Frictionlessness provides an examination of the environmentally
destructive digital design philosophy of "frictionlessness" and the
critical significance of a technological aesthetic of imperfection. If
there is one thing that defines digital consumer technologies today,
it is that they are designed to feel frictionless. From smart
technologies to cloud computing, from from one-click shopping to the
promise of seamless streaming-digital technology is framed to host
ever-faster operations while receding increasingly into the background
of perception. The environmental costs of this fetishization of
frictionlessness are enormous and unevenly distributed; the
frictionless experience of the end user tends to be supported by
opaque networks of exploited labor and extracted resources that
disproportionately impact the Global South. This situation marks an
urgent need for alternate, less destructive aesthetic relations to
technology. As such, this book examines imperfection, as an aesthetic
concept that highlights existential conditions of finitude and
fragility, as a particularly powerful counterweight to the dominant
digital design philosophy of frictionlessness. While frictionlessness
aims to draw the user's perception away from the exploitative and
destructive conditions of digital production, imperfection forms an
aesthetic source of friction that alerts users to the fragile nature
of technology and the finite resources on which it relies. These
arguments are elaborated through a close reading of three
technological objects-a video game that was programmed to expire, an
audiovisual performance that laments the fate of disused technology
and a collection of music albums that dramatize a techno-cultural
logic of relentless consumerism. Together, these case studies
underline the value of technological aesthetics of imperfection and
point to the need for a renewed ethics of care in relation to
technology.
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The Silicon Valley Philosophy of Seamless Technology and the Aesthetic Value of Imperfection
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9798765104453
Publisert
2024
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Bloomsbury Academic USA
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter