Reading Response to "Connected, or What it Means to Live in the Network Society" by Steven Shaviro

In his book Connected, or What it Means to Live in the Network of Society, author Steven Shaviro provides example after example of how the science fiction world is becoming reality thanks to the inception of technology (namely, the Internet revolution), while explaining the effects of the "network" on our society. By using science fiction works which peer into the future and are often imaginitive, uninhibited by logic or norms, Shaviro shows how the seemingly impossible is actually in front of our faces. For example, testaments to Warhol's fifteen minutes of fame idea lies in countless youtube videos or internet celebrities like Obama Girl. And his connections between blood-sucking slake-moths from a China Mieville novel that "prey on human thought," symbolizing capitalistism (p. 171), relate to the very real idea that technology can be a deadly force in our lives.

Due to the out-of-this-world nature of science fiction stories, they often depict what could be, putting aside what is. And now in the digital age, we have seen many of these visions come to fruition, such as geotracking and robotics. Whether these technologies actually help or hurt our society is another discussion, but Shaviro absolutely holds that digital connectivity has brought humans into a new level of interaction between one another and between themselves and machines that has had previously only been in the mind.


While many of Shaviro's points focus on the network as it is today, I saw that he focused a little more on a grim picture of humanity's future. Because many of the science fiction works cited either expound on societal problems or depict a very raw view of reality with rough-around-the-edges characters like vampires, hit men, and quasi-human androids, the future is seemingly nothing to be desired. Nevertheless, the issues and realities Shaviro brings up are important, and his numerous examples as to how the line between science fiction world and reality is becoming blurred cannot be ignored.


Most of this book goes beyond simple functional literacy and focuses on critical and rhetorical literacy. This entire compilation of sci-fi stories, illustrate that Shaviro "recognize(s) and question(s) the politics of computers" (Selber, 75), and beyond that, he focuses in on the fact that computers are hypertextual and that humans are the "reflective producers of technology." For example, his discussion of virtual reality being created as an extension to the world's incompleteness as well as the "remedy for it" (p. 111) illustrates that humans create what humans think, and that we create technology to act as an extension of ourselves and our world. Not only that, the fact that technology can solve problems for us and fill voids in our lives require us to take a second look at technology, instead of objectifying it.


"Connected, or What it Means to Live in the Network of Society" raises as many theoretical and cultural questions as it answers. For example, one begins to wonder if humans really are the "reflective producers of technology" or if technology itself begins to control us after a certain point. In Shaviro's example from Noir explaining that a character becomes a zombie to escape debt shows that in order to even function in society, we need credit (technology). The network economy is vital to our lives within the network society and therefore, we have become dependent on it.

As we watch the imaginary become reality right before our eyes, this book reminds me of why it is so incredibly important to dream and create. While most of the examples of the "future" Shaviro refers to in his science fiction allusions are not exact replicas of what we see in technology today, they still provide an insight as to how our reality is changing rapidly. For example, the line between the real and the fraudulent can be easily seen in online privacy issues, identity theft, our increasingly interactive and lifelike experience online, etc. Questions arise as to whether or not technology is actually changing our world for the better or worse, and the fears of many people in older generations that fail to adapt to society's new technology move are proof of that.

Regardless of what the future holds, living in the network society today means that we are in constant communication more than ever. It goes beyond simply using it in a functional way. This book shows the importance of analyzing our use of technology, as it allows every person in the universe to participate in a much larger network than our world has ever seen. The gravity of being able to communicate and collaborate with people instantaneously across nations should not be taken lightly, and it is our responsibility to use these technologies wisely, fully, and critically.