Postmodern in IT: power and simulacra

Postmodern Mechanisms in IT Corporate Culture

Postmodern philosophy frames today’s IT workflows as a system where stable meanings dissolve into fluid signs. Key thinkers—Deleuze with his concept of schizo-thought, which rejects totalizing narratives; Foucault, analyzing diffuse power; and Baudrillard, with his notion of simulacra—empty symbols stripped of any original referent—resonate deeply in IT corporate structures. There, authority masquerades as flat hierarchies and standardized processes.

Corporate culture deploys postmodern techniques for control: industry-wide process standardization simplifies onboarding and employee replacement. Adaptability to global standards takes precedence over unique expertise. A brilliant specialist who doesn’t fit the mold yields to the ‘standard’ performer.

Simulacra in HR and Corporate Discourse

Through a postmodern lens, terminology is deliberately redefined to manufacture the illusion of personal engagement:

• "Leadership" — successful integration into process flows, without real autonomy.
• "Challenge" or "competition" — hiring for rare roles where filling the vacancy matters more than domain expertise.
• "Learning" — onboarding into standardized procedures.
• "Ambition" — hitting targets defined by uniform metrics.

Emotive language ("toxicity," "engagement," "soft skills") camouflages the impersonal authority of the industry. Managers bear no responsibility—decisions are made by "the process." The corporation presents itself as emotionally meaningful, even while functioning as one interchangeable cog in a global machine.

Postmodernism absorbs external meaning through sign-play, ignoring fixed goals. In IT, this is clearest in the evolution of Open Source.

Open Source: From Anti-Corporate Ideal to Business Tool

Originally, Open Source embodied ideals of progress and resistance to corporate dominance: the GPL license mandated code openness upon use. Free creation stood in opposition to commercialization.

Corporations absorbed the movement:

• Developers became unpaid contributors—cutting business R&D costs.
• Participation in OSS communities serves as a loyalty signal, now often mandatory for hiring.
• Ideals of freedom have been inverted: progress now fuels corporate strategy, diluting individual influence.

The meaning shifted radically: outward actions remain identical—but now they reinforce the system, rather than subvert it.

Postmodernism in Digital Media and Information Control

Unlike modernity’s centralized censorship, postmodern media rely on multiplicity and algorithms. Formally, free speech is absolute: users generate content across platforms at will.

Control operates indirectly:

• Platforms suppress undesirable content algorithmically—not via bans, but by withholding visibility.
• Access to user data enables hyper-optimized engagement engineering.
• Information overload renders oppositional narratives invisible without paid amplification.

Censorship is more effective: no direct intervention occurs, yet dissent is algorithmically marginalized. In IT, this mirrors platform development—where engagement metrics determine what users see and what remains buried.

What Matters

• Postmodern power in IT is diffuse—exercised through standardized processes and terminological simulacra.
• Open Source evolved from an anti-capitalist tool into a marker of corporate loyalty.
• Corporate discourse uses emotive language to mask impersonal control.
• Postmodern media govern through algorithms and fragmentation—not overt censorship.
• Developers must recognize how meaning is deconstructed in their environment to cultivate critical thinking.

— Editorial Team