Estrangement of Meaning in a Wealth of Information

Authors

  • Fabian Muniesa Centre de Sociologie de l’Innovation (CNRS UMR 9217), Mines Paris - PSL https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8756-3241

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/21052

Keywords:

Theory, cybernetics, information, meaning, psychosis

Abstract

The expression offered by the editors as a prompt for thought (“observing technologies of observation”) is twisted here, briefly and provocatively, in a kind of radical way, intensifying both its informational (cybernetic) connotation and the intuition of a spiraling (psychotic) twirl. Reminiscences of “Von Foerster’s conjecture” (a theory of alienation in second-order observation once formulated by Jean-Pierre Dupuy) are used in order to interrogate the depletion of signification in a society that is now conceived of as a computational product. The problem of aesthetics, the essay concludes, becomes then crucial.

References

Alegre Zahonero, L. (2017). El Lugar de los Poetas: Un Ensayo sobre Estética y Política. Madrid: Akal.

Badge, H. (2024). I’m convinced that AI is the aesthetic of fascism in the 21st century a la Italian Futurism. “Art” without artists [Post]. X. https://x.com/hierobadge/status/1829294148371067213

Birchall, C., & Knight, P. (2022). Do Your Own Research: Conspiracy Theories and the Internet. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 89(3), 579–605. https://doi.org/10.1353/sor.2022.0049

Birchall, C., & Knight, P. (2024). It’s the Algorithm, Stupid! American Book Review, 45(1), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1353/abr.2024.a929655

Chaudhary, Z.R. (2022). Paranoid Publics. History of the Present, 12(1), 103–126. https://doi.org/10.1215/21599785-9547248

Dalí, S. (1978). Le Mythe Tragique de l’Angélus de Millet. Paris: Pauvert.

Daub, A. (2020). What Tech Calls Thinking: An Inquiry into the Intellectual Bedrock of Silicon Valley. London: Macmillan.

Davies, W. (2024). Reaction Value: Affective Reflex in the Digital Public Sphere. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 25(3), 297–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2024.2331751

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1972). Capitalisme et Schizophrénie: L’Anti-Œdipe. Paris: Éditions de Minuit.

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1980). Capitalisme et Schizophrénie 2: Mille Plateaux. Paris: Éditions de Minuit.

Dupuy, J-P. (1982). Ordres et Désordres: Enquête sur un Nouveau Paradigme. Paris: Seuil.

Dupuy, J-P. (1991). La Panique. Paris: Les Empêcheurs de Penser en Rond.

Dupuy, J-P. (1992a). Introduction aux Sciences Sociales: Logique des Phénomènes Collectifs. Paris: Ellipses.

Dupuy, J-P. (1992b). Le Sacrifice et l’Envie: Le Libéralisme aux Prises avec la Justice Sociale. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.

Dupuy, J-P. (2012). L’Avenir de l’Économie: Sortir de l’Économystification. Paris: Flammarion.

Fressoz, J-B. (2012). L’Apocalypse Joyeuse: Une Histoire du Risque Technologique. Paris: Seuil.

Giddens, A. (1990). The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity.

Greeley, R.A. (2001). Dalí’s Fascism; Lacan’s Paranoia. Art History, 24(4), 465–492. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8365.00278

Grivois, H. (1991). Naître à la Folie. Paris: Les Empêcheurs de Penser en Rond.

Grivois, H., & Dupuy, J-P. (Eds.). (1994). Mécanismes Mentaux, Mécanismes Sociaux: De la Psychose à la Panique. Paris: La Découverte. https://doi.org/10.3917/dec.grivo.1994.01

Haider, S. (2017). The Darkness at the End of the Tunnel: Artificial Intelligence and Neoreaction. Viewpoint Magazine, 28 March. https://viewpointmag.com/2017/03/28/the-darkness-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-artificial-intelligence-and-neoreaction/

Healy, K. (2015). The Performativity of Networks. European Journal of Sociology, 56(2), 175–205. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003975615000107

Ibáñez, J. (1983). Hacia un concepto teórico de “explotación”. Sistema, 53, 39–56.

