Porosity and Computation

Asja Lācis (1891—1979)

In this article I look at the idea that contemporary computational systems demonstrate what I call computational porosity, that is, the interpenetration of human and machine agencies through layered infrastructures of code, data, and automated decision-making. This concept draws upon Walter Benjamin and Asja Lācis's analysis of Naples' urban architecture in their 1925 essay, Naples.[1] As Smith (2021: 242) writes, "in 1924, Walter Benjamin spent six months on the island of Capri in the Bay of Naples. Throughout the 1920s, Naples and the surrounding area hosted a floating population of German thinkers" (see also Lilla 1995). These included Benjamin, Ernst Bloch and Alfred Sohn-Rethel, "while Siegfried Kracauer and Theodor Adorno were to make the same trip the year after Benjamin." As Smith describes, "many of the figures associated with the Frankfurt School of Western Marxism spent time in and around Naples in the course of the decade, leading Martin Mittelmeier to suggest that under different circumstances, and in spite of nationality and language, the group might well have been called the Neapolitan School (2021: 242).

The seemingly anarchistic social organisation of 1920s Naples provided the context for Benjamin and Lācis's influential analysis of urban form and social life. I want to suggest that their observations of how architectural and social forms interpenetrate through material structures offers us a theoretical framework that, whilst historically specific to interwar Naples, provides remarkable insights for understanding contemporary computational systems. Before developing this connection, I want to examine how Benjamin and Lācis articulated their concept of porosity through their reading of Neapolitan architecture and social relations. Their attention to the material specificity of tuff stone and its use as a metaphor to describe Neapolitan social organisation might provide a model for how we might similarly attend to the material substrates of computational systems and their social implications.

Benjamin and Lācis's Naples essay was "an attempt to capture the fleeting, momentary character of social life in a set of images" (Gilloch 1997). They identified porosity (Porosität), drawn from the characteristics of the city’s tuff stone, as the "inexhaustible law" governing how architectural and social forms interpenetrate in Neapolitan life. They observed how the boundaries between private and public spaces, sacred and profane, work and leisure became porous through the material structure of the city itself. Porosity "refers to a lack of clear boundaries between phenomena, a permeation of one thing by another... it highlights the notions of dislocation and disorientation.. transience and instability... the significance of what is hidden; what is concealed is the key to the interpretation of the urban setting" (Gilloch 1997). In Naples, buildings were used as stages for social life, with balconies, courtyards and stairways serving simultaneously as theatrical spaces and sites of everyday activity. This architectural porosity enabled forms of social improvisation while also structuring how life could be lived.[2] For Benjamin and Lācis,

Naples is a city that lacks distinct spatial arrangement and clear demarcation. It is an unplanned, chaotic entity which constitutes what one might describe as an 'organic' totality. Spaces and buildings interpenetrate and merge. This lack of clear geographical and architectural boundaries makes navigation in the urban complex difficult. The undifferentiated character of the Neapolitan cityscape gives it a particularly labyrinthine quality (Gilloch 1997).  

As Mittelmeier writes, "with the Naples essay, Lācis and Benjamin turned its contents, the structure of porosity, into its form. Not only did they write about porosity; they did so in a porous way" (Mittelmeier 2025: 36). The essay was immediately influential on Ernst Bloch who wrote his own article, Italy and Porosity in Die Weltbühne, on 29 June 1926 (Bloch 1988), with a "new element he introduced [which] was attention to the special flavor of Neapolitan speech" (Mittelmeier 2025: 37). The difference between their approaches is that Benjamin and Lācis "begin in medias res and retain a tight focus on the details of Neapolitan city life without ever really generating an overview, whereas Bloch foregrounds his central idea from the outset and then proceeds to demonstrate it in a strikingly expansive way" (Smith 2021: 247). 

Café Hiddigeigei on Capri where Benjamin and
Lācis first met. Photo: Giorgio Sommer, ca. 1890
(Mittelmeier 2025).

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) 

I argue that Benjamin and Lācis's concept of porosity can be used to help understand how computational architectures structure contemporary social relations. I agree with Smith (20221) that porosity has the interesting conceptual value of "problematiz[ing] in turn apparently stable cultural models that in contrast take themselves too much for granted" (Smith 2021: 255). Just as Naples' built environment created porous boundaries between domains of life, computational systems generate multiple forms of interpenetration between human and machine agencies through layered infrastructures of code, data and automated decision making (see Berry 2014: 58). The crucial difference is that computational porosity operates not through stone and concrete but through the material substrate of processors, networks and algorithms that increasingly mediate social existence. My aim is to deploy the concept of porosity in two ways, first as a descriptive concept which helps understand how discretisation as a practice within computation is giving way to diffusion techniques (see below) but also to employ porosity as a critical concept in the sense given by Benjamin and Lācis who saw it as an alternative to bourgeoise bureaucratic and instrumental ways of organising the lifeworld.

