Peace, War, and Computers

Berglund Authority Level 3

review by Jeffrey Barlow <barlowj@pacificu.edu>
Editor, Interface

Chris Hables Gray. Peace, War, and Computers. New York: Rutledge, 2005.

The work is the first full book-length response of which we are aware to the impact of the events known as “9/11” on global society, particularly as it affects the Internet.

The author has excellent credentials for approaching the complex interwoven topic indicated by the title: “Peace, War, and the Internet.”  He is a prolific writer [1] and a well-known speaker, commentator, and political activist.

There is a great need for a book such as this one, regardless of political opinions. The impacts of the events of 9/11 were both “radical” and “revolutionary” ones, in the sense of introducing discontinuous changes.  The world before 9/11 was one in which the steady development of a more closely unified global civic culture seemed to be the critical element affecting both economics and politics.  The Internet was facilitating the development and sharing of common values.

After 9/11, the fight against terrorism seems to many thoughtful observers to be the dominant factor in influencing both globalism and the Internet.  These changes were so abrupt that many important voices virtually have fallen silent, most notably that of the commentator Manuel Castells [2], who has effectively retired.

Because of Gray’s activist politics, many will not agree with his perspective. If, for example, a reader sees the primary issue facing the Internet as how best to shape it for the battle against terrorism, this book is not for him or her.

But Gray does us all a service by rushing in to try to make sense of the impacts.  And many who desire a more open process of globalization than the war on terrorism seems to promise would welcome his argument that there is hope.

A work such as this, then, would be welcome to many, and Gray may well be the one to write it.  Unfortunately, however, this is not yet the book we need to fully understand the impact of 9/11 on the Internet.

As 9/11 unfolded, this work was well advanced in the publication process, and Gray chose, following the events, to substantially rewrite it.  The book often seems to be a sort of doppelganger, a work, which discusses issues central to the impact of 9/11 on global civic culture one moment, then frustratingly veers off to discuss cyborgs or other post-modern concerns in the next. For this reader at least, these many perspectives never quite came together.

There is, however, a core of important ideas to be found here.  Any discussion of emerging modes of warfare, the relationship between society and war, or the ties between politics and technology will be informed by a close reading of this work.  But we wish that Dr. Gray had held the mss back even longer, and presented us with a fully developed work rather than this often-frustrating pastiche. We thank him, however, for trying. The work will advance the broader understanding of the impacts of 9/11 upon the development of global civic culture, which will eventually emerge.

Footnotes

[1] He is probably best know for: The Cyborg Handbook; Cyborg Citizen; and Postmodern War. See his home page at:
http://www.ugf.edu/CompSci/CGray/ISTPG.HTM
See a complete and very impressive list of publications at:
http://www.ugf.edu/CompSci/CGray/CV.HTM

[2] For a list of references to Castells’ works and influence see:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&domains=
bcis.pacificu.edu&q=Castells&btnG=Search&sitesearch=bcis.pacificu.edu