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Transparency, Society and Subjectivity pp 259–282Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Obfuscated Transparency

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Abstract

The chapter addresses the transformations of transparency and opacity in the realm of digital networks. Rather than discussing the question of digital transparency as opposed to control, Mersch argues that we should focus on the destiny of the social and the political in an age of computation. As a concept inherited from Enlightenment, transparency suffers from the insufficiently acknowledged dialectic inherent to the concept, whereby complete transparency would lead to obfuscation. Moreover, in the age of digitalization, the privileged medium supposedly producing ultimate transparency is the technological system of digital communication through networks, social platforms and data exchanges. What once pertained to Enlightenment’s program of human emancipation boils down to a mathematical form. The idea of a transparent society based on justice and trust reveals itself to be nothing but an empty surface.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A corrective of the traded image of the middle ages can be found in Eco (1987) and Tuchman (1978).

  2. 2.

    A similar argument can be found in Heidegger’s analysis of useful things. See also Rautzenberg and Wolfsteiner (2010).

  3. 3.

    “Our writing tools are also working on our thoughts.” Quoted in Kittler (1986: 200). See Friedrich Nietzsche, Letter to Peter Gast (Heinrich Köselitz), Feb. 1882, in Nietzsche (1988: vol. 3.1, 172).

  4. 4.

    Response-ability is founded in responsivity. It is more than mere legal or duty-based responsibility because it foregrounds alterity. Response-ability responds to the primacy of the Other and thus always is in relation to an Other.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zürich, Switzerland

    Dieter Mersch

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  1. Dieter Mersch
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Correspondence to Dieter Mersch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Emmanuel Alloa

  2. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Dieter Thomä

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Mersch, D. (2018). Obfuscated Transparency. In: Alloa, E., Thomä, D. (eds) Transparency, Society and Subjectivity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77161-8_13

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