Woah Baby. These Networks are Pretty Intense.

My first reaction after reading Manuel Castells’ “Afterward:  Why Networks Matter” is that the concept of networks is a little scary. At the end of his essay, Castells writes, “Networks matter because they are the underlying structure of our lives” (224). Now, that may not seem all that disturbing; however, it seems that this concept of networks is a fairly new one and one that hasn’t caught on with the general public. If this is so, then the majority of people have no idea what powers have control in their lives on a daily basis. Furthermore, power is given solely to the network, especially when Castells explains, “Domination can hardly be exercised against self-configurating networks” (224). Even though we know that networks are made up of both humans and technologies and the each has a role in creating our world, the fact that these giant networks, once set in motion, can only be stopped or changed by “counter networks…that disrupt certain connections and establish new ones,” is really disconcerting (224). How are we supposed to gain any control over that? Or is that even possible if we are so a part of the network?

            And then there’s the fact that this involves the entire world, not just separate society (like it must have been at some point before new communication technology and globalization). Castells even says that countries left out of this new technology communication, which are not connect to the rest of the world in a sense, are still affected by this network. Not having what others have affects them in the great scope of globalization. So now we have this crazy network in place where everyone is in everyone else’s business. It’s a blunt way to put it, but it’s true. Slack and Wise discuss “antiglobalization,” in that, some do believe that the power some countries have in the global market is unfair and harmful to the global society as a whole.  But, I can’t tell if globalization is a good thing or bad thing. I feel like we don’t have a choice now that the network is set in motion...but that seems to be against the idea that we’ve been discussing all along, that humans do have some agency in this. Can a network change over time due to the choices of humans and their creation of new and different technologies?

I think we need to discuss this in class….I may be thinking way out in left field right now.