A comprehensive political and design theory of planetary-scale
computation proposing that The Stack-an accidental megastructure-is
both a technological apparatus and a model for a new geopolitical
architecture. What has planetary-scale computation done to our
geopolitical realities? It takes different forms at different
scales-from energy and mineral sourcing and subterranean cloud
infrastructure to urban software and massive universal addressing
systems; from interfaces drawn by the augmentation of the hand and
eye to users identified by self-quantification and the arrival of
legions of sensors, algorithms, and robots. Together, how do these
distort and deform modern political geographies and produce new
territories in their own image? In The Stack, Benjamin Bratton
proposes that these different genres of computation-smart grids,
cloud platforms, mobile apps, smart cities, the Internet of Things,
automation-can be seen not as so many species evolving on their
own, but as forming a coherent whole: an accidental megastructure
called The Stack that is both a computational apparatus and a new
governing architecture. We are inside The Stack and it is inside of
us. In an account that is both theoretical and technical, drawing
on political philosophy, architectural theory, and software
studies, Bratton explores six layers of The Stack: Earth, Cloud,
City, Address, Interface, User. Each is mapped on its own terms and
understood as a component within the larger whole built from hard
and soft systems intermingling-not only computational forms but
also social, human, and physical forces. This model, informed by
the logic of the multilayered structure of protocol "stacks," in
which network technologies operate within a modular and vertical
order, offers a comprehensive image of our emerging infrastructure
and a platform for its ongoing reinvention. The Stack is an
interdisciplinary design brief for a new geopolitics that works
with and for planetary-scale computation. Interweaving the
continental, urban, and perceptual scales, it shows how we can
better build, dwell within, communicate with, and govern our
worlds. thestack.org
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