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# A Constellation of -Wares

relation between cybernetics and self-help movement :)   
characteristics that software can have   
rhetorics of software   
nannyware   
presentation slides at < http://bit.ly/cryptopad-obs >  
The Entreprecariat: < http://networkcultures.org/entreprecariat ) >  
relationship between the entrepreneurial environment and precarious practi c es   

new spirit of capitalism - relationship between capitalism and creativity as ideology - B oltanski and C hiapello   
< https://newleftreview.org/II/1/sebastian-budgen-a-new-spirit-of-capitalism >  
Kickended, the database of failures of K ickstarter (campaigns that didn't get any backers)   
< http://kickended.com >  
reboot of american dream via apps   
kickstarter biased from success stories usually.. 'top funded' are shown at the top  
you cannot delete a campaign from kickstarter, even if you dont get any money , for reasons of transparency   
t here is a form of survivorship-bias present in Kickstarter service   
history of software told through the lens of the successful software s  

## dystopia of enterpreneurialism

crowdfunding puts on one subject all kind of enterpreunerial responsibilities   
< http://networkcultures.org/entreprecariat/my-two-cents-on-crowdfunding >  
"Why crowdfunding? Simply: what else do i got?"   
Source: way to finance an unpaid internship at the UN   
** the more precarity is present, the less entrepreneurialism is voluntary **  
so you mean welfare state sabotages enterpreneuring?   

call for contributions for a fanzine with L í dia Pereira   
P ervasive L abor Union  
< http://ilu.servus.at/ >  
< http://networkcultures.org/entreprecariat/pervasive-labour-union-zine >  

display of productivity/performance of productivity communicates a sense/perception(?) of purpose   
how to _ enterpreneur _  
F iver r 'in doers we trust" < https://www.fiverr.com/ >  
"because thinking big, is still just thinking"   

t he idea of an entrepreneur as Mark Zuckerberg or Marissa Mayer, but an entrepreneur is a do'er   
shift from visionary to doer   
( maybe there is a link here to ways of knowing understood via distanced observation, optical systems, etc vs cybernetic/performance/behavioral turn that comes with computing )  
there is no dream, or vision   
productivity-driven entrepreneur   
antagonist relation to the silicon valley kind of entreprenariat like Elon Musk e nterpreuneurial populism   
e ntrepreneurial populism   

I solator : a device to focus   
< https://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/the-isolator-640x539.jpg >  
< https://laughingsquid.com/the-isolator-a-bizarre-helmet-invented-in-1925-used-to-help-increase-focus-and-concentration/ >  
fixing the problem ( ? ) of procrastination   
the infinite scroll is at the base of the problem   

I solator: digital tool with the same function of the isolator   
it hides everything else except what you "have" to focus on   

P roductivity Owl, chrome add-on     
< https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/productivity-owl/eoagmdboiealblmpaahjlhajggndaahi >  
closes the tab after 30 sec   
the owl get s the mouse ever ytime :-)   

Who creates these kind of apps?   
The creator of productivity Owl lived 7 years under the poverty threshold  

p omo-d or o   
Pomod o r o : 25 min of focused time with 5 min break, etc -> comes from kitchen timer   
Francesco Cirillo : the entrepreneur that also sells the physical objects (and makes cash for it too)   
the idea is to get into some small slot s of focused activity in order to get things done   

to work more efficient ly  
intervals (absolute time, relative time, segmented time, circadian time)   
cfr . Workrave   

what is productivity?   
h ow does software help you to be productive?   
display productivity   
i t has a lot to do with visualizing your productivity   
todo list comes back in   

S tayfocusd chrome extension   
< https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en >  
logo: eye with a clock that looks at you   
shows banner reminding you to work "Shouldn't you be working?" & paypal button   

