Thursday, October 18, 2007

Internet mapping

I wonder if internet mapping is the short-circuit that we need with demography - now the population can see itself as a population. This is important and new. If Dasein is spatial (Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger), then this mode of perception and representation would obviously resonate with it. Could one say that Dasein loves maps?

Unfortunately, to see oneself as a population is to see what one has in common with masses of livestock -- see Foucault on biopower. But if one class sees another class as smart cattle, this class should know it, especially if it angers them.

Perhaps internet mapping will change the dynamics of power because it will address an asymmetry in how the world is perceived. Though, I would imagine, drug dealers and pornographers will use it as much as community organizers.

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