El costo de la conexión: Cómo los datos colonizan la vida humanada y se la apropian para el capitalismo

Culture and Economic Life

by Nick Couldry

¿Cuánto vale un tuit? ¿Cuánto cuesta "estar" en las redes sociales? ¿Cómo se explica el flujo constante (y excesivo) de información en un mundo supuestamente interconectado por la "democrática" Internet? Nick Couldry y Ulises Mejias intentan responder estas y otras tantas preguntas que surgen a propósito de lo que ellos han denominado colonización de datos. Si el colonialismo histórico anexaba territorios, sus recursos y los cuerpos que trabajaban en ellos, la acumulación de poder del colonialismo de datos es a la vez más simple y más la captura y el control de la propia vida humana a través de la apropiación de los datos que pueden extraerse de ella para obtener beneficios. Si esto es así, entonces, así como que el colonialismo histórico creó el combustible para el futuro ascenso del capitalismo industrial, de manera análoga el colonialismo de datos está allanando el camino para un capitalismo basado en la explotación de los datos. El costo de la conexión es una exploración profunda sobre cómo la permanente extracción de información sobre nuestras vidas íntimas está reconstruyendo tanto los mercados globales como nuestras personalidades. Este libro representa un paso enorme hacia la comprensión de la etapa actual del capitalismo, en la cual el insumo definitivo es la información más cruda de la vida humana. Naomi Klein

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Politics, Sociology, Science, Philosophy, Cultural

283 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 20, 2019

About the author

Nick Couldry is Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory in the Department of Media and communications at LSE. As a sociologist of media and culture, he approaches media and communications from the perspective of the symbolic power that has been historically concentrated in media institutions.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heady, but (mostly) accessible analysis of the true costs of data colonialism. It’s chilling, but necessary reading.

[Jon Lund · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is a little unfair, as I've only read the first two chapters and only scanned the rest. This by itself is however telling.

There are three reasons why I didn't get to read it all and why I'm not a fan.

First, the main theme of "The costs of connection" resemples the theme of Zuboffs "Surveillance capitalism" very, very closely. Only The Costs was published a few month after Zuboffs masterpiece and not nearly as good.

Second, and tightly connected to this, Couldry and Mejias don't nail it like Zuboff does. They grasp with some of the same elements without really succeeding in fitting the pieces together. They discuss the "appropriation of personal life through data", much like Zuboff does, and coins this "data colonialism", not only as a parallel to historical colonization but as the modern and elaborated version hereoff. This being tightly connected to a Marxist capitalism critique in which more and more aspects of the world is being subjected to the brutality of market forces. But their attempt to invent new terms and paint the big picture remained unconvincing to me.

Third, the book is written in a way to abstract, academic prose. It's not storytelling and it's too hard to read. Like this (p. 32): "Therefore, our proposal is simple: that just as industrial capitalism, according to Marx, changed society by transforming the universal human activity of work into a social form with an abstract dimension (via the commodification of labor), so capitalism today, in the expansionary phase we call data colonialism, is transforming human nature (that is, preexisting streams of human life in all its diversity) into a newly abstracted social form (data) that is also ripe for commodification."

[Maximiliano Albornoz Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es uno de los libros que, a mi juicio, considero indispensables para comprender la particular coyuntura actual del mundo cada vez más gobernado a través de regímenes de datos.
A diferencia de otras propuestas teóricas que dialogan en la misma sintonía, los autores deciden inscribir su crítica en una perspectiva decolonial, lo que los lleva a cartografiar un escenario de semejanzas, diferencias, rupturas y continuidades con el proceso colonial europeo desde el siglo XV, y por lo tanto con la consolidación del capitalismo como estructura social, cultural y económica.
Es a su vez de una lectura urgente, para tratar de recomponer los lazos sociales de comunicación y solidaridad (entendida en un sentido más durkheimneano) ante los avances de los movimientos anti derechos y anti democráticos que golpean en todas las coyunturas políticas locales.

[Skye Windsor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for the important content this book had to offer. Sadly, the writing is so dense and convoluted that it’s miracle anyone can draw meaningful takeaways. The authors should have hired a ghost writer and stuck with the meta-analyses

[Burc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found my disagreements with this book very clarifying. Central premise is that human social life is colonized by data that this isn't a metaphor & not a form of "playing the Indian" but rather an actual colonization in so far as it denotes a process of resource extraction - resource being data. Oh and because this new raw material (data) isn't physical - like oil or coal say - it can be "mined" endlessly; limitlessly etc. etc.s=

I don't find the central premise that this isn't a metaphor but really a new kind of colonialism unconvincing. Even though I can see new centers of power & new industries emerging through the industries they are pointing to.

They also equate "profits" with "surplus" which sometimes obfuscate both how tech companies make money and also why they are constantly getting shittier and seemingly falling apart. It's a distinction that's worthwhile holding to, from a Marxist perspective, precisely to not get into such obfuscation.

It's definitely the most developed and maximal version of this kind of argument about surveillance, data and capitalism. But therefore it's the best example of it's short comings.

[Vlad Veen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nick Couldry is a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Ulises Mejias is a professor at State University of New York at Oswego. With data and digital spaces being more integrated in our lives than ever, the authors argue that the data harvesting practices from corporations (and their apps, platforms, and smart devices) represent a new form of colonialist appropriation. The hidden cost is the extraction of our personal data, the gradual loss of privacy online, exacerbation of systemic inequalities, and a distortion of our ways of knowing (both collective and personal). The authors use decolonial theory and Marxism, among other tools, to understand this problem and how we might be able to get out. The good news is that this program is still in its early stages and there is time to stop it if we collectively fight it.

The language was unnecessarily abstract and fluffy at times. A little academic.

[Cecilia V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Después de leer este libro, no podés mirar igual tu celular, tu historial de navegación o tu app de salud. Couldry y Mejías no usan metáforas tecnológicas vacías ni se enamoran del “big data”: piensan en clave política, histórica y epistémica. Y lo que revelan es tremendo.
Leer este libro es salir de la Matrix sin efectos especiales. Acá lo que duele no es lo que se ve, sino todo lo que dejamos de ver.

[Jessica Schad Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The data extracted from our lives re-presents us in ways that constitute living. The value extracted from data, according to Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias, is not just about information but life – and what represents life.

Read more: https://bookoblivion.com/2019/11/28/b...

[Felix Nütz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who feels dispossessed by the Cloud Empire should have opportunities and spaces to participate in collective research about the shared problems that data now poses for humanity.

More people should read this, so five stars it is.

[Sajid Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going beyond the familiar and basic techlash narrative, this book connects the trends in the development of modern day platform capitalism & AI to larger historical forces of capitalism and colonialism to argue that the latest technological developments are a continuation of the two.

[Supi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to understand (for a communication student) and long.

[Millah Nilsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't be fooled by the stars det va bra för att va kurslitt inte mer än så

[Grant Lattanzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn.

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

just gonna put my tin foil hat on real quick

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If like it is said, data is the new oil then it's extraction & appropriation shouldn't be surprising. Almost of us think about this analogy as metaphorical rather than real as messiness of oil is radically opposed to the swift and clean extraction of data.
This book documents all the problems of our current data driven society, question of ownership drawing out far more implications about the ownership and distribution of goods and services on the society at large.
The future ( whatever it means anymore) is not worth having if the inequities are worse rather than better.

Highly recommend this book to everyone.