server /ˈsəːvə/
- a person or thing that serves
- a person assisting the celebrant at the celebration of the Eucharist
- a computer or computer program which manages access to a centralised resource or services in a network
The metaphor of the server passes unobserved. A server serves data for its clients through request and response protocols, its purpose being to share resources. I find it to be a very valid Romantic image of our society.
One might be seduced by the altruistic facade of an entity whose only purpose is to serve. But the distinction between servers and clients define the asymmetric relation between agents in a network. Computational power is power.
ReplyDeleteAgents do have to comply to hierarchical structures. But now who is the server and who is the served?
DeleteI can see in 10 years new dynamics of networks serving another networks , this will subvert all the notions of individuality and the same old boring talk about post-modernism, it's a new era
ReplyDelete