War and Peace

War and Peace,
originally uploaded by Jayel Aheram.

"In a world of global flows of wealth, power, and images, the search for identity, collective or individual, ascribed or constructed, becomes the fundamental source of social meaning......

.....In this condition of structural schizophenia between function and meaning, patterns of social communication become increasingly under stress."

Manuel Castells, The rise of the network society

Are networked information and expression assertions of identity or genuine attempts at communication and understanding...? Neither is mutually exclusive.

The striking irony of the complex schism between network and identity in the postmodern world is apparent to Castells. This breakdown in effective communication creates a sense of alienation, and ultimately threat;

"The informational society, in its global manifestation, is also the world of Aum Shinrikyo, of the American militia, of Islamic/Christian theocratic ambitions, and of Hutu/Tutsi reciprocal genocide."