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The Anthropocene is a geological period defined by human activities that requires decisive responses by humanity to grapple with ecological, biological, and social change. In this essay, I argue that the concept of the Anthropocene is also one that has the potential to be mobilized in service of unanticipated and emerging forms of social, spatial, political, financial, and ecological control. Indeed, we can perhaps imagine a not too distant future wherein the apparent urgency of the Anthropocene era's challenges may require global responses that bypass democratic deliberation. At the same time, emerging modalities of control in the Anthropocene will likely be sold to the public as being in their interest. It is the potential proliferation of these emerging expressions of power in the name of the Anthropocene that, I want to suggest, we must approach with caution as we seek solutions to tomorrow's social, ecological, and spatial challenges.

In this article, I will engage the contested terrain of contemporary (online) transparency by looking at it through the lens of a "cultural studies of finance." I will focus here especially on the conflicting but complementary tactics of technologically enhanced transparency and how it is being strategically mobilized by, on the one hand, an increasingly vocal macroeconomically informed and invested online community of bloggers and online activists ("econo-bloggers") and, on the other hand, by one of the primary targets of their transparency-seeking attacks: the Federal Reserve (the Fed)—the central bank of the United States. I want to show how the transparency tactics being pursued by both parties at once conflict with and complement one another as both parties play the transparency game with the same objective: to win the monetary policy debate and thereby achieve a sort of monetarily significant ontological legitimacy. This legitimacy is premised upon a monopolization of the very nature of monetary "truth": a form of truth that's becoming increasingly important to control and manage in light of, for instance, recent economic catastrophes, the faith-based nature of contemporary credit- and fiat-based money, and ever-inflating commodity costs (e.g., gold and oil). But while both the econo-blogosphere and the Fed champion transparency-promoting agendas, their allegedly transparency-promoting tactics are not so much about getting at "objective" realities concerning money as they are about controlling the message. Transparency in this online macroeconomically inflected infowar is a tool used both offensively and defensively either to maintain or subvert status quo monetary policy; more prosaically, transparency—and the appeal to transparency as a sort of moral or ethical "good"—has today become a technologically necessitated public relations tool masquerading behind a veil of authenticity and unadulterated exposure.

Hurricane Katrina demonstrates how the space-time compression described by Paul Virilio—a compression made possible by speed and technology—exists only within a space wherein that speed is desired and applied to accommodate particular interests. The desire for speed is most palpably made manifest when it is an enabler of power.

Gamification marks a major change to everyday life. It describes the permeation of economic, political, and social contexts by game-elements such as awards, rule structures, and interfaces that are inspired by video games. Sometimes the term is reduced to the implementation of points, badges, and leaderboards as incentives and motivations to be productive. Sometimes it is envisioned as a universal remedy to deeply transform society toward more humane and playful ends. Despite its use by corporations to manage brand communities and personnel, however, gamification is more than just a marketing buzzword. States are beginning to use it as a new tool for governing populations more effectively. It promises to fix what is wrong with reality by making every single one of us fitter, happier, and healthier. Indeed, it seems like all of society is up for being transformed into one massive game. The contributions in this book offer a candid assessment of the gamification hype. They trace back the historical roots of the phenomenon and explore novel design practices and methods. They critically discuss its social implications and even present artistic tactics for resistance. It is time to rethink gamification!