Category: Commentary, Critique, and Response

QUOTES FROM GOOGLE ACHIPELAGO

by Daniel Johns

p71 – That is, the Google Archipelago is a commercial assemblage that acts increasingly like a state.

p 73 – …”dangerous” – that is anyone to the right of Joseph Stalin.

p 89 – Much has been made of Google’s historical ties to the U.S. intelligence community (IC) and military research agencies.

p 119 – The members of the nebulous socially dangerous elements also included “bourgeois specialists”, who served the Communist regime and accounted for a significant percentage of the 700,000 deaths at the hands of the new Stalinist bureaucracy during this two-year period alone.

p 125 – Only Google Marxism is capable of creating it, albeit in corporate socialist form. Google Marxism is the first system with the sufficient flexibility, scalability, connectivity and, with the release of 5G, speed to enable the distance-defying, mass, and small-scale niche production and distribution possibilities to enable a truly globalized system.

p 128 – Imagine two worlds, one with you and one without you. What’s the difference between the two worlds? Maximize that difference. That is the meaning of your life. – Kai-Fu Lee, Making a World of Difference (2011)

p 131 – In other words, the city of Darwin (Australia) may have traded away its citizen’s privacy, self-determination, and even its intellectual capacities, for economic security.

p 138 – Diversity, equity and inclusion: this is the new language of totalitarianism.

p 143 – A minority dictatorship always finds its most powerful support in an obedient army… – The Black Book of Communism

p 165 – The articles detailed how New Knowledge itself created fake Russian bots as supporters of former Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of Alabama in the 2017 election for the US Senate – in order to give the impression that the Kremlin was behind the candidacy of Roy Moore!

p 167 – New knowledge must be countered, not only with real knowledge, but with a metaphysics of truth. By this I mean not merely a rejuvenated quest for the truth, but more fundamentally the re-establishment of a framework or frameworks for knowing and approaching the truth. Such projects have generally been confined to philosophers but must now extend to the entire populace.

p 196 – The rightwing-leftwing axis means nothing to me. Are they totalitarians or not? Totalitarianism is my enemy.

p 198 – Socialism is just an ideology used by monopolists to eliminate competition.

p 199 – If I were a preacher, I might say to the catastrophist left: the heat you’re sending is not from global warming, it’s the encroachment of hell.

p 199 – The U.S. university system has reached such a decrepit state that one cannot but have grave doubts about its worth and justification for existing.

p 202 – Thus, shortly after a revolution undertaken putatively (supposedly) on behalf of the working class for their control of society, Lenin ordered the first post-revolutionary striking government workers shot dead, and the murders were committed without hesitation.

*****

Vocabulary:

Archipelago – n. A group of many islands in a large body of water

asymptotic – adj. Relating to or of the nature of an asymptote

asymptote – n. A straight line that is the limiting value of a curve; can be considered as tangent at infinity

ableism – n. Discrimination in favor of the able-bodied

ontology – n. The metaphysical study of the nature of being and existence

ethos – n. (anthropology) the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era

pathos – n. A feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others

simulacrum – n. An insubstantial or vague semblance

ideology – n. An orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation 2) Imaginary or visionary theorization

Luddite – n. One of the 19th century English workmen who destroyed laborsaving machinery that they thought would cause unemployment 2) Any opponent of technological progress

libidinal – adj. Belonging to the libido

libido – n. (psychoanalysis) a Freudian term for sexual urge or desire

elide – v. Leave or strike out

conterminous – adj. Connecting without a break; within a common boundary

ubiquitous – adj. Being present everywhere at once

panoptic – adj. Broad in scope or content 2) Including everything visible in one view

panopticon – An area where everything is visible

putatively – adv. Believed or reputed to be the case [purportedly, supposedly]

cognoscente(i) – n. An expert able to appreciate a field; especially in the fine arts

cis hetero – n. urban dictionary – A heterosexual person whose gender aligns with what they were assigned at birth.

cis – adj. Of or relating to people whose gender identity is the same as their birth sex; not transgender

cisgender – adj. Of or relating to people whose gender identity is the same as their birth sex; not transgender

Governmentality, approach to the study of power that emphasizes the governing of people’s conduct through positive means rather than the sovereign power to formulate the law. In contrast to a disciplinarian form of power, governmentality is generally associated with the willing participation of the governed.

plebeian – adj. (disparaging) of or associated with ordinary, common people

utopian – n. An idealistic (but usually impractical) social reformer

Marxist Digitalista – Christian Fuchs is Professor at the University of Westminster in London. He is editor of the open access journal triple C – Communication, Capitalism & Critique – http://www.triple-c.at/

He publishes and speaks on the political economy of communications, digital media & society, media & society, information society theory, and critical theory. http://fuchs.uti.at/ Twitter @fuchschristian

obstreperous (ob-strep′?r-?s, ?b-) – adj. Noisily and stubbornly defiant 2) Boisterously and noisily aggressive

massifying – The act of making something massive for the sake of it. Usually in order to inflate one’s ego.

probity – n. Complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles

perfervid (p?r-fûr′vid) – adj. Extremely or extravagantly eager; impassioned or zealous.

nebulous – adj. Lacking definite form or limits

bourgeois – adj. (according to Marxist thought) being of the property-owning class and exploitive of the working class

bourgeois – n. A capitalist who engages in industrial commercial enterprise 2) A member of the middle class

de facto – adj. Existing in fact whether with lawful authority or not

raison d’être – Reason for being (French)

collude – v. Act in unison or agreement, and in secret, towards a deceitful or illegal purpose

niche (nich, nesh) – n. A position particularly well suited to the person who occupies it

prelapsarian (pre′lap-sâr′e-?n) – adj. Theology Of or relating to the period before the fall of Adam and Eve.

sentient – adj. Endowed with feeling and unstructured consciousness 2) Consciously perceiving

epigones (ep′i-gon′) – n. A second-rate imitator or follower, especially of an artist or a philosopher.

alacrity – n. Cheerful willingness; eagerness. 2) Speed or quickness; celerity.

celerity – n. A rate that is rapid (archaic)

jeremiad (jer′?-mi′?d) – A literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament or a righteous prophecy of doom.

desideratus(a) (di-sid′?-ra′t?m, -rä′-) – Something considered necessary or highly desirable.

totalitarianism – n. The principle of complete and unrestricted power in government

digerati (dij′?-rä′te) – pl. n. People who are knowledgeable about digital technologies such as computer programming and design.

sanguine – adj. Confidently optimistic and cheerful

alliterative (?-lit′?-ra′tiv, -?r-?-) – adj. Having the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable

assonance – adj. The repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words

peccadillos (pek′?-dil′o) – n. pl. A small sin or fault.

anthropomorphic (an′thro·po·mor′phic) – adj. Suggesting human characteristics for animals or inanimate things

ersatz (er′zäts′, er-zäts′) – adj. Artificial and inferior

eugenics – n. The study of methods of improving genetic qualities by selective breeding (especially as applied to human mating)

simulacrum (sim′y?-la′kr?m, -lak′r?m) – n. pl. An image or representation. 2) An unreal or vague semblance.

nescience (nesh′?ns) – n. Ignorance (especially of orthodox beliefs)

metaphysics – n. Philosophy – The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, possibility and actuality.

prestidigitation (pres′ti-dij′i-ta′sh?n) – Skill or cleverness, especially in deceiving others.

pusillanimous (pyo?o′s?-lan′?-m?s) – adj. Lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful

decrepit – adj. Worn and broken down by hard use

obscurantism – n. A deliberate act intended to make something obscure

obscure – adj. Not clearly understood or expressed