G uy D ebord : "ne travaillez jamais "    
S ilvio ma de stickers with that slogan and put it on objects in different situations to create tensions   
stick them on various spots such as the toilet, fridge   

work ethics d y stopia : no possibility to go more extreme that it is already in order to denounce it. There is no fringe that you can go to criti que this work ethic. This criti que is intern a lized already cf. the fiverr ad   
a s a way to make this sentence external, instead of letting it stay in the internal only   
H&M purse: " so much work / So little time "  

irony cannot be used anymore (like the fiver r ad) , it is already conditioned in   
slow hot computer by Sam Lavigne   
< http://greetingsfellowalienatedsubjectoflatecapitalism.com/#slowhotcomputer >  
acts of resistance   

circadian Rhythms  
M ario S antamario : website opens 23h a day   
< https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/2671/do-you-have-to-close-your-blog-website-on-shabbos >  
also due to religion , website of the christian syndicate in the netherlands is closed on sunday.. shabbat websites closed on saturday   

question : what features/imaginaries of software are at s take in productivity tool? efficiency of code -> speeding code execution -> do more in less time   

F . lux, a color-changing software, to have less blue lights in your screen in night hours   
< https://justgetflux.com/ >  
(you also have one other: night owl ! redshift also )    
bringing night inside the screen because there is no more night without a screen   

J onathan C rary : 24/7 ( also author of _ Techniques of the Observer _ so maybe a nice addition to the reader )  
< https://marcell.memoryoftheworld.org/Jonathan%20Crary/Techniques%20of%20the%20Observer%20(1814)/Techniques%20of%20the%20Observer%20-%20Jonathan%20Crary.pdf >  
< https://slowrotation.memoryoftheworld.org/Jonathan%20Crary/24_7_%20Late%20Capitalism%20and%20the%20Ends%20(22478)/24_7_%20Late%20Capitalism%20and%20the%20E%20-%20Jonathan%20Crary.pdf >  

## n annyware

< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content-control_software >  
software meant to protect users by limiting space of activity, enforcing discipline   
i n a passive-aggre s sive way   
parent al control extended to adults :-)   

the term arises from content-control software   
extended to android , f.ex. turning up the volume warns you about excessive volume levels  
this is something that cannot be uninstalled  

wii sports announcement   
ways to influence the body   

W orkrave , app to remind you to pause and exerci s e   
s lack (irc, emails, to manage projects), advise 'always get plenty of sleep, if you can'   
f ace b ook warning against drunk posting   

command line ghosts remembering to take a break, too!   
terminal dashboard    
see more on lifehacker   

relaxing in the office with ioga exercise videos   
[[insert here image of room doing office exercises in unison]]   

## c ybernetic self help

psycho-cybernetics , Maxwell Maltz   
< http://networkcultures.org/entreprecariat/mood-hacking/ >  
s elf-help meets cybernetics   
u nderstanding yourself as a thermostat, (mind) as self-regulating device   

aphorisms   
"abandon the struggle and you will obtain victory"   
"only mediocre people make mistakes"

video: Dr. Maxwell Maltz   
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVWWX2s7KE >  
"[self] image is all"   
"most of the people these days have an image of themselve that is close to the image from a fun-fair-mirror" (not exact quote)   
plastic surgery to psycho-surgery    
huge influence of this book in the US   
the self-help books are shaping the world   

strong relation with a psycho analysis movement (?) positive psychologists   
famous book - "how full is your bucket?"   

s hift from what is wrong with people >>>> what is right with the people   
new way of seeing the body and mind   
'protestant porn', it is your responsability if you cannot lift yourself up by yourself   
rise of behavioralism as dominant framework in the field of psychology. and this is a big shift from the initial psychologists who were into cybernetics beca u se it shifts from the unit/system being imagined as the site of cause and effect as family or society to just the individual   

w hat is the relation to the word cybernetics?   
( In the US at least, Weiner made cybernetics a household term . _ The Cybernetic Brain _ by Andrew Pickering has a history/biography of three or four different psychologists who were important for the first, second, and third waves of cybernetics - < http://heavysideindustries.com/wp- content/uploads/2012/11/The_Cybernetic_Brain_Sketches.pdf >)    
w as it based on the time when cybernetics was very popular?   

