IN CONTEXT: Seismic Shifts Caused By Global Networks + Social Media

Networks and Hierarchies in the Trump Era: An Interview with Niall Ferguson

By Davis Richardson • 01/15/18 11:00am

"From the World Economic Forum to the annual Bilderberg Summit, Niall Ferguson buzzes through powerful networks. A senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, Ferguson launched into the academic stratosphere by analyzing empires and the powerbrokers who build them, advocating for Western hegemony even as the United States entered the Iraq War. His subjects include the Rothschild Family and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger—who selected the Scottish academic as his authorized biographer while providing unmitigated access to his private letters sealed in the Library of Congress. . .

In writing about history’s titans, Ferguson became one in his own right: Time Magazine named him one of the most 100 influential people in 2004, while Republican Senator John McCain hired him as an advisor during his 2008 U.S. presidential campaign.
In the Trump era, Ferguson has brandished his intellectual credentials by putting the seismic shifts caused by global networks and social media into historical context. . . "

To understand the extent in which Facebook and Google have altered our political system, reporter Davis Richardson called up Ferguson to discuss disinformation campaigns, networks and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the President.

READ MORE of the interview transcript answering these questions:

Link > The Observer

Observer:

• What can the history of networks and hierarchies teach us about how technology is changing them?
• Do networks and hierarchies work harmoniously or is there an inherent conflict between one another?
• You say that these companies in Silicon Valley are decentralized, but it seems they’re very consolidated regarding capital and the concentration of data.Does social media reinforce power structures throughout history? It’s reminiscent of Marx’s philosophy that the bourgeoisie is never fixed and subject to renewal
• How did networks become so polarized through technology?
• Kissinger likened cyberspace to Thomas Hobbes’ ‘State of Nature.’ Although social networks have centralized the powers of the state, such as with U.S. and Chinese surveillance, they’ve also brought about massive instability. . . . What are some of the challenges that we’re going to have to deal with in such a paradoxical system?
• Although Trump framed himself as a political outsider, he was ingratiated with elite networks. . . What did his election signify in the context of networks and hierarchies?
• Has the world power dynamic shifted back into spheres of influence, multipolar structure reminiscent of Otto Von Bismarck’s Europe?