Abstract

This book examines how compression can be understood not only as a digital process enacted through computing, but as an economic and political phenomenon that impacts the ecology of waste, diversity and social inclusivity. Beginning with a linguistic underpinning of visual space, the book examines the development of the MP3 algorithm and the 'waste' it creates, challenging the wisdom that human reason and language is uniquely capable of bringing order to chaos. Returning to the idea of a sonic economy, the book reintroduces waste, error and other discarded material back into our systems of thought-and into systems beyond our thought.