Neural: Cyberwar and Revolution

Review of Cyberwar and Revolution by Nick Dyer-Witheford and Svitlana Matviyenko

Uncovering the class conflicts, geopolitical dynamics, and aggressive capitalism propelling the militarization of the internet

In the utopian phase of the early commercial Internet, it would have been hard to predict the current scale of online conflicts. Within the small circles of a mostly self-appointed libertarian techno-elite, the concern with maintaining freedom of global expression was primary and preemptive. A few decades later, the Internet has not only become the main infrastructure for effectively fighting global conflicts, but the single location where propaganda, recruitments and direct action takes place. Dyer-Witheford and Matviyenko take a specific angle in order to dissect the huge and chaotic scenario we’re experiencing today. They adopt the classic term ‘cyberwar’ to define it, extensively articulating this choice, which becomes an umbrella under which a small galaxy of concepts can be related and acknowledged. 

 

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