What is Critical Code Theory
Modern technology and its gatekeepers, coders, are forcing unprecedented changes upon culture at a pace that makes it difficult to understand, much less foresee, the ways in which software is modifying 1) the world, 2) ourselves, 3) our relationship to the world and 4) our relationships with one another.
This newsletter isn’t really about that. Instead, Critical Code Theory is an exercise in bringing traditional Critical Theory (Horkheimer, Adorno, Benjamin, Arendt) as well as some post-structuralism, where needed, to bear on the analysis of software programming practices.
Reflexively, Critical Code Theory will also direct the ends-oriented, spectrum-enhanced, hyper-focused, impatient and pragmatic approach of computer engineers toward analyzing post-modern and post-current trends in philosophy (which are more broadly known as “theory”).
I believe this dialectical approach will open up new research areas in both fields. But more importantly I think it will be fun.
The algorithm for this project involves three pieces of writing a week:
A critical essay at the start of the week that brings a coding concept into close proximity with a philosophical concept, in order to see if they can play nice together.
A code review of a fragment of actual code, probably selected from GitHub, in the voice of various styles of commentary, e.g. deconstruction, power un-masking, psychoanalysis, game theory, ideology critique. The conceit is that anything can be a text, including a piece of code, and any text can be the object of a rich textual analysis that reveals the conditions for the possibility of that text’s existence.
A Vox style explainer of a relevant philosophical movement, concept or author, e.g. Saussure, Foucault, communicative action, critical race theory. The topics will be chosen in order to illuminate obscurities in the previous writings. The explainer will alternate from week to week with a piece of Critical Video Game Theory (mostly these will be reviews of video games).
While theoretically the text exists independently of author or reader, as a practical matter I would find it hard to pursue this project without knowing I have an audience that is willing to provide feedback from time to time.
Your participation in this project, as readers, ideal audience, and as communicants, is greatly desired and appreciated.
