the Multitude: pure Vaseline?

But first -- another example of the material limits of immaterial labor? AT&T, rapidly trying to establish control over the "series of tubes" that comprise the Internet, apparently plans to shut down access to anyone who criticizes the company. Turns out we need more than just discourses, we need the material means of circulating them.

Back to the Multitude: is this just a matter of calling the people a multitude, or can we find some actual evidence for the claims that Virno is making about the contemporary condition. Can you think of any compelling evidence? What about compelling counter-evidence? How useful is the vocabulary that Virno develops -- can it be put to work? This is an essay, which means we're going to need to do a little work to flesh it out -- perhaps drawing on the references to the Fragment on Machines and the Economic Manuscripts we read last week.

Perhaps the most developed argument in the first half of the essay focuses on virtuosity as a means or bridging the realms of labor and politics -- I'm thinking this might be a good starting point for approaching an attempt to put this argument to work or to critique it.