Notes On Cybernetics I

Ibn Maghreb

"the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society"

From Propaganda - Edward L Bernays

Cybernetics might appear esoteric but it is a radically simple idea - data-driven governance. The constant mining and harvesting of data from our usage of the internet and other digital technologies is used to train and create algorithms. These can be deployed by governments to extend their sphere of influence in a far more invasive and pervasive manner than what previously thought possible.

Cybernetics further entrenches and exacerbates the Hallaqian Problem - the problem being that the nation-state itself is bundled with philosophical assumptions about the place of the Divine and what it means to be human.

This is an idea that has enormous clout. To the extent that the the US government has spent to the tune of $200 million towards the Big Data Research Initiative. The initiative aimed to advance big data research by investing in projects and infrastructure that would help scientists, researchers, and policymakers gain insights from large, complex, and diverse data sets. The funding was distributed across several federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The goals of the Big Data Research and Development Initiative included:

1. Developing new tools and techniques to process and analyze large, complex data sets.
2. Facilitating collaboration among researchers, industry, and government to harness the potential of big data.
3. Addressing the need for more skilled professionals in the field of data science and analytics.
4. Leveraging big data to drive innovation and improve decision-making in areas such as healthcare, energy, national security, and scientific research.

Cybernetics then is using data to govern = it is to merge computation with governance. To fuse the digital with the real. To blur the line between our digital selves and real selves by asserting and perhaps rightly claiming they are one and the same.

Data Sovereignty

Practically speaking, data is now the currency of sovereignty. Who so controls data, can deploy it in an efficient manner is capable of wielding a power that is insiduous and beyond the rudimentary and clunky checks and balances of a supposedly democratic system.

In reality, a cybernetic state will require the following to properly function:

1. Surveillance: The state will engage in widespread surveillance to gather data, which could lead to a loss of privacy for citizens. This might result in a chilling effect on free speech and dissent, as people become fearful of expressing their opinions.
2. Centralization of power: As the state becomes more efficient and adaptive, there is a high possibility of power becoming centralized in the hands of a few technocrats or political leaders, increasing the risk of tyranny.
3. Manipulation and control: A cybernetic state with access to vast amounts of data about its citizens could potentially use this information to manipulate public opinion, control dissent, or engage in social engineering.
4. Data breaches and misuse: The collection, storage, and analysis of massive amounts of data could make the cybernetic state vulnerable to data breaches or misuse by malicious actors, both within and outside the government.
5. Tyranny: There is a risk that with the collection of such vast data sets allows governments to calibrate sophisticated forms of social credit and even digitally constructed monies (perhaps CBDCs - central bank digital currencies - the Chinese are practically ready to roll out the Digital Yuan in the next few months or so) to erode away at the pillars of the Maqasid. This will usually be done in the name of national security, public safety, health and bypasses any attempts at accountability for those in authority.

What does such obsession with data (Dataism) do? It couches contentious political discussions in the verbiage of computation - these are now no longer deeply ethical and philosophical issues that reflect one's heart and character. These are now technical problems in need of technical solutions worthy of being solved only by technical people - this is a type of "solutionism" which is merely the computational/digital successor to the rampant credentialism we have seen hollow out the liberal arts and humanities over the last two decades or so.

From Promise to Despair

The Internet age was meant to be one of digital self-determination. There are too many examples to cite that suggest the exact opposite. However, the Cambridge Analytica fiasco is the prime example. In it we can find the seeds of a 'cybernetic hypothesis'.

To briefly outline the hypothesis I'll go through it in steps:

1. Reality is data. Biological, physical, social habits and psychology can all be quantified and be fed into large data sets.
2. These raw data sets serve as the interface between governance and digital realities filtering physical ones- the expression of proper sovereignty and computation
3. If all reality is data it follows that this data can be analysed, decoded, retooled and redeployed. It can be used to inform decisions for political actors by using patterns to acheive goals and ends.
4. This creates an asynchrony. Governments, political king-makers now possess all the information, all the knowledge from data harvests within the populace. The populace remain unaware of this asynchrony through the smoke and mirrors that permeates the liturgy of peformative liberalism.
5. Once patterns can be deduced it follows logically that epistemic capture can be done quite easily. One only has to capture attention - this can be done through deployment of psychotechnologies or as Stiegler puts it 'psychopower'

This has already played out once- the Cambridge Analytica (CA) fiasco is the best example. The collection of data has already caused harm to Muslims with the American military using private data from a popular Islamic prayer and Quran app. This isn't a real surprise - the genesis of the internet is warfare after all given the close connection its early founders had with the American military - Arpanet was the proto-Internet in the 60s. It isn't a coincidence that many feel the Internet resembles a fractured and unruly wasteland with attrition-based attention and propaganda wars because its epistemic genesis has deep roots with American Empire.

Death By Metadata

I want to introduce a notion here very well known within privacy circles and that is of 'metadata'. Metadata is data that provides information about other data. In other words, it is descriptive information that gives context and details about the content, format, and structure of the primary data. Metadata can be used to facilitate the organization, discovery, management, and preservation of data resources. In the context of digital communications and data privacy, metadata can refer to the details about a communication, such as the sender, recipient, time, and location, rather than the content of the communication itself. Metadata analysis can reveal patterns and relationships between individuals, making it a valuable resource for law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and other organizations. However, this has also raised concerns about privacy and government surveillance.

So although authorities may not know the exact substance and nature of your conversations they practically know all other relevant and salient details because of metadata which is basically leaked and not secured in most if not all of the mainstream messaging and social media apps.

This is important because in the mid 2010s America was essentially executing Muslims via metadata. The infamous quote from General Michael Hayden in a 2014 Symposium at John Hopkins University is chilling:

"We kill people based on metadata"

There is a lot more that needs to be discussed that I will try to cover in future posts. These are informal musings, attempts at trying to get Muslims to take privacy, cybernetics and data sovereignty more seriously. I also want to share how Muslims can protect their data in a multi-polar world where hostile powers and corporations are seeking to monopolise it and then use it to colonise hearts and minds. Here, encryption, cryptography and privacy-conscious technologies will become incredibly important. Moreover, the digital infrastructure that will serve as the foundations of any future Hosue of Islam - on Web 3 and beyond must be built by focusing on privacy and security. We must learn from the mistakes made after 9/11.

I believe linked to this are also more fundamental questions about the nature of money, the long term value of the Bitcoin project which itself came out of the ashes of the 90s Cypherpunk movement. This though is for later.