The Panopticon is a type of institutional building designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century.
The concept of the design is to allow a single watchman to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) inmates of a institution without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.
The design consists of a circular structure with an “inspection house” at its centre, from which the manage of staff of the institution are able to watch the inmates, who are stationed around the perimeter. Bentham conceived the basic plan as being equally applicable to prisons, hospitals, schools, sanatoriums, daycares and asylums [source]
- Axial visibility & lateral invisibility – a guarantee of order.
- Permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power
- Power is visible & unverifiable
- It automatizes & disindividualizes power.
- It does not matter who exercises the power.
- Produces homogeneous effects of power
- “democratically controlled
Foucault develops Panopticon as a methaphor for modern “disciplinary” societies and their pervasive inclination to observe and normalise
Victory
The term “victory” is conspicuously old-fashioned. It’s an anachronism
Ok boomer!
Theoretically, victory in war is the achievement of the political goals, as defined by the state according to its core values (as enshrined in its constitution and other foundational documents) and the creation of a stable political reality.
But it’s not like this any more: Reporting of war occurs almost in real time by various parties. Images from the war battle itself are broadcast directly to citizens and leaders, influencing their views; actions and choices about the conflict; and, thereby, policy. The adversary structures adopt the strategy of non surrender, denying victory to the other side.
Does anyone, let alone Trump, the most-watched man in the world, have any reasonable expectation of privacy in today’s electronic Panopticon?
Philip J.Cunningham
Victory in democratic elections is not managed any more as a political issue. The central idea is that electoral manipulation can convey information of relevance to the choices and behavior of bureaucrats, politicians,unions, business people, citizens, and other political and social actors. By utilizing electoral manipulation to appear strong, therefore, a party can align actors’ incentives with its own, increasing, for example, its bargaining power, reducing demands from out-of-power groups, and mitigating future political challenges (1)
The democratic government’s political goal is the preservation of security, while ensuring a high standard of living for its citizens and upholding its society’s core values, but it’s not accomplished. This paradigm requires a change in legal thinking about any conflict. It set up through a process of “incremental tyranny” and Lawfare, without the desirable success (2)
Gold-tinted Trump Tower in the heart of Manhattan escape the jaded gaze of the surveillance state?
….NOP
The architects of power in the United States failed
Speak up
Do not forget: the information really became a kind of “elephant in the room”, ”said Roger Waters (4)
The info published by Julian Assange, will be there anyway. No one can stop spreading the classified information because we are only Americans and we don’t know anything about someone from other continent. This info doesn’t harm the United States, this info is needed by the American people. It’s not according to a privileged institution is according to the responsibility of our actions and the consequences of our privilege
American people: We don’t need an Australian guy testifying about what’s happening in United States and what we are doing.
US administration wants the Trump Tower as the British Panopticon building. Donald, you can pretend to have this american power, but you know it’s just a manipulated tower. The enemy is inside the tower, every aggregate of concrete is spying you. You don’t need to hide anything, you don’t need a proof, or victim, or another prisoner in jail. You can say the truth, you have the power of that.
Notes
(1) Why governments and parties manipulate elections. Cambridge.org
(2) LAWFARE: Law as a weapon of war. European Parliament speech
(3) Picture Big Ben: Reclaiming Privacy in the Golden Age of Surveillance
(4) “Calling to shut up people’s mouths” Teller report
References
Galič, M., Timan, T. & Koops, B. Bentham, Deleuze and Beyond: An Overview of Surveillance Theories from the Panopticon to Participation. Philos. Technol. 30, 9–37 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-016-0219-1
Michel Foucault Panopticon. Rinu Krishna K based on The Role of Panopticon in Panopticism. Discipline and punish: the birth of the Prison.
Electronic Panopticon, by Philip J.Cunningham
The U.S. says Julian Assange ‘is no journalist.’ Here’s why that shouldn’t matter.
Reuters article: Trump offered to pardon Assange if he denied Russia helped leak Democrats’ emails: lawyer