 

Where Benjamin and Lācis examined how Naples' architecture enabled the constant movement between interior and exterior spaces, we can consider how computational systems create fluid boundaries between local and cloud processing, between human and machine cognition, and between private data and public circulation. The physical permeability they identified in Naples' buildings finds its contemporary parallel in the technical permeability of computational systems that allow data and processing to flow across previously distinct spheres and across planetary networks.

The computational porosity identified above can be seen across several key domains. For example, we might look at the structure of modern cloud computing infrastructures. These systems operate through what appears on the surface as a rigid separation between edge devices, core processing, and cloud storage (Berry 2023). Yet in practice, these boundaries are remarkably fluid. A smartphone application, for instance, continually negotiates the distribution of computational tasks between local processing and remote servers, creating infrastructural porosity. This technical arrangement mirrors the way Benjamin and Lācis examined how Naples' architecture enabled constant movement between interior and exterior spaces.

Benjamin and Lācis's observations about Naples' architecture provide remarkably apt metaphors for understanding contemporary digital infrastructures when used as a descriptive concept. The way they describe how "building and action interpenetrate in the courtyards, arcades, and stairways" of Naples or how Naples' architecture is "a space for public life" that "extends into the living quarters" precisely captures how computational systems blur boundaries between public and private spheres (Benjamin and Lācis 1925). Similarly, in computational systems, code and social practices interpenetrate through interfaces, algorithms and networks, just as Neapolitan architecture created spaces that were hybrid where personal and collective activities were mixed together.

This computational porosity is shown through multiple, interrelated forms that structure contemporary digital culture. Social media platforms create porous boundaries between individual and collective experience through their underlying architectures of algorithmic feed curation, behavioural tracking, and automated content moderation. The private becomes immediately public, filtered through layers of machine learning that shape both what is visible and how it circulates, while these systems are simultaneously shaped by the social relations they mediate. The infrastructural dimension extends beyond individual platforms to encompass entire technical ensembles that facilitate the flow of data, processing, and automated agency across previously distinct domains, potentially dissolving the distinction between system and lifeworld. 

When we issue a voice command to ChatGPT or another LLM, the computation flows seamlessly between device, data centre and cloud, creating what appears as a unified interaction but which actually traverses across multiple computational domains. This technical arrangement mirrors the interpenetration of spaces that Benjamin and Lācis observed in Naples, though now operating through digital rather than architectural forms. Similarly, the diffusion processes that many AI systems now implement, make all cultural works diffuse and hybrid within the latent spaces of their neural networks, a process I call diffusionisation.[3] 

I argue that the relationship between computational porosity and diffusionisation reveals a key transformation in how digital systems process and reshape cultural content. While computational porosity describes the broader phenomenon of interpenetrating boundaries between human and machine agencies, diffusionisation represents a specific technical manifestation of this porosity within AI systems. Through diffusion models, cultural artefacts are not simply stored or processed but become fundamentally porous themselves as their features, styles, and meanings blur and intermingle within the latent spaces of neural networks. This technical process of diffusionisation thus intensifies the porosity Benjamin and Lācis observed in Naples' architecture, as it operates not just on the level of infrastructure but on the very substance of cultural production itself. 

When writing an email using Gmail's Smart Compose, we encounter a particularly revealing instance of computational porosity at work. The system does not simply suggest words, it creates a dynamic interpenetration of human intention and machine prediction that fundamentally transforms the act of writing. As we compose, our thought processes become intertwined with algorithmic suggestion in ways that go beyond simple automation. The system learns from aggregate patterns of communication across millions of users, creating a kind of collective linguistic porosity where individual expression becomes mediated through statistically derived patterns. This porosity operates on multiple levels: between personal and collective expression, between human cognition and machine learning, and between private communication and Google's data infrastructure. Indeed, this example shows how computational porosity extends beyond the visible interface into complex infrastructures of data collection and processing. Each interaction with Smart Compose feeds back into Google's machine learning systems, creating a form of temporal porosity where past communications shape future suggestions. The social dimension of computational porosity becomes particularly visible in social platforms. Similarly, a personal photograph posted to Instagram immediately enters complex circuits of algorithmic classification, content moderation and automated distribution. The intimate becomes public through layers of computational mediation, recalling Benjamin and Lācis's observations about the interpenetration of private and public life, though now operating through digital infrastructure that shapes how content circulates and becomes visible.

Neapel, Frankfurter Zeitung, 19. August 1925

Benjamin and Lācis note that "in everything they preserve the scope to become a theatre of new, unforeseen constellations" helps us to see how computational systems enable endless reconfiguration of social and technical relations (Benjamin and Lācis 1925). Cloud computing architectures, for instance, mirror the way Naples' buildings served multiple, fluid purposes. Just as a Neapolitan courtyard could transform from marketplace to theatre to social gathering space, cloud infrastructure dynamically reallocates computational resources – compute, data, storage – across different tasks and purposes.

They describe how porosity results from "the passion for improvisation, which demands that space and opportunity be preserved at any price" (Benjamin and Lācis 1925). This might be used to question how computational systems, despite their apparent rigidity, are often written playfully, with creative coding and innovative designs that can open spaces for unexpected uses and improvisational practices. For example, APIs and software frameworks are often required to preserve the scope for new applications and uses that their original designers never anticipated (Marino 2020). Indeed, their observation that in Naples, "no figure asserts its 'thus and not otherwise'" speaks to the contingent nature of computational systems which, despite their deterministic logic, remain open to contingency and reinterpretation. Such that the "stamp of the definitive is avoided" in both Neapolitan architecture and computational infrastructure, though for different material and social reasons (Benjamin and Lācis 1925).

Using AI diffusionisation
image porosity to animate
Asja Lācis's image.

However, computational porosity is not merely analogous to architectural porosity. Rather, it represents an intensification and acceleration of the interpenetration of spaces and practices that Benjamin and Lācis observed. Contemporary computational systems do not simply enable movement between defined spheres but actively blur the boundaries between them. When we interact with AI systems or social media platforms, increasingly human and algorithmic agencies are diffused in complex ways. The "theatrical" dimension they identified in Naples' architecture becomes literalised in computational systems that transform every interaction into a performance that can be captured.

The political economy of contemporary platforms further demonstrates this porous character. Social media companies construct value-extraction architectures that create deliberate porosity between user activity and corporate profit. Every interaction, every piece of content, every social connection becomes raw material for algorithmic processing (through diffusionisation) and monetisation. The concept of explainability in AI systems provides another crucial example (Berry 2024b). Current attempts to make algorithmic decisions "explainable" reveal the inherent tension between computational opacity and the need for public accountability (Berry 2023). This creates epistemic porosity, where technical knowledge and democratic oversight must somehow coexist and interpenetrate. The challenge becomes finding ways to make algorithmic systems legible to public understanding without sacrificing their technical sophistication.

Using AI diffusionisation
image porosity to animate
Walter Benjamin's image.

Yet computational porosity as a critical concept also suggests possibilities for resistance and reappropriation. Just as Benjamin and Lācis identified how the porous architecture of Naples enabled creative forms of social improvisation, the layered nature of computational systems creates openings for critical intervention. Through practices of reverse engineering, hacking, jamming, adversarial machine learning, and algorithmic détournement, the seemingly rigid logics of computation reveal their contingent and contestable character. For example, in adversarial machine learning, researchers and activists can deliberately exploit the porous boundaries of AI systems to reveal their limitations and biases. This recalls Benjamin and Lācis's attention to how Naples' poor used the city's porous architecture to evade authority and create alternative social arrangements (Benjamin and Lācis 1925).  Privacy-enhancing technologies, such as Signal, can also create deliberate impermeability within otherwise porous systems. These practices suggest how the porous character of computational systems enables both new forms of power and possibilities for resistance.

San Lorenzo Maggiore,
a 13th century church in Naples,
the foundations made of tuff stone.

These examples point toward computational porosity as a critical concept to examine how technical and social forces interpenetrate while remaining attentive to questions of power and resistance. This approach maintains Benjamin and Lācis's dialectical sensibility by recognising both the constraints and possibilities created by computational architectures.

Understanding computational porosity therefore requires moving beyond simplistic binaries of human versus machine agency to examine how technical and social forces interpenetrate at multiple scales. This suggests the need for new critical methods attentive to both the material specificity of computational systems and their embeddedness in broader political economic relations. This mapping of architectural and computational porosity reveals both continuities and differences in how technical systems shape social life. While the material substrate has changed from stone to silicon, the fundamental dynamic of interpenetration between technical and social forces remains.[4] Understanding these parallels helps us grasp both the constraints and possibilities created by contemporary computational architectures.

