Automation and Preemption: Language Encoding, Biases, and Surveillance
Exploring the impact of automation on narrative and surveillance, Mark Andrejevic discusses the encoding of language into the brain, biases in communication systems, and the shift from prevention to preemption.
00:00:09 The speaker acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land and thanks the organizers. They discuss the impact of automation on narrative and storytelling, as well as predictions of language becoming obsolete.
🔍 Acknowledgment of traditional custodians of the land and indigenous knowledge.
📊 Discussion on the fate of language and narrative in the contemporary technological era.
🌐 Examples of automated intervention and the potential obsolescence of human language.
00:06:13 This video explores the concept of language as something that can be encoded and uploaded into the brain, and the implications for governance and surveillance. It discusses automated surveillance and the biases embedded in communication systems.
💡 Language as an encoded and uploaded model raises questions about its role and how it operates.
🔍 Automated surveillance bypasses linguistic and representational frames to directly affect individuals and groups.
🔄 The process of automated data collection leads to automated data processing and eventually automated response.
00:12:16 This video examines the biases of automation in various contexts such as consumption, policing, and violence. It explores the concept of preemption, highlighting the temporality of predictive policing. The shift from prevention to preemption is discussed, emphasizing the focus on emergent temporality and data-driven tools.
💡 Automated surveillance involves biases of automation, such as preemption, which anticipates consumer desires and predicts criminal activity.
🔍 Preemption is exemplified by predictive policing, where forces are allocated based on predictions of criminal activity.
🌐 Prevention, on the other hand, focuses on understanding causal factors and intervening at a broader level to lower criminal activity.
00:18:20 Mark Andrejevic discusses the implications of correlation and prediction in understanding the politics of response to social issues. He contrasts two models of simulation, one leading to stasis and the other to perpetual intervention. He also examines the panopticon model of surveillance and its limitations.
🔍 Automated surveillance relies on correlation and prediction to modulate causal variables and catch criminal activity at its moments of emergence.
⏱️ There are contrasting logics of simulation: one leads to stasis while the other focuses on ongoing intervention to stop criminal activity.
👁️ Total surveillance is not just about being watched all the time, but also relies on the spectacle of surveillance to instill discipline.
00:24:23 A company has developed a smart camera and alarm system that uses artificial intelligence to detect potential threats and prevent crime in real time. It can notify authorities and relevant parties immediately upon detecting dangerous objects or motions.
📷 The current security surveillance market only records crimes after they happen, but with artificial intelligence and cloud-based technologies, a smart camera called Athena has been developed to detect and prevent crimes in real time by alerting authorities.
⏰ Athena's software can detect potential fights milliseconds before they occur, allowing for preemptive intervention. This raises questions about the possibilities and implications of automated surveillance and intervention in the brief moments before criminal activities happen.
🔍 The concept of post-representational surveillance challenges Foucault's panopticon by suggesting that constant comprehensive monitoring, without the knowledge of being watched, may be more effective in anticipating and preventing future criminal activities.
00:30:29 Mark Andrejevic discusses the concept of framelessness in surveillance and information collection. He explores how technologies like augmented reality and lifelogging cameras challenge traditional modes of representation and subjectivity.
👁️ The effectiveness of surveillance depends on individuals internalizing the monitoring gaze.
📷🌐 Framelessness in information collection allows for the collection of data without limitations of a frame.
🎥📸 Memory capture through cameras raises questions about selective framing and the flaws of subjectivity.
00:36:34 Mark Andrejevic discusses the automation of surveillance and its impact on governance. He highlights the collection of vast amounts of data and the use of automated systems to identify patterns. Andrejevic also examines the shift from representational technologies to operational logics in surveillance. This shift raises questions about autonomy, representation, and political action.
📷 The goal of surveillance is to capture the primal scene and collect all types of data for automated systems.
🔒 Automated surveillance systems operate without representation and control access based on automated data processing.
🤖 Operational logics in surveillance limit deliberation and political action, impacting social processes and representation.
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