Progress and Generating Associations - Michelle Sumovich

A brief review this week, since I’m already late as it is.

Last week we talked about the concept of progress (Bingham) and the social consequences that occur as a result of quickly “moving forward” (Routledge). The Bingham article was very provocative to me, breaking down our culturally accepted definition of progress and questioning its application. He cites Stengers who characterized progress as “one of the most profoundly powerful of political strategies.” Early in the article, this forces the reader to wonder: how exaggerated is this concept, and is it relative in its application? Moreover, Latour suggests that we (moderns) believe on some level that we have conquered the past. From my perspective, modern progress seems to be interpreted as becoming more civilized and more integrated into the globalized whole. We become more educated, more analog, more digital... more connected. But what Bingham will argue is that progress is (or perhaps should be) a process of picking up our histories and our assemblages and moving forward along with those heavy masses. Only then can we truly progress.

Routledge looks at Actor Network Theory and how associations can be formed globally. He provokes us to examine how data and knowledge are circulated; technologically?, culturally?, conversationally?, institutionally? Routledge states that “The world is made up of numerous networks of association which are constituted by [association], by the movement of ‘traffic’ through their links.” However, he goes on to show us that some networks receive more traffic than others. The internet is responsible for mobilizing a great deal of traffic globally, but Routledge calls these “partial connections.” I would have to agree, because the internet generates data that are culturally relevant to their authors; a personal network (unlike the internet) has context, history, and background. Later, Routledge draws on Latour who reiterates that “context is always made in process, rather than being pregiven.” While information can be circulated globally, what we know and understand is essentially a translation of how new data effects our own personal network.