Stalder argues that "Media are never neutral....To understand the kind of bias introduced into our current culture by the spread of computer networks....the best place to investigate is not the Internet, but, rather, the financial networks" (Stalder 1999 104). The idea here is the representation of money as what Stalder calls "a pure medium (104). Since money can take any form and still be money, Stalder considers the current financial markets as the most advanced and most media-specific electronic space.
While these market networks are fully automated, still Stalder sees a bias which affects everything done through these networks. He states that the surrounding larger social and economic environment is structurally separated and therefore, only relevant when it seems to matter to the value of money and its transactions. In other words, according to Stalder, "(E)verything that counts happens within the networks" (105). He uses Keynes' analogy of a beauty contest to claim that participants in these networks are competitive and that majority rule tends to apply. He also states that financial markets can only function efficiently and at high speed when information is taken at face value. In other words, trusting the information is key in assessing the bias (or lack thereof).
Networks, as Stalder writes, not only connect people across time and space but integrate former independent elements. He therefore sees bias in this newly created space-time.
The problem with this article is that it is now sadly out of date, written in 1999 when, as we move into 2009, the economy is teetering and the financial markets, their networks, and misleading, even fraudulent information, has caused the collapse of once impregnable institutions. The sturdy technology, even as properly biased according to Stalder, has turned into GIGO- Garbage In, Garbage Out. Surely, the multi-billion dollar shenanigans of lenders, mortgage c...