The Paik-Abe videosynthesizer was a powerful video processing device. It enabled an experimental transformation of video, and was designed to create complex, visually dynamic imagery, but had only a limited ability to reproduce that imagery at a later time. Constructed by Nam June Paik and engineer Shuya Abe, the ability to recreate its imagery was systematically developed by another video artist, Ron Hays, who explored and documented what was required to create a specific range of visual forms on screen in order to produce a lexicon of forms to use the videosynthesizer as an electronic visual music instrument.
HFT reveals one of the clearest examples of the semiotic procedures of digital capitalism in action. The Nanex analysis of the first "crash" suggests that agnotology can be applied in automated systems as well, simply by using the sequential nature of data processing (i.e. the linearity of computers) to create uncertainty.
The first "flash crash" in the markets happened on May 6, 2010. There have been a number of others since then. It seems reasonable to assume that this will become the norm; to be involved in any market that includes HFT and attempt to trade without the support of this extractive technology is clearly foolish (we all know what "they" say about fools and their money...)
