Isabel Löfgren 102 Figure 3 – Visualization of submarine fiber optic cable network in 2022. Source: @tylermorganwall However, what is not visible in this planet-image, for instance, are the infrastructural transformations that sustain the Internet complex. Another type of visualization is required to show the gigantic planetary network of submarine fiber opti- cal cables (Figure 3), showing, then, the materiality of the net- work. According to Starosielski (2016), this submarine network is part of a communicational apparatus entrenched in nature. These are the so-called “super-information highways” of cy- berspace, which lie in the darkness of the ocean floor, covered in mud and sludge, and are beyond the reach of Google Earth’s satellite imagery. Similarly, it is impossible to capture with the naked eye, or even with mechanical eyes, the vast amounts of data traveling through these submarine cables, being stored and processed remotely in data “clouds” across thousands of data centers scattered across the planet’s surface. Today, instead of hunting clouds on Google Earth, which no longer exists, I find myself captured by data clouds, with my private life managed by applications whose “privacy terms” I sign without reading, granting the “Big 5” and a host of intermediaries total visibility and control over my existence, far beyond my voluntary digital presence. Moreover, public life has come to be dictated by ideological disputes on social media,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjEzNzYz