Agents: The Lord of (the) Things

This chapter considers the forms subalterns assume under the conditions of advanced technology. As servers, demons, or other virtual creatures, they work without being seen or ever taking a break. By means of a comparative analysis of early computing systems, the mainframes, and the first machines from the age of personal computers, the discussion focuses on the conceptual and historical transfer from servant to server. The analysis is based on fieldwork conducted in California in the 1970s, when researchers at the legendary Xerox PARC center took a closer look at the conditions of formation of electronic services. What defines the communicative structure of the Internet was a specific informational architecture, the so-called client-server principle, developed in Silicon Valley after 1973.

At the Stove

This chapter analyzes the space of the home, particularly the areas of the kitchen and the dining room. Focusing mainly on the disappearance of the servant from the household, it retraces the gradual replacement of human domestics with technical appliances in the process of automation, mechanization, and electrification. The shift of subaltern functions from humans to things uncovers a vast process of substitution, illustrated here with the history of the so-called dumbwaiters. Using the examples of Thomas Jefferson's revolving serving door and Gaston Menier's ‘first cafeteria,’ the chapter discusses various kitchen and tableware utensils that contribute to the pervasive disappearance of human servants from the household. Michel Serres' concept of the quasi-object will help explain the central notion of delegation employed here.

Listen, James

This introductory chapter examines the figure of the servant from several perspectives, ranging from architectural to literary and scientific contexts. It argues that the server metaphor involves much more than just a cursory formula or a decorative analogy; the term has a rich historical background. As a ministering spirit of communication, the server defies definitions, since the figure it invokes—the servant—fulfills a multitude of historical and media-specific functions. And it is precisely the long, multifaceted history of that figure that may provide assistance in unpacking the metaphor. The chapter shows that the aim of the book is to trace the intricate pathways of service in a broad arc that extends from the present day to the baroque.

Holding the Reins: On Demons and Other Ministering Spirits of Science

This chapter deals with the history of sciences—more specifically, on the lab as the operational headquarters of the marginalized helpers in the production of knowledge. Following a brief history of demons and their central role in thought experiments, the chapter draws parallels between the theoretical activity of the ministering spirits of science and the concrete, yet equally elusive work of lab servants. These figures evince negentropic qualities—without their hidden yet constant (prep) work, any theoretical or experimental insight into the laws of nature would prove impossible. Starting from the precarious relation between the public scientist and his invisible aides, the chapter further discusses the benefits of and issues with fictionality in the scientific domain.

The Servant as Information Center

This chapter explores the figure of the servant as an information center, both in connection with and as opposed to modern search engines. It proposes an analogy between the literary character Reginald Jeeves, the butler in P. G. Wodehouse's stories, and the search engine AskJeeves.com, which chose that literary figure as the prototype of its corporate identity. The idea is that the techniques of information retrieval, organization, and distribution which the classic butler or domestic employs already act as a search engine avant la letter. The claim will be further illustrated with the example of the library servant and his transformation from a subservient carrier and sorter of books to the powerful electronic library catalogue OPAC (online public access catalogue) of today.

Masters / Servants: Everyone Is a Subaltern

This chapter provides a brief history of service, accompanied by a systematic effort to find what distinguishes the servant from related figures like the slave, the bondsman, the apprentice, or the assistant, in order to define what a servant actually is. Based on various external markers of distinction like the livery, subalterns can be classified into hierarchies whose logic and spatial organization will be discussed using the examples of baroque palaces and English manors. The chapter also analyzes the figure of the valet de chambre, as well as the relation of subalternity as a general structure that runs through all social ranks.

Idle Time

This concluding chapter investigates how subalterns spend those long periods of inactivity. By virtue of their function, they continue to work even when all they have to do is wait: either for the next command or for the bell, from one of the rooms or at the front door. Waiting makes all servants equal, irrespective of their real status: whether they are high-ranking messengers, servants of communication stationed somewhere at the periphery, or underlings passing the time in the staff room, they wait for the bell to ring. But whenever they are deep in thought, lost in reading, or taking in spiritual nourishment, servants do not necessarily manage their own time but rather the time of their masters. The lack of activity is not meant for their own comfort or relaxation.

Channel Service

This chapter turns to the servants of (tele)communication networks, particularly to their relation to the channel of information transmission. The central focus here is the transformation of the conditions of communication and the replacement of the classic server with technical media, in the introduction of electricity, the telegraph, and the telephone in the nineteenth century. With the aid of yet another scientific subaltern, namely Carl Friedrich Gauss' institute assistant, the chapter evokes a key moment in the development of modern telecommunications, an event that takes place in Göttingen in 1833. The question framing the discussion is how the same event can lend itself to different views according to the various media theoretical approaches employed.

In Waiting

This chapter explains the figure of the servant in literature. The focus here is on the eighteenth century, via a close reading of Miss Sara Sampson. Paying close attention to Goethe's long list of servants (and especially to his valet Carl Stadelmann), the chapter examines the articulation of power relations between master and subject and, further, the topos of the world upside down, which threatens to turn those power structures on their head. The chapter concludes with a discussion of mimetic desire. Using examples from Goethe and Proust, it shows not merely how servants mimic the behavior of their masters but also how the actions subalterns imitate come to affect, in turn, the models set by their superiors.