Communication machines and the panopticon |
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| Authors: | Professor Adriano Duarte Rodrigues |
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| Abstract: | SUMMARY A discussion on Jeremy Bentham's views on the construction of prisons and other public buildings such as hospitals, alms houses and barracks. His views were essentially concerned with how, in these buildings, there is always the constant and omnipresent vigilante guarding the occupants. Bentham's ideas of the Panopticon were originally applied to the construction of a transparent circular prison with the vigilante situated in the middle constantly inspecting ther prisoners. In this article it is discussed how such a philosophy can be applied to a society which consists of the ever visual and omnipresence of guards, where everyone is inspected by everyone. Bentham's ideas are prophetic and directly linked to communicology in that he shows how communication can be manipulated by sight. |
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