Description
Increasingly, platform companies find themselves in the frontline of fighting wars or other existential threats to the state, because they have the technological means to integrate and analyse huge amounts of data. The work on technological platforms therefore supports a variety of (non-market) relations, such as military command and control, use-of-force, as well as logistics. This article develops the notion of ‘stack’ in order to conceptualise the ways in which militarisation is made possible across public/private domains and on these platforms. The article understands stacks as weaving multiple technical layers, making possible a range military activities. Understanding platforms as stacks draws attention to the dynamic and multivariable militarisation practices. The article uses Palantir, Anduril, Shield AI as examples to show how this ‘thinking tool’ can work. By so doing, it aims to contribute not only to a better understanding of these new military practices and their implications for contemporary warfare.
