Anarchy, Anarchists, and Anarchism Either Way You Say It Spells Rebellion Against DBs

Anarchy: a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government

Anarchist: a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power 2: a person who believes in, advocates, or promotes anarchism or anarchy

Anarchism: a political theory holding all forms of governmental authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and advocating a society based on voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups


While researching information about one of my favorite movies Enemy of the State starring Will Smith, I stumbled upon an interview with the writer of the film, David Marconi. It was an in depth and almost eerie interview one in which the writer simply faced with a challenging interviewee, simply had to sit back, turn on his recorder, and allow the director speak at his leisure. Initially, that eerie vibe I felt when I continued to read the article made so much sense to me later when the words anarchy, anarchist, and anarchism were defined and discussed. It made sense that the writer would not be able to systematically interview this guy---the writer/director. In that instance, I realized that this man lived and breathed this philosophy of a truly autonomous life without authority, rigor, and control so much that he was not willing to compromise that belief even during an interview. For him, there was no standard protocol---no need for structure.

Immediately, I was intrigued by this concept of free will and no implications of time which he later discussed during the interview. When I analyzed the article, I thought of Garfinkel's Database Nation and began to understand why Marconi was the perfect someone to make a movie like Enemy of the State. The more that I read the article the more I was taken aback by what this man had to say because he obviously was no bumbling idiot. A lot of what he said made sense to me particularly when he discussed the implications for time and the way children initially view time. The recurring theme was about giving up freedoms for an authoritative ideal of rigid structure. I kept thinking about the idea of restrictions, structures, and form while I read the article and how I could make them analogous to databases. The key to me was the form with respect to database design.

I abandoned my idea of just wanting to write about GIS, criminal databases, government spying, and the whole intricate web of ideas related to the events that occur in the movie. The idea of form when we design a database with respect to table normalization for database optimization reflected the ideal of a rigid structure (normalization) and implications of time (e.g. optimization). I thought about how we even evolved to this point of needing to be so organized or structured. Then, I began to contrast that with this ideal that we were convinced by some authority perhaps the business with its business rules that the task we were executing was necessary for order and to optimize time. It all seemed so intricate to me, but yet it made sense if I chose to see things from the perspective of an anarchist. Thus, I would see the database as another construct of that authoritative system that needs to place restrictions not only on the contents or data it keeps, but on us as the keepers (DBAs) of that data. And either way you spell it, A-N-A-R-C-H-Y, A-N-A-R-C-H-I-S-T-S, or A-N-A-R-C-H-I-S-M, it is rebellion against databases.


Referencing Article:
http://www.altpr.org/apr12/zerzan.html