John MacWillie - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by John MacWillie

surveillance and society, Jul 14, 2018

Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and a... more Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and algorithmic simulations, has its origins in early Cold War technologies that were designed to provide air defense surveillance. Though the SAGE system has been examined by other historians of technology, this paper examines the origins of this system by applying a different interpretative approach by emphasizing the interdependence of epistemology (how human beings know something) with ontogeny (the emergence of things independent of whether human beings know it). The mediation between the two is identified as information, drawing attention to the importance of surveillance as a social and technical practice. The machines are social before being technical.

The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Aug 31, 2020

MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big da... more MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big data applications through an historical overview of developments in information communications technology since the 1950s. This leads him to conclude that big data is a fundamentally new object in the world, bringing with it key issues of richness and complexity in computer networks.

Affect and the digitalization of war

Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2022

Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the pr... more Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the proliferation of which is abetted by an ever increasing profusion of products and services extending the competencies of these capabilities into new opportunities and markets worldwide. More significantly, this momentum is leading to a convergence of these disparate competencies towards a common techno-surveillant milieu. Yet much of what is written and theoretically understood about these topics (singularly and collectively) fails to provide for a unified accounting that anticipates either the trajectory or the heterogeneous forms of this converging phenomenon. This projects sets out to excavate why our understanding of techno-surveillance is so myopic. Following the evidence, I assert that this short-sightedness is not simply the result of methodological shortcomings. Rather, most researchers of surveillance and technology are blinded by philosophical presumptions (primarily grounded in epistemology) that exclude the kinds of questions (largely ontological) they must ask to go deeper in their investigations. This study examines the archaeological detritus of an early techno-surveillant system, the characteristics of which are typical of the kinds of systems that have come to challenge researchers about the implications of their analyses. Based on this analysis, this study proposes an ontological model, which I call ontigeny that is consistent with the evidence and helps to explain the heterogeneity of techno-surveillance, as well as its potential trajectories.

NINE The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jul 8, 2020

NINE The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jul 8, 2020

Affect and the digitalization of war

Materializing Digital Futures, 2022

Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the pr... more Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the proliferation of which is abetted by an ever increasing profusion of products and services extending the competencies of these capabilities into new opportunities and markets worldwide. More significantly, this momentum is leading to a convergence of these disparate competencies towards a common techno-surveillant milieu. Yet much of what is written and theoretically understood about these topics (singularly and collectively) fails to provide for a unified accounting that anticipates either the trajectory or the heterogeneous forms of this converging phenomenon. This projects sets out to excavate why our understanding of techno-surveillance is so myopic. Following the evidence, I assert that this short-sightedness is not simply the result of methodological shortcomings. Rather, most researchers of surveillance and technology are blinded by philosophical presumptions (primarily grounded in ...

The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Big Data and Democracy, 2020

MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big da... more MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big data applications through an historical overview of developments in information communications technology since the 1950s. This leads him to conclude that big data is a fundamentally new object in the world, bringing with it key issues of richness and complexity in computer networks.

Surveillance & Society, 2018

Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and a... more Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and algorithmic simulations, has its origins in early Cold War technologies that were designed to provide air defense surveillance. Though the SAGE system has been examined by other historians of technology, this paper examines the origins of this system by applying a different interpretative approach by emphasizing the interdependence of epistemology (how human beings know something) with ontogeny (the emergence of things independent of whether human beings know it). The mediation between the two is identified as information, drawing attention to the importance of surveillance as a social and technical practice.

surveillance and society, Jul 14, 2018

Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and a... more Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and algorithmic simulations, has its origins in early Cold War technologies that were designed to provide air defense surveillance. Though the SAGE system has been examined by other historians of technology, this paper examines the origins of this system by applying a different interpretative approach by emphasizing the interdependence of epistemology (how human beings know something) with ontogeny (the emergence of things independent of whether human beings know it). The mediation between the two is identified as information, drawing attention to the importance of surveillance as a social and technical practice. The machines are social before being technical.

The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Aug 31, 2020

MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big da... more MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big data applications through an historical overview of developments in information communications technology since the 1950s. This leads him to conclude that big data is a fundamentally new object in the world, bringing with it key issues of richness and complexity in computer networks.

Affect and the digitalization of war

Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2022

Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the pr... more Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the proliferation of which is abetted by an ever increasing profusion of products and services extending the competencies of these capabilities into new opportunities and markets worldwide. More significantly, this momentum is leading to a convergence of these disparate competencies towards a common techno-surveillant milieu. Yet much of what is written and theoretically understood about these topics (singularly and collectively) fails to provide for a unified accounting that anticipates either the trajectory or the heterogeneous forms of this converging phenomenon. This projects sets out to excavate why our understanding of techno-surveillance is so myopic. Following the evidence, I assert that this short-sightedness is not simply the result of methodological shortcomings. Rather, most researchers of surveillance and technology are blinded by philosophical presumptions (primarily grounded in epistemology) that exclude the kinds of questions (largely ontological) they must ask to go deeper in their investigations. This study examines the archaeological detritus of an early techno-surveillant system, the characteristics of which are typical of the kinds of systems that have come to challenge researchers about the implications of their analyses. Based on this analysis, this study proposes an ontological model, which I call ontigeny that is consistent with the evidence and helps to explain the heterogeneity of techno-surveillance, as well as its potential trajectories.

NINE The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jul 8, 2020

NINE The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jul 8, 2020

Affect and the digitalization of war

Materializing Digital Futures, 2022

Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the pr... more Surveillance and technology are among the most prevalent phenomena in the developed world, the proliferation of which is abetted by an ever increasing profusion of products and services extending the competencies of these capabilities into new opportunities and markets worldwide. More significantly, this momentum is leading to a convergence of these disparate competencies towards a common techno-surveillant milieu. Yet much of what is written and theoretically understood about these topics (singularly and collectively) fails to provide for a unified accounting that anticipates either the trajectory or the heterogeneous forms of this converging phenomenon. This projects sets out to excavate why our understanding of techno-surveillance is so myopic. Following the evidence, I assert that this short-sightedness is not simply the result of methodological shortcomings. Rather, most researchers of surveillance and technology are blinded by philosophical presumptions (primarily grounded in ...

The Technics of a Gnostic World: an Ontogeny of Big Data

Big Data and Democracy, 2020

MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big da... more MacWillie’s chapter develops an ontological understanding of the infrastructure underlying big data applications through an historical overview of developments in information communications technology since the 1950s. This leads him to conclude that big data is a fundamentally new object in the world, bringing with it key issues of richness and complexity in computer networks.

Surveillance & Society, 2018

Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and a... more Much of contemporary surveillance, with its reliance on remote sensors, big data, networks, and algorithmic simulations, has its origins in early Cold War technologies that were designed to provide air defense surveillance. Though the SAGE system has been examined by other historians of technology, this paper examines the origins of this system by applying a different interpretative approach by emphasizing the interdependence of epistemology (how human beings know something) with ontogeny (the emergence of things independent of whether human beings know it). The mediation between the two is identified as information, drawing attention to the importance of surveillance as a social and technical practice.