Hito Steyerl is one of many writers to identify an “alternative economy of images…existing inside as well as beyond and under commercial media streams” that is the result of the proliferation of the digital image ( “In Defense of the Poor Image” (e-flux, 11/2009 http://www.e-flux.com/journal/in-defense-of-the-poor-image/). To what extent can software similarly lead to alternative economies, not just of the image but to entire systems of alternative economies residing inside/beyond/under the capitalist industrial production of the hardware which houses/powers/produces that software?
In reality can software be divorced from the means of its production? Where can this lead if software is always dependent on the physical structures of circuits and cables which are simple products of industry?
