{"product_id":"9780262029575","title":"The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA comprehensive political and design theory of planetary-scale computation proposing that The Stack — an accidental megastructure — is both a technological apparatus and a model for a new geopolitical architecture.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat has planetary-scale computation done to our geopolitical realities? It takes different forms at different scales — from energy and mineral sourcing and subterranean cloud infrastructure to urban software and massive universal addressing systems; from interfaces drawn by the augmentation of the hand and eye to users identified by self — quantification and the arrival of legions of sensors, algorithms, and robots. Together, how do these distort and deform modern political geographies and produce new territories in their own image?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Stack\u003c\/i\u003e, Benjamin Bratton proposes that these different genres of computation — smart grids, cloud platforms, mobile apps, smart cities, the Internet of Things, automation — can be seen not as so many species evolving on their own, but as forming a coherent whole: an accidental megastructure called The Stack that is both a computational apparatus and a new governing architecture. We are inside The Stack and it is inside of us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn an account that is both theoretical and technical, drawing on political philosophy, architectural theory, and software studies, Bratton explores six layers of The Stack: \u003ci\u003eEarth\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Cloud\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e City\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Address\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Interface\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e User\u003c\/i\u003e. Each is mapped on its own terms and understood as a component within the larger whole built from hard and soft systems intermingling — not only computational forms but also social, human, and physical forces. This model, informed by the logic of the multilayered structure of protocol \"stacks,\" in which network technologies operate within a modular and vertical order, offers a comprehensive image of our emerging infrastructure and a platform for its ongoing reinvention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Stack\u003c\/i\u003e is an interdisciplinary design brief for a new geopolitics that works with and for planetary-scale computation. Interweaving the continental, urban, and perceptual scales, it shows how we can better build, dwell within, communicate with, and govern our worlds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethestack.org\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47018413031664,"sku":"9780262029575","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780262029575_p0.jpg?v=1765232826","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780262029575","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}