Remote Work: The Rise of Hierarchies

Maison Suger is pleased to host the second session of the seminar cycle "Accumulations and Accelerations: Computer Totalitarianism III", with Hubert Guillaud, journalist specialising in new technologies and author of Stuck on Zoom. Who Benefits from Remote Work? (Fyp, 2022).

Contrary to what one might have expected before the pandemic, remote work does not equalise professional situations or working conditions. On the contrary, it deepens existing disparities by isolating employees from one another. It also fosters conflict and encourages covert, indirect forms of negotiation.

Following the success of the first two years of the seminar, which focused on the all-encompassing influence of computing, a third cycle has been organised to explore new counter-truths. The promise of virtual communities can sometimes prove harmful to physical social relations. Remote working, far from promoting equality, tends to increase disparities. The mechanised school, often presented as virtuous, risks reducing education to mere conditioning. And the fantasy of the “augmented” human reinforces capitalist logics of accumulation and acceleration.

The seminar will also examine the threats posed by automated warfare and the mechanised rationalisation of medical care, which can obscure the environmental causes of many diseases. New techniques for manipulating texts, sounds and images are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between true and false. Finally, the artificialisation of life fosters endless individualisation: isolated humans are caught in a race toward immediate technical pleasures and struggle to grasp collective issues.

Inspired by an interactive pedagogy, the seminar is free and open to all, particularly students and researchers in the humanities, law and philosophy.