What is it about?
The article explores the conjecture that not only has the Anthropocene been entered but we are quickly moving towards the Cybercene, a new geological epoch, where the primary causes of changes to the earth are being brought about the computing complex. The computing complex is the collection of all the existing digital systems and the human forces that maintain and enhance them. The effects are both direct, via, e.g. direct energy and resource use, and indirect, primarily through degrading humankind's civic intelligence, its collective ability to govern thoughtfully, via massive surveillance, weaponizing inflammatory rhetoric, and transfer of power to algorithms, technological plutocrats and corporations.
Featured Image
Photo by David Bayliss on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This work is important because it brings many of the threads together into one picture and lays out the historical implications of the advent of the computing. As one example, it connects authoritarianism coupled with sophisticated surveillance systems with environmental degradation, a particularly perilous situation as many environmental tipping points are drawing near.
Perspectives
One of the goals in writing this article was to make a strong case that the computing users as well as the professional community and the entire industry must acknowledge the vast challenges of our era and the special responsibility that they must bear. It calls into question many of the flawed assumptions and narratives that inform our disregard for the current state of affairs in relation to computing.
Douglas Schuler
Evergreen State College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Tools of Our Tools? Exploring the Cybercene Conjecture, Communications of the ACM, August 2024, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3654437.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
