Francesco Casetti - "The Pastoral Power of High-Tech Media."

Value of the Information & Strength of the Argument

The lecture provides a valuable and original theoretical contribution by applying Foucault’s concept of pastoral power to contemporary media. Casetti’s argument is well-structured and persuasive, supported by concrete examples from popular apps and platforms. He effectively demonstrates how media’s rhetoric of help and assistance masks a deeper mechanism of control and data extraction. The argumentation is solid, though it relies on theoretical interpretation rather than empirical evidence. Casetti engages critically with the material, offering a nuanced analysis that goes beyond simplistic critiques of surveillance capitalism.

Scientific Rigor, Source Quality, Title Accuracy

Casetti demonstrates scholarly rigor by grounding his argument in the works of Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Paolo Virno. He references specific concepts and texts, such as Foucault’s seminar on pastoral power and Virno’s ‘A Grammar of the Multitude.’ The sources are credible and relevant. The title accurately reflects the content, as the lecture indeed explores the pastoral power of high-tech media. The presentation is well-organized and the argument is coherent, though it is an interpretive essay rather than a systematic study.

The title accurately reflects the content, which explores the concept of pastoral power in the context of high-tech media.

8/10

The lecture is grounded in established theoretical frameworks (Foucault, Deleuze, Virno) and draws on concrete examples from contemporary media platforms. The argument is coherent and well-supported, though it remains an interpretive essay rather than empirical research.

Markers derived by PSI from the transcript: the creator did not define chapters.

• 02:00Introduction of Francesco Casetti by the host, highlighting his academic background.
• 05:00Casetti presents his hypothesis: media as a new form of pastoral power.
• 10:00Analysis of landing pages of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, showing the rhetoric of help.
• 15:00Discussion of other apps like Perplexity and Replika, illustrating the combination of help and data extraction.
• 20:00Casetti outlines the five characteristics of pastoral power according to Foucault.
• 25:00Application of these characteristics to contemporary media, showing how they are distorted.
• 30:00Comparison with Deleuze's society of control, arguing that media's power is more insidious.
• 35:00Discussion of how baptism is replaced by subscription, confession by social media, and mystical body by avatars.
• 40:00Conclusion: media's pastoral power combines care and ownership, posing new challenges.

• European Graduate School — The lecture was hosted by the European Graduate School, and the link is provided in the video description.

• Michel Foucault - Security, Territory, Population — Foucault's seminar where he discusses pastoral power, which is central to Casetti's argument.