Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism

Narbal de Marsillac; Emmanuel Pedro Ribeiro

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15

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Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism

Narbal de Marsillac, Emmanuel Pedro Ribeiro

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 11, Issue 6)

Received: 6 February 2023 Accepted: 2 March 2023 Published: 26 December 2023

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Abstract

The proposal is to establish, by the method of rhetorical rereading, the possible relations between what Han called infocracy, and its correlated complete digitization of life and the necessary and constitutive rhetoric of democratic practice in general, pointing to the important role that algorithms and the recent and sophisticated means of communication fulfill the constitution and manipulation of the subject and its process of subjectivation, no longer from the calculation of power over life, which Foucault called biopolitics, or even over death, which Mbembe defined as necropolitics, but rather, from an algorithmic calculation, complete, precise, and definitive, of power over human thought or desire and its capacity to dream, which Han called psychopolitics. In this new contemporary technology of governmentality, democratic governments and their rhetoric are late manifestations of the absolute control of information systems over our will that, now through an algorithmic rhetoric, subsumes that democratic rhetoric and turns citizens into consumers, artificially forging convenient understandings of ourselves and the world, reinforcing, at the same time, the narcissistic and self-centered appreciation of what is properly ours and the colonialist aversion to the other, naturalizing a superficial and inauthentic existence, where the criterion of value becomes how many "likes" or followers one can get. In this new “culture of likes", as Han called it, the libidinal energies move away from things and we start to live under the spell and fetish of information. Democracy here is only the delayed, fictional and hallucinatory rationalization and legitimization of an infocratic government that exercises its control from a digital panopticon.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 11, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15
Page(s)	215-224
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Infocracy, Democratic Rhetoric, Algorithmic Rhetoric, Psychoanalysis, Digital Colonialism, Digital Narcissism

References

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de Marsillac, N., Pedro Ribeiro, E. (2023). Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 11(6), 215-224. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15

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ACS Style

de Marsillac, N.; Pedro Ribeiro, E. Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2023, 11(6), 215-224. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15

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AMA Style

de Marsillac N, Pedro Ribeiro E. Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism. Int J Lang Linguist. 2023;11(6):215-224. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15,
  author = {Narbal de Marsillac and Emmanuel Pedro Ribeiro},
  title = {Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {11},
  number = {6},
  pages = {215-224},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20231106.15},
  abstract = {The proposal is to establish, by the method of rhetorical rereading, the possible relations between what Han called infocracy, and its correlated complete digitization of life and the necessary and constitutive rhetoric of democratic practice in general, pointing to the important role that algorithms and the recent and sophisticated means of communication fulfill the constitution and manipulation of the subject and its process of subjectivation, no longer from the calculation of power over life, which Foucault called biopolitics, or even over death, which Mbembe defined as necropolitics, but rather, from an algorithmic calculation, complete, precise, and definitive, of power over human thought or desire and its capacity to dream, which Han called psychopolitics. In this new contemporary technology of governmentality, democratic governments and their rhetoric are late manifestations of the absolute control of information systems over our will that, now through an algorithmic rhetoric, subsumes that democratic rhetoric and turns citizens into consumers, artificially forging convenient understandings of ourselves and the world, reinforcing, at the same time, the narcissistic and self-centered appreciation of what is properly ours and the colonialist aversion to the other, naturalizing a superficial and inauthentic existence, where the criterion of value becomes how many "likes" or followers one can get. In this new “culture of likes", as Han called it, the libidinal energies move away from things and we start to live under the spell and fetish of information. Democracy here is only the delayed, fictional and hallucinatory rationalization and legitimization of an infocratic government that exercises its control from a digital panopticon.
},
 year = {2023}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism
AU  - Narbal de Marsillac
AU  - Emmanuel Pedro Ribeiro
Y1  - 2023/12/26
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AB  - The proposal is to establish, by the method of rhetorical rereading, the possible relations between what Han called infocracy, and its correlated complete digitization of life and the necessary and constitutive rhetoric of democratic practice in general, pointing to the important role that algorithms and the recent and sophisticated means of communication fulfill the constitution and manipulation of the subject and its process of subjectivation, no longer from the calculation of power over life, which Foucault called biopolitics, or even over death, which Mbembe defined as necropolitics, but rather, from an algorithmic calculation, complete, precise, and definitive, of power over human thought or desire and its capacity to dream, which Han called psychopolitics. In this new contemporary technology of governmentality, democratic governments and their rhetoric are late manifestations of the absolute control of information systems over our will that, now through an algorithmic rhetoric, subsumes that democratic rhetoric and turns citizens into consumers, artificially forging convenient understandings of ourselves and the world, reinforcing, at the same time, the narcissistic and self-centered appreciation of what is properly ours and the colonialist aversion to the other, naturalizing a superficial and inauthentic existence, where the criterion of value becomes how many "likes" or followers one can get. In this new “culture of likes", as Han called it, the libidinal energies move away from things and we start to live under the spell and fetish of information. Democracy here is only the delayed, fictional and hallucinatory rationalization and legitimization of an infocratic government that exercises its control from a digital panopticon.

