[Air-l] the developed world's torture

[Heidi haLevi]

Hi Peter,

I don't know about research specific to your question, but the philosophers
may offer a place to start. Heiddeger is certainly pertinent with specific
references to technology (though the relevancy to digital technologies needs
to be handled carefully).
Marshal McLuhan discusses electronic media as an attack for which society
must become prepared.
On another track, Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard about the the place of
images and their manipulation/decomposition by power factors (specifically,
capitalism). They discuss effects of social-spiritual debilitation and
degradation of reality and reality perception and meaning in general. Slavoj
Zizek's The Cyberspace Real might be relevant for you:
http://www.egs.edu/faculty/zizek/zizek-the-cyberspace-real.html.

I'd join with the other responses here to note that suggesting a causal
connection between computers and torture is problematic. It would probably
serve you better to look at the larger picture of social and cultural trends
to see in what way the development of technology interacts with - rather
than causes - such phenomena. And further, to keep in mind that such effects
are not going to be limited to destructive potential - although the means in
which the positive comes through the negative can be complex and not at all
obvious. Most contemporary media/technology philosophers are supremely
pessimistic. But this may be changing.

A nice quote from Heidegger in this respect:
But where danger is, grows
The saving power also.

My personal interest is in the other side of the coin, and how the self has
co-evolved with technology to become a structure that is capable of being
traumatized. With respect to your question - the phenomena of dissociation
that is fundamental to trauma is also fundamental to traumatizing. The
ability of one human being to perpetrate horrors on another is not a natural
given. Psychological research has been done on sexual perpetrators, for
example, showing them to have significant levels of dissociation.
Questions of development of self, society, culture and technology cannot
ultimately be separated from each other.

Heidegger, Martin. 1953. The Question Concerning Technology. In: The
Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays.
  Summary:
http://www.beloit.edu/~philorel/faculty/davidvessey/Heidegger22702.html
  Some work based on Heidegger:
http://www.webcom.com/~paf/hlinks/techlinks.html
Debord, Guy. 1995/1967. The Society of the Spectacle, Zone Books.
Jean Baudrillard: http://www.uta.edu/english/apt/collab/baudweb.html
Slavoj Zizek: http://www.egs.edu/faculty/slavojzizek.html

Good luck in staying linear ;)
Heidi

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter T. [mailto:ptimusk at sympatico.ca]
> Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2005 7:41 PM
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org; aoir list
> Subject: [Air-l] the developed world's torture
>
>
> Has anyone done any research on the increase in inhumanity because of the
> rise of the computer? Suggesting as I do that every developed nation has
> torture how does IT fit this picture. Is there an increase in police
> brutality lately? Can domestic torture be linked to a so called
> information
> revolution?
>
> Video games that are violent are the only likely suspects I can think of.
>
> Peter Timusk B.Math Just trying to stay linear
> www.crystalcomputing.net >blog> http://logbook.crystalcomputing.net
> www.webpagex.org >blog> http://notebook.webpagex.org
>

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