Niels’ talk was a really fascinating prospect to consider in conjunction with the previous presentation from Anna Engelhardt. He described his talk as being a work in progress about “the role of power in its reconfigurations of transnational communications networks, particularly 5G.” In describing the theoretical framework, he first referred to international relations due to its being the origin of study about transnational power structures. Within this, he mentioned the ongoing debates between realists and constructivists, and how for realists, states are like billiard balls in a game (a most helpful visualisation) as they are self-contained units which influence each other as a result of external pressure. Their internal politics are therefore irrelevant to how they behave internationally. For constructivists, on the other hand, he described how everything about them is deemed relevant, all politics, internal and external, and anyone who might have influence. The debates about technology and international relations therefore often revolve around the role of multinational corporations vs nation states, and the role of securitization from both realist and constructivist points of view. The Internet as a transnational concept provokes a lot of these questions.
The study of the infrastructure through STS (the second theoretical framework he referred to) can also be helpful to understand how the infrastructures set the “invisible rules” of things we encounter every day. In trying to understand the power structures that govern these things, combining the big picture thinking of international relations with detailed analysis offered by STS helps to create a holistic critical awareness. Finally, Niels adds a third theoretical framework of quantum social science here, which introduces concepts such as “super positions, or the idea that objects can be in a quantum state” and “being one and zero at the same time” referring to what Einstein called ‘spooky connections at a distance.’ This triple approach sounds theoretically impressive, and incredibly complex, but how does it help understand the impact of 5G networks? Here I’ll borrow again from Niels directly who put it so clearly that “this approach helps to explore how the creation of material possibilities in transnational information networks is entangled with transnational institutions markets and nation states. Through this contribution I seek to build a bridge between constructivist and realist traditions in international relations by using approaches from quantum social science and science and technology studies to increase understanding of the role of communication networks in tussles of power.” We will come to 5G later on.
In thinking about these networks then, Niels’ approach is to see them as both controlled by the States and by private corporations, and has plotted axes to demonstrate.
It depicts the centre of control, and also necessarily how the control of information creates tension at the edges as control and information come from separate, perhaps conflicting, places. He likened this to the thought experiment of Schrodinger’s cat, that when observing an event, one is influencing it and thereby determining the outcome. But before observing it, it is not that the one state, but rather both states are true. Niels calls this the quantum state of 5G networks.
Taking a step back, Niels gave some context for the first transnational communication network as being the ‘submarine telegraph cable laid between the UK and Canada in 1865 which apparently took three years to construct, and only worked for three weeks! He used this as a useful example that the history of communications networks, as with the development of any technology, is based on failures as well as successes. With this initial example, the development of the telegraph network went on to change colonialism to imperialism, as key points for the colonial administration were chosen as exchanges; From the UK to Canada, Australia, India, South Africa via Barbados and the Canary Islands, these locations spread the UK’s reach very wide, excluding other locations and making communication between their interests more direct. In a trope we see in almost any aspect of colonialism, the role of women in this history is also more often overlooked, the role of female programmers and operators neglected who provided much of the labour to make the networks function.
Niels here brought this back to Institutions, describing how the International Telegraph Union (as it was) is the oldest still functioning global governance body. The International Telecommunications Union (as it is) is the oldest body in the UN, has responsibility for information and communication technologies, and now describes itself as protecting and supporting the right of everyone’s right to communicate. In 1957 when the Soviet Union launched artificial satellites and terrified everyone in the US with their “chilling beeps” which infiltrated their radios, ARPA (the Advanced Research Project Agency) was created in the US, which developed the technology that would create the internet. The key point here being that ARPAnet instigated the change from circuit networks (vulnerable to attacks as there is a significant amount of functionality located in the network itself, therefore these networks are described as ‘smart’ is smart) to packet switching networks (able to withstand attacks because it is smart at the end points, and the network itself is ‘dumb’), but also that this changed where the locus of power was held, from central nation state to individual, private organizations.
Now, even when there are no longer just telegraph cables connecting countries, the places where data centres are located still remain the strongholds of power; the majority of Europe and Africa rely on the US. Topological representations are useful in visualizing this. However, the tussle for control has recently been disrupted with China and Japan developing 5G networks, where the network becomes intelligent again, which changes the power structure completely as computing happens not just on endpoint devices, but on the network itself. 5G is described as being optimized for everything, and here is where Niels links it to the quantum state, as being both “intelligent and dumb at the same time.” This is plotted on Niels’ axes, where 5G is in all places at all times.
In closing, Niels emphasized the role of society in the locus of power in technological processes, and how this means that institutions and power structures represent societal powers, and that inequalities and changes to networks and technologies need to be “grounded in a topological analysis of their workings.” This requires an interdisciplinary examination including economists, lawyers, sociologists, folks from the arts and humanities as well as engineers. Ideally, this would produce a network that represents what society wants, not what corporations want to feed us.
This was an incredibly detailed and consequential presentation, not all of which has been captured here (!), so I encourage all to follow Niels’ work, particularly if you are intrigued by the quantum social science aspect. Thank you so much to Niels, this was fascinating, and we look forward to how your work progresses!