The Stack, on Software and Sovereignty
The Stack, on Software and Sovereignty
ISBN: 978-0-26202957-5
/ by author Bejamin H. Bratton. - Cambridge, Mass. ; London : The MIT Press, 2015. - 502 p. ; 23,5 cm Includes bibliographical references and index
In The Stack, Benjamin Bratton proposes that the 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.
