Re: <nettime> Suggestion for discussion: J.J. Gibson's Theory of Affordances

[Geoffrey Goodell via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

On Mon, 16 Feb 2026 at 12:35:38PM -0500, Sawyer Gracer via nettime-l wrote:
> I'm currently working on a research project exploring J.J. Gibson's theory
> of affordances, which posists that an object's abilities / the abilities it
> provides is something that is neither objectively in/part of the object nor
> subjectively within us but emerges from the relationship between us and the
> other.

Hi Sawyer

Thanks very much for mentioning this.  What do you (or J.J. Gibson, for that
matter) think about the concept of an 'account', in the sense of a bank account
or an account with a service provider?  An account seems to be a relationship
between an account-provider and an account-holder, wherein the account-holder
has some implicit accountability to the account-provider, perhaps in exchange
for a service.

I have often argued that this accountability constitutes a power relationship,
and that it is the basis for exerting control over account-holders.  For
example, an account with Meta means that Meta can monitor your relationships,
observe patterns and changes to your behavior, and so on.  An account with a
bank means that a bank can monitor and report the time, place, and
counterparties of your payments, and can block you from conducting transactions
that you do not like or deny you access to your assets.  An account with Amazon
means that Amazon can take advantage of you by dealing with you directly rather
than through an intermediary that might aggregate your negotiating power with
others (something that Louis XIV and Donald Trump know well).

I have also argued that the 'account' might be the basis for most of the
malaise related to digital technology, particularly because:

(1) when most people think of the Internet, they think about services that
involve accounts, and

(2) when most people think about 'digital transformation', they think about the
instrumentation surrounding establishing accounts for tasks that might have
previously been done without accounts (i.e., 'digitalisation' implies
'accountification').

Maybe we need to remind ourselves:

(a) that technology and services are not the same,

(b) that it is possible to use technology without invoking a service
relationship, and

(c) that it is possible to use a service, such as an Internet carrier, parcel
delivery company, turnpike, or passenger train, to interact with other
counterparties and services without involving the former party in those
relationships.

Best wishes and thanks again --

Geoff
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