Der totale Unterhaltungsstaat. Überwachung im digitalen Zeitalter

Über Konsum, KI und nicht nur digitale Domestiken

Abstract

Entertainment as surveillance? The Orwell’ian model of Big Brother seem no longer apt to describe the contemporary moment and its immediate future. But how should a model look like that is able to adequately grasp the dynamics and phenome­na that shape societies in the 21st century? The article wants to propose such a new model and provides the necessary analysis that is needed to understand the dimensi­ons of control and surveillance in contemporary societies. The starting point for such an analysis lies in the question why digital technologies are so widely accepted, while people often seem to ignore the problematic consequences, even when they are aware of them. The assumption is that the digital satisfies desires, which obscure a critical assessment of such new technologies, data collections and the restructuring of our eve­ryday environments. Two hypotheses will guide the analysis. One assumes that the digi­tal will bring back the servant, now for the masses and thus will bring initiate a re-feu­dalisation of societies. The second addresses the fact that digital technologies are offe­ring ways of distinction, an important mode for the formation of identity under the con­ditions of consumer capitalism. With both hypothesis the article will endeavour to think about structures of power and domination in societies under the digital conditions of total entertainment.