I
found this article very intriguing as it poses a question on the understanding
of space in the very present terms. The author talks about how the rise of
informatization of production has changed the way we value a space, product or
a place as private or common. While it
is fascinating to relay this concept to our present times, it is equally
interesting to understand how the complete system changed from one phase to the
other.
Over
the years, the succession of economic paradigms can be recognized through
dominant sectors that have changed from agriculture to industrialization to finally
providing services and manipulation information. The developed countries seemed
to climb up this hierarchy level in the old times by relative isolation and the
same is the path expected for the underdeveloped economies. But what we fail to
recognize is the huge difference in global power relationships that the
different countries share, giving rise to entirely incomparable situations in
the economies of these societies. Moreover overall economies of the world have
become a part of a global system and are so interdependent on each other that
any attempt at isolation will only lead to reduction in power and will lead to
poverty.
The
era of postmodernization or informatization can be characterized by a shift
from industry to service jobs (communication, knowledge, information etc.),
especially in dominant capitalist countries. We are moving towards a new era of
“Informational economy”, where the assembly line is replaced by network,
transforming the forms of cooperation and communication within each productive
site and among various productive sites. The labor is no more confined to a
place or material rather they are free to work from anywhere at anyplace. As
named by the author, this ‘immaterial labor’ tends to be in fact more dependent
on social interaction and cooperation for their progress. This gave rise to a
network production system that is spread across everywhere. But at the same time,
this calls for the need to have a centralized management, which is shifting
towards rise of global cities, or the cities of control. So, even though at one
end, we boast of having a new world of social equality with the right to free
speech and extreme connectivity at the snap of a finger, we have actually
created new levels of inequality between the dominant countries and also
outside them.
However,
in this age of information revolution, there has emerged an idea of ‘commons’.
We participate everyday in a productive world that is made up of communication
and social networks, interactive services and common languages. We define the
success of the product by its exemplary services and consumer relations rather
than the act of consuming the materials itself. In fact we now live in an era
that is moving towards a more radical and profound commonality and the concept
of private is becoming far from real. Although the different parts of the world
are evolving through different paths and we have various levels of commonality
existing but what cannot be denied is that all the countries in the world are
ever so dependent on each other for their success as well as survival. I wonder
what would be next change of phase after the end of posmodernization. With freedom
and easy access of new and advanced technology, would we be producing each
product in our own homes and become more and more self-sufficient or would we
be heading to a new age of humanity, where we share each of our space, material
and place with each other and define a new form of community that existed never
before.
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