The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty (Software Studies)

The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty (Software Studies)

<p><b>A comprehensive political and design theory of planetary-scale computation proposing that The Stack€•an accidental megastructure€•is both a technological apparatus and a model for a new geopolitical architecture.</b></p><p>What has planetary-scale computation done to our geopolitical realities? It takes different forms at different scales€•from energy and mineral sourcing and subterranean cloud infrastructure to urban software and massive universal addressing systems; from interfaces drawn by the augmentation of the hand and eye to users identified by self€•quantification and the arrival of legions of sensors, algorithms, and robots. Together, how do these distort and deform modern political geographies and produce new territories in their own image?</p><p>In <i>The Stack</i>, Benjamin Bratton proposes that these 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. </p><p>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: <i>Earth</i>, <i> Cloud</i>, <i> City</i>, <i> Address</i>, <i> Interface</i>, <i> User</i>. 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. This model, informed by the logic of the multilayered structure of protocol "stacks," in which network technologies operate within a modular and vertical order, offers a comprehensive image of our emerging infrastructure and a platform for its ongoing reinvention. </p><p> <i>The Stack</i> is an interdisciplinary design brief for a new geopolitics that works with and for planetary-scale computation. Interweaving the continental, urban, and perceptual scales, it shows how we can better build, dwell within, communicate with, and govern our worlds.</p><p>thestack.org</p>