Digital Tyranny!

Strategies for subverting the tyranny of

the corporate map

Babak Fakhamzadeh, May 2024

Immense digital change

• 2012: Dérive app

https://deriveapp.com

• 2020: Digital tyranny in the context of

Surveillance Capitalism
Shoshana Zuboff

• 2020-2022: The rise, and demise, of

Web3

• 2023: Techno feudalism, the end of

capitalism
Yanis Varoufakis

• 2024: AI will eat the world

AI absurdity
• 5 AI-powered tools to help you get
outside more
22 April, Google, https://wlc.zone/bunk

• Prepare for gardening or landscaping

with Google Lens

• Use Google Maps to explore ahead of

time

• Stay up to date on air quality with AQI

in Google Maps

• Take calls outside with Pixel Buds Pro

• Get creative outdoor ideas with Gemini

Undesired unification
Problem

• We rely on ever fewer, more uni ed, tools

to guide us; we use a small array of mobile
apps.

• The source data is provided by very few

parties.

• “Winner-takes-all” model in discovery.

• We have a desire for a unique experience.

• We suffer the false prophet of

personalisation, subject to enshitti cation.
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Undesired unification
Problem

• We rely on ever fewer, more uni ed, tools

to guide us; we use a small array of mobile
apps.

• The source data is provided by very few

parties.

• “Winner-takes-all” model in discovery.

• We have a desire for a unique experience.

• We suffer the false prophet of

personalisation, subject to enshitti cation.
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Commercialisation
Cause

• Commercialisation of the public sphere

since WWII.

• Technological advancement and raised

income do not balance increased social
dysfunction.

• Social relations through objects, not lived

experiences and ful lment of authentic
desires. The spectacle!

• Focus on production (for the system) and

survival (for the individual).
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Commercialisation
Cause

• Commercialisation of the public sphere

since WWII.

• Technological advancement and raised

income do not balance increased social
dysfunction.

• Social relations through objects, not

lived experiences and ful lment of
authentic desires. The spectacle! The
corporate map!
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Creating counter
narratives
Solution

• Letterist International

• Situationists
Psychogeography, the dérive

• Fluxus
Everything is art, and everyone’s an artist

• Oulipo
Create work using constrained techniques

• LaTourEx
Experimental Tourism Laboratory
Creating counter
narratives
Solution

• The Situationist International

Psychogeography, the dérive

• Fluxus
Everything is art, and everyone’s an artist

• LaTourEx
Experimental Tourism Laboratory

• Street Wisdom
Every street is full of inspiration
Strategies!
The dérive 1

Through the concept of psychogeography, discover

what interests you through an unguided drift, or
dérive; let yourself be drawn by the attractions of
the terrain and what you encounter, creating a
personalised experience that can not be replicated.

• Explore overlooked spaces, revealing hidden

layers

• Create personal maps using unconventional

means

• Challenge structured and conventional

navigation, resist homogenisation

• Emphasise the emotional and the aesthetic

• Be social, encourage community and dialogue

Guerrilla tourism 2

Leave the beaten path and construct

alternative narratives through the act of
transgressing boundaries, contesting and
reshaping the hegemony of consumption-
led urban development.

• Engage with local communities directly

• Cultural exchange and preservation, not

the commodi cation of culture

• Decentralisation of tourism, resisting

consumerism

• Go beyond a place’s commercial value,

look for educational opportunities
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Slow tourism 3

Travel like a reporter; for your destination,

pick a ‘lens’, subject or topic, and focus
on that topic as if you’re obsessive-
compulsive, as if you’re required to write
a thesis on the topic once you return from
your destination.

• Seek deep engagement and

sustainability, not over-tourism

• Look for mindfulness and well-being

• Build authentic experiences, not

commercial ones
Add friction 4

Because the joy is in the journey, don’t

take that Uber, take public transport.
Don’t y, go overland. Don’t pull out that
map, go by what feels right.

• Engender a sense of discovery.

• Develop resilience and adaptability

• Explore alternatives
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Use your senses 5

Use all your senses to give enriched

meaning to your experiences, the
environment you nd yourself in, and
your role within it.

Go sound walking.

Create a smell-map.
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All together now
What connects these strategies?

• Exploration, engagement, mindfulness, re ection. Revealing

what is hidden.

• Diversi cation, decentralisation, cultural exchange. Avoiding

the spectacle.

• Take back agency, make your own decisions, pursue what

authenticity means to you.

• Leave your comfort zone.

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AI absurdity, revisited
• 5 AI-powered tools to help you get
outside more
22 April, Google, https://wlc.zone/bunk

• Prepare for gardening or landscaping • Read a book. Do a course. Meet

with Google Lens gardeners. Go outside and experiment.

• Use Google Maps to explore ahead of • Do not use a map at all. Or, use of ine
time maps not controlled by Big Tech.

• Stay up to date on air quality with AQI • Use an alternative that doesn’t monitor
in Google Maps you

• Take calls outside with Pixel Buds Pro • Do not take calls outside. Listen.

• Get creative outdoor ideas with Gemini • Think for yourself. Be inspired.
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But, really…
• How to get outside more, and enjoy it:

• Go outside more
But, really…
• How to get outside more, and enjoy it:

• Go outside more

• Put your phone in your pocket

• Turn your back on the Spectacle, slow

down

• Be drawn by what attracts you, and

notice what doesn’t

• Explore public, and private, space on

your own terms

• Go beyond the surface

Stay in touch
Babak Fakhamzadeh
fakh@mzadeh.com

https://babakfakhamzadeh.com

@MastaBaba

@MastaBaba@mastodon.social

Babak Fakhamzadeh

Not on anything Meta.