<p>What has planetary-scale computation done to our geopolitical realities? In <i>The Stack</i>, Benjamin Bratton proposes that smart grids, cloud computing, mobile software and smart cities, universal addressing systems, ubiquitous computing, and other types of apparently unrelated planetary-scale computation can be viewed as forming a coherent whole -- an accidental megastructure called The Stack that is both a computational apparatus and a new geopolitical architecture.</p><p>This model, informed by the logic of the multilayered structure of software protocol &quot;stacks,&quot; in which network technologies operate within a modular and vertical order, offers a platform for the design of complex systems -- including current and future political geographies that may supersede that of the increasingly &quot;de-bordered&quot; nation-state. In an account that is both theoretical and technical, drawing on political philosophy, architectural theory, and software studies, Bratton offers a design brief for a geopolitics with and for planetary-scale computation.</p><p>Bratton examines six interdependent layers of <i>The Stack: Earth, Cloud, City, Address, Interface, User</i>. Each is considered on its own terms and as a layer within a larger architecture. The Stack is made from hard and soft systems intermingling -- not only computational forms but also social, human, and concrete forces. The Stack offers a way to view the entire digital world, at once, enabling us to engage its challenges directly.</p>