Critique of Benjamin Bratton's 'The Revenge of the Real' and its antihumanist pandemic politics

Theorist Benjamin Bratton's book 'The Revenge of the Real: Politics for a Post-Pandemic World' argues that COVID-19 exposes the failures of Western individualism. Published by Verso for £10.99/$19.95 in hardcover, the work presents the pandemic as vindication for a planetary-scale technological governance model. Bratton critiques both right-wing populist libertarianism and philosopher Giorgio Agamben's 'negative biopolitics' tradition. He advocates for a 'sensing layer' of comprehensive data collection to enable rational societal management. The book positions humanity as nodes within biopolitical networks rather than autonomous subjects. Critics contend this approach reduces human society to a system requiring control while dismissing questions of meaning and purpose. Bratton specifically challenges Agamben's early pandemic observation about society valuing 'bare life' above all else. The theorist's framework emphasizes competent governance through technological rationalism over individual sovereignty.