They are giant computers at the core of any ascendant center of power. They are the equivalent of oil and transportation routes, in that in the past power and influence were gained by controlling these. In our digital era, to be powerful can mean having the most effective computer on a network. In most cases, this means the biggest and most connected computer. The new class of ultra-influential computers come in many guises. Some run financial schemes, like high-frequency trading, and others run insurance companies. Some run elections, and others run giant online stores. Some run social network or search services, while others run national intelligence services.
Siren Servers are usually gigantic facilities, located in obscure places where they have their own power plants and some special hookup to nature, like a remote river, that allows them to cool a fantastic amount of waste heat.
[Siren Servers] calculate actions for their owners that reduce risks and increase wealth and influence. For instance, before big computers and cheap networking, it was hard for health insurance companies to gather and analyze enough data to be tempted to create a “perfect” insurance business, in which only those who need insurance the least are insured. But with a big computer it becomes not only possible, but irresistible.
Agnostic Texts:
Are neutral texts created to be “agnostic” with regard to student interest so that outside variables won’t interfere when teachers assess and analyze data related to verbal ability. In other words, they are texts no child would choose to read on her own.There are already hundreds of for-profit and nonprofit providers of “agnostic texts” sorted by grade level being used in English classrooms across the country. There is also a lot of discussion among teachers over whether lessons align well with the new standards, but far less discussion regarding which texts are being chosen for students to read and why. In a sense the students, with their curiosity, sadness, confusion and knowledge deficits, are left out of the equation. They are on the receiving end of lessons planned for a language-skills learning abstraction.
The names of two means of unprecedented social control, textbooks and computer systems, fascinate me. Both the words "Siren" and "Agnostic" have Greek origins. While Sirens would powerfully, almost insuperably, lure ancient Greek heroes from their designated paths of heroic activities and glory, agnostics were Greek philosophers famous for skepticism. (Ironically, the agnostic texts adopted in the national k-12 curriculum are meant to douse skepticism and doubt).
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