rhetorical ontologies of code

Rhetorical Ontologies of CodeKevin Brock

University of South [email protected] / @brockoleur

http://www.brockoleur.com

Object-Oriented Rhetoric• Barnett: is rhetoric a ‘human art’ ? (2010, n.p.)• Brown: ‘attitudinal worlds’ constructed by ‘all

relations’ between humans & objects (2012, n.p.)

Kevin Brock / University of South Carolina / [email protected] / @brockoleur

Network / Software Theory• Galloway & Thacker: protocol as a way to

understand ‘tendencies’ of network agents to operate via interrelations (2007, p. 28)

• Protocol, as method of control & influence to facilitate particular relations, must be inherently rhetorical


Ken Thompson’s C Compiler Hack• Thompson: code is inherently untrustworthy

as one cannot, or will not, create all of his or her code (1984, p. 763)

• Thompson supports this claim by hacking the C compiler (a program to turn source code into executable files)


The C Compiler Hack...c = next( );if(c != '\\') return(c);c = next( );if(c == '\\') return('\\');if(c == 'n') return('\n');if(c == 'v') return('\v');...

(Thompson, Figure 2.2)

...c = next( );if(c != '\\') return(c);c = next( );if(c == '\\') return('\\');if(c == 'n') return('\n');if(c == 'v') return(11);...


compile(s)char *s;{ if(match(s, "pattern1")) { compile("bug1"); return; } if(match(s, "pattern2")) { compile("bug2"); return; } ...}



The C Compiler Hack


Clean Compiler

Clean Code

Clean Executable

Clean Compiler

Unclean Code

Infected Executable

Infected Compiler

Clean Code

‘Clean’ Executable

‘Clean’ Compiler

Clean Code

‘Clean’ Executable

(processing code normally before Thompson’s hack is implemented)

(inserting Thompson’s Trojan Horse)

(incorporating the infected compiler into the normal process)

(replacing the infected compiler with a clean-source compiler)

Who or What Has Agency Here?• Latour: technology is ‘an interchange between

what humans inscribe in it and what it prescribes to them’ (1996, p. 213)

• Being emerges from rhetorical activity for Trojan Horse author, code languages, physical computer, electrical flows/digitizations, etc.


DNA (Codon) Reprogramming• Lajoie et al. reprogram three-nucleotide

sequences (codons) to facilitate new types of chemical reactions between amino acids & proteins (2013)

• Potential applications include new adhesives, medications, disease-resistant foods

Codon Reprogramming

Lajoie et al. (2013, Figure 1)

Chemical Programming with DNA• Chen et al. construct a new programming

language for consensus-based calculation using ‘complex signal processing’ from biological & chemical inputs (2013, p. 755)


Chemical Programming

X = majority species signalY = minority species signalB = buffer signal

Solid lines = consensus resultsDashed lines = anticipated (computed) results

Chen et al. (2013, from Figure 5)Kevin Brock / University of South Carolina / [email protected] / @brockoleur

Agency in DNA Programming• Rhetorical agency and being exist in DNA

nucleotides, protocols of combination, chemical reaction responses, generated proteins, human researchers, modified organic and inorganic entities


Programmatic Persuasion• Code, biological and technological, serves to

‘program’ (rhetorically persuade) agents to act– Facilitating novel means of invention in response to

emerging situations / contexts

• How can we recognize this rhetorical activity as it takes place in numerous iterations daily?


Works Cited• Barnett, Scot. “Toward an Object-Oriented Rhetoric.” Enculturation 7 (2010). Web.

http://enculturation.gmu.edu/toward-an-object-oriented-rhetoric• Brown, James J. “Paul Cret and the Decorum of Objects.” Clinamen: Thuswise to Serve. 28 May 2012. Web.

http://clinamen.jamesjbrownjr.net/2012/05/28/paul-cret-and-the-decorum-of-objects/• Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley: U of California Press. 1969. Print.• Chen, Yuan-Jyue et al. “Programmable Chemical Controllers Made from DNA.” Nature Nanotechnology 8

(29 Sept. 2013): 755-762. Print.• Galloway, Alexander R. and Eugene Thacker. The Exploit: A Theory of Networks. Minneapolis: U of

Minnesota Press, 2007. Print.• Geddes, Linda. “Reprogrammed Bacterium Speaks New Language of Life.” New Scientist (17 Oct. 2013). Web.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24427-reprogrammed-bacterium-speaks-new-language-of-life.html• Lajoie, Marc J. et al. “Genomically Recoded Organisms Expand Biological Functions.” Science 342 (2013): 357-360.

Print.• Latour, Bruno. Aramis, or the Love of Technology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1996. Print.• Thompson, Ken. “Reflections on Trusting Trust.” Communications of the ACM 27.8 (1984): 761-763. Print.


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