Returning to Benjamin and Lācis's original essay helps us understand what is at stake in our computational present. Their analysis of Naples wasn't merely descriptive, it identified how the city's porous architecture enabled forms of life that resisted bourgeois rationalisation and bureaucratic control. Similarly, computational porosity presents us with a dialectical moment. Whilst computational systems create new forms of algorithmic governmentality and platform capitalism, their porous character potentially generates possibilities for alternative social arrangements.

The key question becomes how to mobilise computational porosity towards democratic ends.[5] Just as Naples' citizens used the city's porous spaces to create autonomous zones and informal economies, we might identify how computational porosity enables new forms of collective organisation and resistance. For instance, the porous boundaries between local and cloud computing could support decentralised infrastructure projects that prioritise community control over corporate profit. The diffusional character of contemporary AI systems might be redirected towards collective knowledge production rather than data extractivism.

The implications extend beyond technical systems to fundamental questions about the relations between system and lifeworld in an algorithmic age. The concept of explainable forms of life that I develop elsewhere takes on new significance in this context (Berry 2024b). Rather than treating algorithmic opacity as a technical problem to be solved through better documentation or interfaces, we might understand it as a political question of how to create porous boundaries between expert and public knowledge (Berry 2021). This requires new institutional arrangements and technical practices that enable collective deliberation about how computational systems shape social life. Just as Benjamin and Lācis saw in Naples' architecture the possibility for alternative forms of collective life, we must look for similar openings in our computational present.

Blogpost by David M. Berry

Notes

[1] Naples was originally published in the Frankfurter Zeitung, 19 August 1925. It should be noted that "Lācis has been a contested figure in Benjamin studies... Lācis was effectively edited out of certain accounts of Benjamin’s life, for a combination of personal, religious and political reasons... hence recent research on Lācis and Benjamin has sought to do justice to Lācis own work and to secure due recognition for the impact of her ideas on Benjamin’s development" (Smith 2021: 243). As McGill writes, "the intention to erase the record of Lacis’ importance for Benjamin is even more flagrantly displayed in the fact that when the 'Naples' essay was published in 1955 as part of Benjamin's Schriften, Lācis’s name as co-author was omitted, and the dedication of his book One-Way Street to Lācis was also removed" (McGill 2008: fn 9; see also Ingram 2002). 

[2] It is worth comparing this reading with Glynn (2020) who has a more critical reading of the Naples article, and argues "the critical concept of porosity advanced by Benjamin and Lācis should be re-evaluated not as a quality inherent to the city of Naples per se – as it has been received and deployed in critical and cultural circles – but as the product of a Northern European gaze and of the encounter between a Northern European sensibility and its Southern Other at a precise historical moment" (Glynn 2020: 16). 

[3] The idea that porosity is now also an instrumental process, actuated through computational techniques for the diffusionisation of the lifeworld, raises interesting questions about how a practice of resistance can be integrated into the system. However, I want to suggest that porosity, as Benjamin and Lācis deploy it, points to the excess that cannot be captured fully, even when turned into a computational function. Thereby, computational porosity creates unforeseen lines of flight and potentials for resistance in social and political practice. 

[4] The materiality of silicon in contemporary computation presents an interesting parallel to Naples' tuff stone. Modern semiconductor manufacturing relies on the controlled manipulation of silicon's porosity through processes like ion implantation and the creation of p-n junctions. The term "semiconductor" refers to silicon's porous electronic properties, that is its ability to sometimes conduct electricity and sometimes act as an insulator. Indeed, the actual manufacturing of silicon wafers requires extreme attention to porosity and contamination control in cleanroom environments. This material foundation of computational systems in the controlled management of silicon's porosity suggests a deeper connection to Benjamin and Lācis's analysis than mere metaphor. Just as Naples' architecture emerged from the properties of tuff stone, computational architectures are fundamentally shaped by silicon's material properties and the technical practices required to control its porosity at the nanoscale (see Mody et al 2017).  

[5] After writing this article I discovered Anderson (2019) who used porosity in a different way to think about "digital platform surveillance on social space" (Anderson 2019: 14) particularly the interaction between the social and the technical he calls "Digital Porosity," a concept he draws from Zaporozhets (2016). 

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