VL  - 11
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Narbal de Marsillac

Philosophy Department, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil

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Emmanuel Pedro Ribeiro

Private Law Department, State University of Paraiba, Campina Grande, Brazil

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APA Style

de Marsillac, N., Pedro Ribeiro, E. (2023). Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 11(6), 215-224. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15

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ACS Style

de Marsillac, N.; Pedro Ribeiro, E. Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2023, 11(6), 215-224. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15

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AMA Style

de Marsillac N, Pedro Ribeiro E. Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism. Int J Lang Linguist. 2023;11(6):215-224. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15,
  author = {Narbal de Marsillac and Emmanuel Pedro Ribeiro},
  title = {Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {11},
  number = {6},
  pages = {215-224},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20231106.15},
  abstract = {The proposal is to establish, by the method of rhetorical rereading, the possible relations between what Han called infocracy, and its correlated complete digitization of life and the necessary and constitutive rhetoric of democratic practice in general, pointing to the important role that algorithms and the recent and sophisticated means of communication fulfill the constitution and manipulation of the subject and its process of subjectivation, no longer from the calculation of power over life, which Foucault called biopolitics, or even over death, which Mbembe defined as necropolitics, but rather, from an algorithmic calculation, complete, precise, and definitive, of power over human thought or desire and its capacity to dream, which Han called psychopolitics. In this new contemporary technology of governmentality, democratic governments and their rhetoric are late manifestations of the absolute control of information systems over our will that, now through an algorithmic rhetoric, subsumes that democratic rhetoric and turns citizens into consumers, artificially forging convenient understandings of ourselves and the world, reinforcing, at the same time, the narcissistic and self-centered appreciation of what is properly ours and the colonialist aversion to the other, naturalizing a superficial and inauthentic existence, where the criterion of value becomes how many "likes" or followers one can get. In this new “culture of likes", as Han called it, the libidinal energies move away from things and we start to live under the spell and fetish of information. Democracy here is only the delayed, fictional and hallucinatory rationalization and legitimization of an infocratic government that exercises its control from a digital panopticon.
},
 year = {2023}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Democracy, Infocracy and the Challenges of Algorithmization to Democratic Rhetoric: The Digital Narcissism and Colonialism
AU  - Narbal de Marsillac
AU  - Emmanuel Pedro Ribeiro
Y1  - 2023/12/26
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 215
EP  - 224
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231106.15
AB  - The proposal is to establish, by the method of rhetorical rereading, the possible relations between what Han called infocracy, and its correlated complete digitization of life and the necessary and constitutive rhetoric of democratic practice in general, pointing to the important role that algorithms and the recent and sophisticated means of communication fulfill the constitution and manipulation of the subject and its process of subjectivation, no longer from the calculation of power over life, which Foucault called biopolitics, or even over death, which Mbembe defined as necropolitics, but rather, from an algorithmic calculation, complete, precise, and definitive, of power over human thought or desire and its capacity to dream, which Han called psychopolitics. In this new contemporary technology of governmentality, democratic governments and their rhetoric are late manifestations of the absolute control of information systems over our will that, now through an algorithmic rhetoric, subsumes that democratic rhetoric and turns citizens into consumers, artificially forging convenient understandings of ourselves and the world, reinforcing, at the same time, the narcissistic and self-centered appreciation of what is properly ours and the colonialist aversion to the other, naturalizing a superficial and inauthentic existence, where the criterion of value becomes how many "likes" or followers one can get. In this new “culture of likes", as Han called it, the libidinal energies move away from things and we start to live under the spell and fetish of information. Democracy here is only the delayed, fictional and hallucinatory rationalization and legitimization of an infocratic government that exercises its control from a digital panopticon.

VL  - 11
IS  - 6
ER  -

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