epistemology) that exclude the kinds of questions (largely ontological) they must ask to go deeper in their investigations. This study examines the archaeological detritus of an early techno-surveillant system, the characteristics of which are typical of the kinds of systems that have come to challenge researchers about the implications of their analyses. Based on this analysis, this study proposes an ontological model, which I call ontigeny that is consistent with the evidence and helps to explain the heterogeneity of techno-surveillance, as well as its potential trajectories. vi Table of Contents Chapter One: Roadmap 1 I. Introduction 2 a. Phenomena of Surveillance and Technology b. The Failure to Explain c. The Failure to Explain: Anthropocentrism d. The Failure to Explain: Priority Of Epistemic Knowledge e. The Failure to Explain: Universal Laws f. The Failure to Explain: Consequences And Response II. Surveillance 8 a. A Spectrum Of Watching -- The Government b. A Spectrum Of Watching -- The Private Sector c. A Spectrum Of Watching -- Data Flows d. A Spectrum Of Watching -- Consumption e. A Spectrum Of Watching -- Espionage f. A Spectrum Of Watching -- Voyeurism g. A Spectrum Of Watching h. Origins Of A Concept i. Surveillance Is An Ancient Practice j. Modernist Origins Of Contemporary Surveillance k. Revolution l. Surveillance Is An Active Practice m. Why Watch Over? n. Surveillance Is Multi-Sensory o. Surveillance Is Not Just A Social Act III. What Is Technology 19 a. Interpreting Technology b. Technological Organization c. Techniques d. Thinking Technics e. Reach Out And Touch Someone f. The Medium Is The Message g. As We May Think h. Technology As Autonomous Agent i. Autonomy And The Origins Of Systems j. Autonomy As Evolutionary Momentum vii k. Technology As Co-Evolution l. The Mechanics Of Co-Evolution Among Humans And Technology m. The Technologicalization Of Perception IV. Techno-Surveillance 42 a. The Technics of Surveillance b. The Organism of Techno-Surveillance: What Remains of the Human? c. Where Do We Go From Here? V. Elaboration Of The Philosophic Issues 47 a. Research Is Blind b. Epistemic Blindness c. Classical Ontology d. Event-Driven Ontology e. How Will Ontology (Of Any Kind) Help Us To Understand Surveillance And Technology? VI. Key Research Questions 52 VII. Methodology 53 a. Empirically-based Speculation b. The Empirical Data Set VIII. Chapter Outline 58 Chapter Two: Ontography-- Not A Question Of How, But Of What 61 a. Our World b. Surveillance as Ontography I. Noise 65 a. Trinity b. Little Boy c. Fat Man d. Illusions II. Reaction 68 a. Laboratory No. 2 b. ENORMOZ viii c. First Lightning d. RDS-1 III. Loss of Innocence 72 a. Dissonance b. Indecision c. Thin Margins d. UFO's IV. Threats 75 a. Capacity b. TU-4 c. IL-28 d. TU-95 V. Defense 77 a. National Security Act Of 1947 b. United States Air Force c. Air Defense d. Men, Machines, And War VI. Perception 79 a. Limits Of Human Senses b. Human Eyes VII. Energy 80 a. Electricity b. Vacuum Tubes VIII. Sensors 82 a. Seeing What Can't Be Seen b. Radar c. Klystron d. Cavity Magnetron e. AN/CPS-5 f. AN/CPS-4 g. AN/FPS-19 h. AN/FPS-20 ix IX. Space 89 a. Boundaries b. Radar Fence c. Pine Tree d. DEW Line e. Texas Towers f. Picket Ships g. Airborne Surveillance X. Concepts 93 a. Information b. Communication c. Cybernetics d. Speed Limits XI. Machines 95 a. Computers b. Von Neumann Architecture c. Logic d. CPU e. Analog To Digital f. Whirlwind XII. Systems 101 a. SAGE b. Command and Control c. An/Fsq-7 d. Parallel Registers e. Core Memory f. Vacuum Tubes Redux g. Fault Tolerance h. Reliability i. Encoding j. Data k. Data Structure l. Data Integration m. Offline Storage n. Display Devices x o. Light Guns p. Multi-Processing XIII. Connections 118 a. Networks b. Modems c. Microwave XIV. Perturbations 120 a. Software b. Programmers c. Operations Research And Systems Modeling d. Simulation XV. Ontologies 125 a. Space And Time b. Events c. Flow XVI. Materialities 128 a. Blockhouses b. Lighting c. Cigarettes d. Documentation e. Institutions f. Interception g. Money XVII. Ironies 136 a. Sputnik b. R-7/R-11FM c. MAD Chapter Three: Epistemic Faults 141 Part I: Philosophic And Methodological Issues I. Introduction 141 xi a. The Discipline Of Surveillance Studies b. Missed Opportunities c. Epistemic Faults II. Problems With The Epistemic Paradigm 145 a. Opacity: You Can't Know What You Can't See b. Theoretic Blindness c. What Exists Is Real d. An Epistemic Fallacy e. Seeing Is Believing f. The Thing In Itself g. Positivism h. A Dull Apparatus III. Social Epistemics 156 a. Instrumentalism b. Determinism c. Social Construction d. Formation Of Social Constructions e. Epistemology And Social Construction f. Wherein the Knowing of the Object and the Object That Is Known g. The Construction Of Knowledge h. The Formation Of Objects Part II: Michel Foucault And His Legacy I. Introduction 162 a. Structures of Knowing b. Resemblance II. The Order Of Knowledge 163 a. Representations b. Modern Knowledge III. Foucault And Surveillance 165 a. Discipline b. Power As A Discourse xii c. The Technics Of Power d. The Object Of Power e. The Practice Of Power f. The Panopticon g. The Microphysics Of Perception h. Surveillance As Discursive Practice IV. Panoptic Clutter 173 a. Superpanopticon b. Panoptic Empowerment c. The Failure Of The Metaphor d. Directions, Inversions, And Fractals e. Synopticon f. Oligoptica g. Surveillance, Speed, Simulation -- Living In The Matrix V. Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors 179 Chapter Four: The Ontology Of Things 181 a. Introduction b. What Is Ontology? Part I: Aristotle And An Ontology Of Substance I. Deconstructing Things 184 a. Being And Beings b.