Two forces shape Civilization: Space and Information. The technologies that expand and control these realms determine the fate of the species. As John Perry Barlow foresaw, the Internet has produced a power that challenges traditional sovereignty by merging Space and Information on a planetary scale. This power is the Fifth Estate.
1.1. Preface
The generation of our time was loaded down with a burden of fate as was hardly any other in the course of history.
— Stefan Zweig
Cosmotechnics is the unification of the cosmos and the moral through technical activities, whether craft-making or art-making.
— Yuk Hui
Over the last three years, my work has called me to witness and think about the future of governance. To that end, I’ve developed a thesis that I’d like to “open source” in the spirit of ideation. This thesis is what I call the Fifth Estate.
The Fifth Estate is an emerging power that derives political, economic, and cultural legitimacy from a new spatial order: the Internet (aka the Network). Through its production and distribution of alternative media, information, technology and digital assets, this power has the potential to reframe traditional notions of sovereignty and global governance.
Currently, this power is dispersed and without political personhood or objectives. It is a contested space of divergent political and cultural mores, rather than a haven for common interests. Said otherwise, the Fifth Estate is already here, it is just unevenly coordinated.
The Fifth Estate is not yet a legitimate power on the world stage. But it should be. Making sure it becomes one is one of the greatest political opportunities this century, and is key to addressing the crises of international security, political dysfunction, and technology affecting our world.
This essay is far from a full treatment of the ideas proposed below. Criticisms, rebuttals, and suggestions are welcome.
1.2. Thesis
History reveals that two forces have consistently determined the fate of civilizations: Space and Information. Those technologies which have amplified societies’ dominion over Space and Information have had the greatest impact on the destiny of humanity.
The massive carracks of the Renaissance era discovered the New World and enabled the British to coordinate a world empire. The railroad cemented German unification and industrial prowess ahead of the world wars that would reduce it to ashes. In future, SpaceX’ Starship will extend human presence to orbital habitats, Mars, and beyond.
Writing led to the formation of the first cities. The printing press birthed the modern centralized nation state. Radio and television engendered the 20th century industrial command and control society.
In the last 30 years, the Internet has emerged as a singularity in its own right, the first technology to unleash both the forces of Information and Space at planetary scale, without a defined center. The Internet’s dual miracles of instantaneous information transfer and global scale coordination blow up any and all traditional notions of sovereignty.
John Perry Barlow was right1: the Internet is not just an appendage to the system of nation state sovereignty, nor is it subsidiary to it. Instead, it exists in parallel with it, embodying the new force of Network Power.
Network Power is the ability to connect problems to solutions at the speed of information. It is the natural antithesis to the hierarchical, international mode of planetary governance, which relies on hierarchies of experts and Weberian institutions.
Unlike the latter, the Network is planetary, open by default, decentralized, digital, secure, and anonymous. Having accumulated 5 billion souls over the last 30 years, the Network now stretches the governance scope of the international order. The GDP of the Internet economy is already conservatively measured at $2.5 Trillion2, more than 2% of US GDP. Only 8 countries in the world meet that standard.
The best way to understand the Network is to place it in the lineage of the modern “powers” or “estates” nomenclature borrowed from the French Revolution. It is widely accepted today that the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government each represent the First, Second, and Third Estates. The Fourth Estate refers to the press and news media, viewed as an unofficial fourth branch of government checking the first three. My claim is that it is high time that the Network be recognized as the fifth branch: the Fifth Estate.
So far, the Fifth Estate has fallen short of its destiny, largely due to a failure of legitimacy and coordination. As of now, the Fifth Estate does not recognize itself; the world does not recognize the Fifth Estate; and crucially, the Fifth Estate lacks the tools and institutions to claim its future.
The purpose of this essay is to develop three simple questions.
What is the Fifth Estate? Everything.
What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing.
What does it want to be? A New Order.
First, we will flesh out the answers to these questions. Then, we will explore what needs to be done in order that the Fifth Estate should take its rightful place.