Returning to the practice of open thinking alongside Pete Chambers, taking place between Japan and Australia, recorded as the seasons (are meant to be) changing across the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In this episode we continue our examination of the individual and collective consequences of the digital worlds we are choosing and using.
The ever-expanding reach of smartphones comes with a constant decline in recognition of shared spaces. What happens to interpersonal behaviours and social expectations when they are constantly overrun by technologies that prioritise the desires of individuals? When the wants of one override the interests of the the many? How are smartphones, e-scooters and all the other digital devices that are being pushed into our daily lives degrading our capacities to live well, and live together?
Our conversation is framed by our recent writing: my reflections on smartphones and digital technologies in China (here and here), and Pete’s identification of the 3 Ss that mark out 2024, a time that is distinctively stupid, stubborn, surreal. From this, he has examined the e-scooter as a powerful embodiment of that 3S condition. What we are faced with is an ever-growing gap between the sophistication of our technologies and the simplification of thought and the degrading of interpersonal interactions. With the steady and unceasing advance of the ‘goods life’, we become more and more incapable of simply saying, ‘this is not good’.
In reflecting on these questions, it is important to think about agency. Certainly there are structures and pressures at work, but there are also actors acting, and from the individual to the mega-corporation, decisions are being made all the way up and down. Observing the constant disavowal of responsibility, the quote that comes to mind is one I associate with The Usual Suspects, but appears to come from Charles Baudelaire:
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn't exist.
I’ll leave the reader to decide how to apply that to big tech, smartphones, social media algorithms and the rest.
This conversation circles back to the first season of the podcast, which examined how digital technologies are shaping and reshaping our lived experiences. Some of the most relevant episodes from that being with LM Sacasas, David Cayley, and Sun-ha Song, alongside the most recent ones with Joseph Vogl and Guillaume Pitron. Our sense is that this new conversation is a strong example of what we are trying to work towards in terms of the practice of open thinking. We hope you might find it of interest, thanks for your engagement.