video: Maltz and Dali   
explaining the shadow side / optimistic side of the self   
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVWWX2s7KE >  

positive psychology => behaviorism - how full is your bucket   
< http://noproblem o s.me >  
from university assessments(>) and self-help apps   
similar to tests used by social security, to assess ability to work , " expanded human resources "  

relationship between mind and mindfulness

accelerate me   
< http://accelerateme.net/ >  
rapid transformation through meditation techniques   
'the fast track to the real you' [so an aspiration of both getting to the bottom/core of the self and changing the self to a better/enhanced/amplified version]]   

Hacking the Brain : hackathon format http://hackthebrain.nl/   
"a philosophical and practical" approach   

"magic voluntarism" (Mark Fisher r.i.p. )   
< http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=12841 >  
Mark Fisher :
    
* Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures 
* Capitalisme realism, is there no alternative? 

also: Curtis White

We, Robots: Staying Human in the Age of Big Data   
the happiness industry (William Davies)   
last chapter on collective strategies   
< http://marcell.memoryoftheworld.org/William%20Davies/The%20Happiness%20Industry%20(2935)/The%20Happiness%20Industry%20-%20William%20Davies.epub >  

decontextualizing techniques and practices can hollow out these techniques and practices such as doing yoga at work in order to be more efficient instead of in order to connect to spiritual   
( but does that give us an idea of techniques and practices as basically non-transferrable, non-adaptive? maybe it would be interesting to think about best practices of shifting contexts )  

## platform conviviality

infantilization of the user   
rhetorics of platform services   

a dversarial interfaces   
informal address int e rfacing - C olm O'Neill   
< https://www.pzimediadesign.nl/works/2017-Colm_O '_Neill.html >  
< http://adversarial.interfaces.site/ >  

c ompassionate d esign: c reate kinder, more connected design   
< https://abookapart.com/collections/compassionate-design >  
"a book apart " is a series of book dedicated to webdesigner s and developers   

Real Life magazine article by Will Davies   
http://reallifemag.com/the-mismanaged-heart/

opposite example : Linkedin (in its previous incarnation  
( explicitness of LinkedIn as networking tool and tool for measuring how well you do at networkin is interesting in part because history of networking in this sense is tied to the history of women entering the workplace and needing to make explicit the social relationships that facilitate access and advancement because the implicit networks were old boys clubs )  
you rank in the lower 48% of your network   
Book by the founder of LinkedIn, Rei d Hoffman: The startup of you   

Eric Schrijver article in Libre Graphics magazine 1.3  
< https://gitlab.com/libregraphicsmag/vol1issue3 >  

Focus on the rhetoric of software   
A bit similar to the question "how we can characterize software?"   

What kind of "-ware" can we imagine?    

* bossware
* chillware
* enemyware
* luddware
* underware (> giggles)
* etc .

## Discussion

a software that is a clock that somehow performs/represents what are the many ways you can present time?  

Kim: Your practice deals with labour practices    
te m poral l y structures to former forms of labour & computation   
Is there a relation to efficiency ideas implemented in code? and programmers?   
If we think of punchcards, how do they differently structure labour?   

Government as a platform , by Tim O ' Reilly   
Obama campaign, French developments   
you can plug in services, government as operating system   

Is there a direct connection between programming culture and these kind s of tools?   

Luis: image of 'isolator' -- The relationship of the machine and the body   
in coworking space, typical image of person sitting with headphones in front of machine   
as compensation you go undo the damage in the gym/yoga in the evening   

Analogies of  'your body as a system' or 'the government as a system'   
a relation to programming   
the body as infinitely reprogrammable (programmer ' s view of the body)   
as a machine which needs to be maintained?   

unsolicited advice

amazon patent on headphone technique - microphone : getting only the useful conversation from the office space 

solitude   
le pain quotidien : a french documentary about food and industry where there are no two workers together, only people alone doing unpleasant wor k  

the goal of working from distance?