“Fifth estate” and “fifth power”: Removing the quotation marks

“Fifth estate” and “fifth power” Removing the quotation marks

Vasil Penchev Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge vasildinev@gmail.com “Digitalization and Social Transformation in the Global World” Bulgaria: Blagoevgrad: South-Western University 29-30 September 2016 (14:00 – 15:30, 29 September, Room 412, Building 1)

Thesis and commentaries to it

The thesis • The world (wide) web generates a new “estate”, to which a huge part of mankind belongs Unlike the other “estates”, any human being even a child of own free will might joint it or not • That amorphous, “liquid”, non-professional, and virtual “estate” is the real “power” in the world, the most powerful one The world web as a power overcomes the classical three powers and also the so-called fourth one, media • The trends in favor of it are even stronger than its real power and influence in the contemporary world

A quite short comment of the thesis • The classical three powers, , are concentrated in the real states and unions • The so-called fourth power (classical media) is too linked to the former three ones, to national states and to reality Both fifth “estate” and “power” are immediately related to information, to Internet as the mean for its free and unlimited spread and dissemination, and to its utilization for more effective organization of life and work Both are furthermore rather not restricted to national states just as Internet and the web

The occasion

The occasion for the present talk • “The Fifth Estate” is a movie (2013) devoted to “WikiLeaks” and Julian Assange, translated in Bulgarian “Петата власт” (“The Fifth Power”): a metaphor for the social influence of Internet commensurable and overcoming that of the traditional three powers and classical media  This melts the terms “estate” (“Lords spiritual”, “Lords temporal”, and “Commons”) and “power” (“legislative”, “executive”, and “judiciary”). The media and networks are called literally “estate”, but interpreted as “power”

The fifth power and all rest powers • Furthermore, the term of the “fifth power” addresses the research of its specification to the rest “powers”  The classical three powers, electable in democracy, coordinate society within the state: “legislative power” creates the written framework, which is detailed in two ways: as instructions and execution by the “executive” one, and as the estimation of relevance or irrelevance of actions to the legislative framework by the “judiciary” one • The fifth power is unlimited, “absolute”, but quite rarely exercised

Media: the “fourth power” • Media are specifiable as the “broker” of public opinion and thus, of direct democracy While the mandates of the three powers’ representatives are a few years, the more and more dynamical society needs information and feedback to the powers daily and more often • In fact, media is not standalone as the power: it is rather a media-tor between people and the classical powers Internet can be considered as that kind of medium and its function are more often restricted just to that

A few features of the fifth power Internet sites and networks unlike media are featured by:  Right of initiative and organization (public protests, etc.)

• Information and feedback in “real time“  Transcending national borders to global ones • Execution of rights by discriminate people: young; in dictatorship, in traditional or legal restrictions; female; citizens of any state to events in any stat The booming power

Key words • estates  Internet web and sites • media  powers • society

Features, mechanism, and trends of the fifth power

Important features of the fifth power • Being the strongest one, it is quite different from the classical ones: No structure, and particularly no centre or hierarchy • It expresses directly people’s will and thus it is the most efficient and fast form of direct and pure democracy It is rather restrictive (imposing “veto” on recent political decisions) than constructive (elaborating new ones) • It acts occasionally without any regulation or regularity in fact realizing improvised referenda

Still more features of the fifth power • It depends directly on technics and the development of technologies: particularly it appeared at a certain level of them The development of technics and technologies amplifies it: This explains its constant positive trends • It is constantly “standby” and may be “switched on” in a few hours It is not limited without any national boundaries: It results in globalisation • It is not restricted in any thematic domains: All able to excite human beings may provoke its exercise

The mechanism of its action • The web of Internet organizes the global society as well as any national or regional societies or those in interests as a single neural network It transmits constantly different messages between its members • The transmitted information is almost always too restricted: Its signal attenuates too fast and locally Nevertheless, sometimes though exceptionally rarely it turns to be coherent: The signal of transmitted information does not attenuate being again and again retransmitted and unifies a considerable enough part of society: It begins to be exercised

What is the power of the “fifth power” due to?

• There are few reasons for the fifth power to be so strong: It is always “standby” and might be activated in a few hours if need be • It is a direct and pure power of democracy Its competence is not restricted in any way • It might be manipulated exceptionally difficultly being without any centres or hierarchy Anyway it depends crucially on technics and the development of technologies and might be suppressed by their control

The classical powers and the new “sovereign” • The fifth power takes power from the classical three ones, first of all, restricting them and repealing decisions The so-called political class seeks for ways to master it in order to conserve its privileged power position as people’s representative • The fifth power is namely direct and thus it does not need any representatives The classical powers and their representatives turn out to be gradually marginalized and restricted to represent only the most marginal members of society who are out of the web and its mechanisms

Trends to future • The human progress amplifies and accelerates the transfer power to it for the progress of technology That transfer of power to the fifth one grows up exponentially just as the human knowledge and cognition themselves • The representative democracy transfers power to the fifth one rather cleanly and painless The fifth power is rather international and global than national • However the undemocratic forms of government seem to be too unable to that, generating censure and control for the web or transforming into strange anarchic, fundamentalist and religious societies and states to prevent the “fifth power”

Trends in social stratification • A new global social stratum or “class” though rather amorphous and uncertain appears distinguishable by managing their life much more effective by the free access to relevant information from Internet The most essential feature of it is not the amount of wealthy than the ability for it to be managed maximally effectively by information: e.g. longevity, health and leisure (free time), creativity in the profession, information by itself (rather than money) are the main values • One might liken it as a new global and information “middle class” unlike the classical one in 20th century, restricted to the national frameworks or unlike the too rich and thin classical cosmopolite elite It is maximally interested in the exercise of the fifth power as well as in the transferring power to it

Conclusions

A few main conclusions • Internet generates a new, amorphous and international “estate”, a global and information “middle class” distinguishable by the crucial utilization of information from Internet for resolving of all practical problems much more effectively than by the traditional ways Being permanently linked to each other in Internet, the members of that estate are able to exercise direct democracy in principle similar to neural network • A “fifth power” appears as a result, the strongest one, relying on technics and the development of technologies and absorbing power from the classical ones

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