Theorizing the Invisible for the Media Industry: Cryptology and the Unknown Inequality

Abstract

Theorizing the Invisible for the Media Industry:Cryptology and the Unknown Inequality Soo-Young Nam (bio) Digital Media Networks and the Invisible System Our hope that the development of digital technology will enrich our media experience is predicated on the belief that digital records are infallible. This concept of infallibility now seems to be going to extremes. The NFT (non-fungible token) has become one piece of evidence. A digital device is a system that can process large amounts of data without errors, and the capacity of this system is growing so large that it is difficult for us to measure it. Now, in this vast network, the pieces that are difficult to specify individually are asserting themselves as absolute proof of infallibility by forming an irreplaceable combination. An NFT proves its value in such a blockchain-like way, with a one-and-only-one combination. Another characteristic of an NFT is that it is based on the communication between machines (computers), rather than an ordinary token that is perceptible to humans. Apart from the fact that recent media arts (e.g., new media arts) are traded through NFT certification, the emergence of NFTs interestingly discloses the aspect of the media environment of modern society of late capitalism in terms of the question of how to deal with the invisible. I will focus on the point that this new industry of NFTs makes profits from "the invisible" to argue that "the invisible" becomes a new field for the capitalist apparatus and raises critical questions beyond the human-centered culture. Therefore, it will be necessary to pay attention to cryptology as a way to theorize how to deal with "the invisible" in our digital culture. NFTs may provide benefits through economic expansion in the short term, but in the long run they will deepen knowledge inequality and reinforce distrust in the public sphere. In the long run, our belief in media democratization (roughly meaning the growth of people's participation in media) through media eruption can be distorted and led to the dysfunction of mass communication in high-tech media environments such as South Korea. South Korea's internet environment is better than any other country's. It is also difficult to deny its advanced digital media technology. [End Page 123] South Korea can be considered a prime example of a media eruption. Here I use the term "media eruption" in two senses: the overflow of new media of different types, and the overflow of information through these media at the same time. In this era, our daily lives are connected with media whether voluntarily or unconsciously, in analog or digital ways. In most cases, we are also involved in the production of information disseminated by such media. The purposes of this article are twofold: first, to point out an aspect of South Korean society from a critical point of view on the media overflow in contemporary South Korea; and second, to examine whether such a change in the media environment can ultimately provide an opportunity to critically analyze the operating techniques of the invisible as new driving forces of capitalism via the idea of cryptology. In other words, I will point out the negative aspects from the sociological perspective of media overflow, as well as the positive turning points in terms of machine and media discourse. Of course, each pole is already two-sided in its own right. For example, media criticism does not ignore the historical elements of media democratization, aspects that address the long history of inequality in information production, of balancing information distribution by recognition of popular consensus. On the other hand, overcoming the human-centered discourse was not achieved without considering the problem of the loss of subjectivity caused by the domination of technological media. The Politics of Invisibility Nick Couldry explains that people use media almost as rituals, ways of strengthening our sense of belonging to society. His insight points to society at the peak of live broadcasting at the end of the twentieth century, when twenty-four-hour broadcasts and live programs made people feel as if their lives were linked to the center of society. However, since 9/11, when the world witnessed...