marksutherland reviewed Protocol by Alexander R. Galloway
Review of 'Protocol' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Well, that was something.
It's interesting to see an area I know a lot about from a technical perspective (networks, the internet) critiqued from a perspective I'm mostly unfamiliar with. Some of the jargon and reasoning was a bit difficult to follow due to this, but I think I gleaned enough from it for it to be useful.
I'd say it tails off a bit towards the end, it dissolves into textual descriptions of early 21st century internet that don't seem to contribute much beyond their existence.
It does, however, contain this excellent quote in the conclusion:
It is important to remember first that the technical is always political, that network architecture is politics.
I don't think I'll be reaching for something else in this vein for a while, but the experience was certainly worth the effort.
Well, that was something.
It's interesting to see an area I know a lot about from a technical perspective (networks, the internet) critiqued from a perspective I'm mostly unfamiliar with. Some of the jargon and reasoning was a bit difficult to follow due to this, but I think I gleaned enough from it for it to be useful.
I'd say it tails off a bit towards the end, it dissolves into textual descriptions of early 21st century internet that don't seem to contribute much beyond their existence.
It does, however, contain this excellent quote in the conclusion:
It is important to remember first that the technical is always political, that network architecture is politics.
I don't think I'll be reaching for something else in this vein for a while, but the experience was certainly worth the effort.
