Post by millring on Oct 19, 2014 11:18:23 GMT -5
This is an interesting phenomenon -- how new charlatans bypass the gatekeepers of our rational thought and get us to set aside our ability to discern and, instead, suspend our survival instinct toward disbelief. It seems that every time we come up with ways to sus out the huckster, he finds new ways of appearing to be the next new rational thing. But sometimes it just doesn't work....hence, "Present Shock"
It's a mix of interesting observations (like why the 24 hour news cycle and the supremacy of texing over letters or twitter over newpapers is a harmful step away from a well-informed society) and really bad ideas (like using the Greek words for "time" as though the etymological distinctions hold some deep meaning. I'll bet the author has had some experience in the Evangelical Christian church -- famous for this sleight of hand)
From a radio interview I hear this morning:
It's a mix of interesting observations (like why the 24 hour news cycle and the supremacy of texing over letters or twitter over newpapers is a harmful step away from a well-informed society) and really bad ideas (like using the Greek words for "time" as though the etymological distinctions hold some deep meaning. I'll bet the author has had some experience in the Evangelical Christian church -- famous for this sleight of hand)
From a radio interview I hear this morning:
“You write, “our society has reoriented to the present moment. Everything is live, re-time, and always on. itself to It’s not a mere speeding up, however much in our lifestyles and technologies it accelerated the rate at which we attempt to do things, it’s more a diminishment of anything that isn’t happening right now.” Can you explain what you’re getting at there?
“In some ways it’s a beautiful thing. I mean, I love the whole “tao” idea of being truly in the moment. Not planning or worrying about something else – all distracted. But, for the most part, the way it’s played out in our society is, I feel anyway, that we kind of “misuse” digital technology. So, rather than using it to make more time for ourselves – the way, back in the day – the early bulletin board services, people understood that these weren’t conversations in real time. I mean, when you would participate in a conversation online you’d log onto a computer, download the conversation, read it in your own time, and take hours to craft a paragraph that you would then upload into the conversation. It was this place where people really sounded smarter than they did in real life because they exploited the timeless quality – the fact that it wasn’t always on and real time.
But because there were companies that wanted to make a lot of money and keep us online all the time, they used these technologies more manipulatively and market-friendly ways rather than to give us more time off. We ended up with apps an devises designed to keep us constantly trying to keep up with what’s going on. Check your twitter feed. Check your email. This thing’s streaming, that thing’s coming. WE have devices and apps that ping us and interrupt us every time someone breaks a nail in Phoenix we get a notice desperately trying to tell us that something we need to know about is happening. Look here! Look here! We end up with a sense that we’re trying to keep up with the moment. ‘Oh! …What just happened on twitter?! What just happened on facebook?! I can’t keep up! I can’t keep up!’
But none of those things are really real time.”
“Is that we’re moving from, for instance, email to texting and why blogs are being superseded by twitter feeds?”
“Right. Because these apps and technologies are competing to create ever more convincing illusions of immediacy where a posts relevancy is of much less importance than its recent-cy [sic]. What’s the latest? And most things in life are not best perceived or conceived from the perspective of recent-cy. I mean, the the latest thing said about Gaza or the Ukraine may not be the thing we need to give us the intelligence we need to act purposefully or intentionally in any of these cases."
“In some ways it’s a beautiful thing. I mean, I love the whole “tao” idea of being truly in the moment. Not planning or worrying about something else – all distracted. But, for the most part, the way it’s played out in our society is, I feel anyway, that we kind of “misuse” digital technology. So, rather than using it to make more time for ourselves – the way, back in the day – the early bulletin board services, people understood that these weren’t conversations in real time. I mean, when you would participate in a conversation online you’d log onto a computer, download the conversation, read it in your own time, and take hours to craft a paragraph that you would then upload into the conversation. It was this place where people really sounded smarter than they did in real life because they exploited the timeless quality – the fact that it wasn’t always on and real time.
But because there were companies that wanted to make a lot of money and keep us online all the time, they used these technologies more manipulatively and market-friendly ways rather than to give us more time off. We ended up with apps an devises designed to keep us constantly trying to keep up with what’s going on. Check your twitter feed. Check your email. This thing’s streaming, that thing’s coming. WE have devices and apps that ping us and interrupt us every time someone breaks a nail in Phoenix we get a notice desperately trying to tell us that something we need to know about is happening. Look here! Look here! We end up with a sense that we’re trying to keep up with the moment. ‘Oh! …What just happened on twitter?! What just happened on facebook?! I can’t keep up! I can’t keep up!’
But none of those things are really real time.”
“Is that we’re moving from, for instance, email to texting and why blogs are being superseded by twitter feeds?”
“Right. Because these apps and technologies are competing to create ever more convincing illusions of immediacy where a posts relevancy is of much less importance than its recent-cy [sic]. What’s the latest? And most things in life are not best perceived or conceived from the perspective of recent-cy. I mean, the the latest thing said about Gaza or the Ukraine may not be the thing we need to give us the intelligence we need to act purposefully or intentionally in any of these cases."