The French philosopher Paul Virillo was one of the first to point out the immanent and compelling logic of speed as a self perpetuating force shaping modernity whether it be in the context of warfare, transportation or communication. Speed forces itself on us and defines a new dimension through which power manifests itself.
To account for this development Virillo coined the term dromology. It was first developed in his book Speed and Politics from 1977. The word derives from the Ancient Greek dromos, which means running or race track. We know it from hippodrome, velodrome. The term dromology is meant to denote the study of speed as it affects human affairs. In Virillo’s understanding speed is not just a technological phenomenon related to transportation or production but a more coherent underlying force that makes itself seen in politics and warfare. In modernity traditional territorial control has been supplanted by a velocity based dominance. The fastest now exerts dominance not the one with greatest territorial claims.
From a technology perspective this should sound familiar, from the Silicon Valley Adage of move fast and break things, to Moore’s law inspiring the idea of Ray Kurzweil’s singularity whose driver is none other than increased acceleration in the shape of a plethora of similar exponential technological developments. As a matter of empirical observation one could be forgiven for calling Virilio a prophet in having spotted speed as a the primary way to exert dominance and a driving force in itself.
What happens with speed exerting its logic on our world is one of Virillo’s key insights. Politically the space in which power is exerted and expressed was territory. Traditional political power has been exerted within a territory controlled by the societal power structures and institutions in place. In our modern world power is shifting to technological organisations, tech giants, who are obsessed with and master speed. Truth and influence is no longer controlled within a geographical space controlled by physical distribution of information but within a hyperspace defined by speed. Whoever can get information faster to consumers has the power to define reality and thereby to exert power through influence.
In this context the European Union’s focus on slowing things down through regulation makes sense. By taking out speed the locus of power is shifted back to territory and more traditional institutions and well known forms of political dominance. Seen in this light the fight against speed is a perfectly logical response by a system that almost by design is not meant to be speedy. Europe consists of 27 member states without a common language which slows down the exchange of information. It has different local regulations which slows down movement of goods and capital. The EU is itself a massive increase in speed though but still no match for other systems like the US and China which do not have this friction to deal with. In this analysis EU is not and will never be able to compete on speed and therefore stands to lose power the more speed defines power. It is therefore completely logical to try to slow everything down to change the game back to the traditional one of territory.
Virillo’s ultimate critique is that speed subordinates human agency to the imperatives of speed. In that view the perception of the EU and the Europeans that vote for EU politicians is that European slowness is a humanising factor. But this aspect of Virillo’s thinking has been accused of being technology deterministic.
The observation that speed is power is correct but territory is power too, it is just the power of incumbents, of the status quo. Speed brings change and without it little real change happens as history shows. On the other hand when speed takes over human initiative and human interests may suffer. This is what happens with unchecked financial innovation, social media and agile development. If speed is allowed as unchecked dromology the result is most likely not in most people’s interest, but only the ones who control the speed.
On the other hand the true benefit for all is only realised by harnessing speed. So, rather than taking out the speed of technology the imperative is to harness it. Just like humans have tamed the fire we need to harness the transformative power of speed through technology not suffocate it to preserve existing power structures and not surrender to its capricious dehumanizing whims. Letting speed act on its own terms is like letting fire burn uncontrollably. It will do so with no concerns for the human impact. Extinguishing it or restricting it unnecessariily will drain civilization of an important source of power and prosperity. To build an equitable and transformative human future the key challenge is to harness speed in a balanced fashion.
Photo by Mike Newbry on Unsplash
Danish 
English