Ibáñez, J. (1985). Del Algoritmo al Sujeto: Perspectivas de la Investigación Social. Mexico City: Siglo XXI.

Ibáñez, J. (2014). El Delirio del Capitalismo. Barcelona: Catarata.

Izquierdo, J. (2002). Conectar, calcular, juzgar: Del análisis de redes como fenómeno sociológico. Papers: Revista de Sociología, 68, 191–214. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/papers/v68n0.1447

Izquierdo Martín, A.J. (1996). Equilibrio económico y racionalidad maquínica: Del algoritmo al sujeto en el análisis económico moderno. Política y Sociedad, 21, 89–111.

Klossowski, P. (1970). Protase et Apodose. L’Arc, 43, 8–20.

Koppel, M., Atlan, H., & Dupuy, J-P. (1987). Von-Foerster’s Conjecture: Trivial Machines and Alienation in Systems. International Journal of General Systems, 13(3), 257–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/03081078708934971

Latour, B. (2015). Face à Gaïa: Huit Conférences sur le Nouveau Régime Climatique. Paris: La Découverte. https://doi.org/10.3917/dec.latou.2015.01

Lyotard, J-F. (1979). La Condition Postmoderne: Rapport sur le Savoir. Paris: Éditions de Minuit.

Maleki, M., Padmanabhan, B., & Dutta, K. (2024). AI Hallucinations: A Misnomer Worth Clarifying. In 2024 IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI) (pp. 133–138). Singapore: IEEE https://doi.org/10.1109/CAI59869.2024.00033

Melley, T. (2000). Empire of Conspiracy: The Culture of Paranoia in Postwar America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501713019

Meyer, R. (2025). “Platform Realism”: AI Image Synthesis and the Rise of Generic Visual Content. Transbordeur, 9, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.4000/13dwq

Mirowski, P. (2002). Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Cyborg Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511613364

Muniesa, F. (2000). Un robot walrasien: Cotation électronique et justesse de la découverte des prix. Politix, 13(52), 121–154. https://doi.org/10.3406/polix.2000.1122

Muniesa, F. (2014). The Provoked Economy: Economic Reality and the Performative Turn. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203798959

Muniesa, F. (2017). On the Political Vernaculars of Value Creation. Science as Culture, 26(4), 445–454. http://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2017.1354847

Muniesa, F. (2018). How to Spot the Behavioral Shibboleth and What to Do About It. In N. Marres, M. Guggenheim, & A. Wilkie (Eds.), Inventing the Social (pp. 195–211). Manchester: Mattering Press. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/book.81374

Muniesa, F. (2019). Société du comportement, information de la sociologie. Zilsel, 5, 197–207. https://doi.org/10.3917/zil.005.0196

Muniesa, F. (2023). A Science of Stereotypes: Paranoiac-Critical Forays Within the Medium of Information. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 24(2), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2023.2235634

Muniesa, F. (2024). Paranoid Finance. Cambridge: Polity.

Nagy, P., & Neff, G. (2024). Conjuring Algorithms: Understanding the Tech Industry as Stage Magicians. New Media & Society, 26(9), 4938–4954. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241251789

Rosamond, E. (2023). YouTube Personalities as Infrastructure: Assets, Attention Choreographies and Cohortification Processes. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 24(2), 254–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2023.2185873

Taillandier, A. (2021). “Staring Into the Singularity” and Other Posthuman Tales: Transhumanist Stories of Future Change. History & Theory, 60(2), 215–233. https://doi.org/10.1111/hith.12203

Teixeira Pinto, A. (2019). Capitalism with a Transhuman Face: The Afterlife of Fascism and the Digital Frontier. Third Text, 33(3), 315–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2019.1625638

Von Foester, H. (1981). Observing Systems. Cambridge, MA: Intersystems Publications.

Downloads

Published

2025-05-05

How to Cite

Muniesa, F. (2025). Estrangement of Meaning in a Wealth of Information. Sociologica, 19(1), 185–193. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/21052

Issue

Section

Focus