Byung-Chul Han

everything I'm learning about the work of philosopher Byung-Chul Han

The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present

Insights from Byung-Chul Han: The rise of narcissism, the emphasis on authenticity, and shallow technological experiences are eroding essential societal bonds We need daily and lifelong rituals to help bring narrative structure into our lives In the past, people had time to contemplate information, consider its place within a larger narrat... See more

This isn’t the same kind of attention we give to our Instagram and TikTok feeds. It is a ritualised form of intentional presence directed to a shared sense of meaning and history. In The Disappearance of Ritual , the philosopher Byung-Chul Han argues that our digital communication sacrifices this kind of deep attention and intensity with something ... See more

Alexander Beiner • Myth and Metrics: How Social Media Robs Us of Ritual, and How to Revive It

Episode #188 Achievement Society and the rise of narcissism depression and anxiety - Byung-Chul Han

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This was illuminating. My notes:

Negative power is the way people have been control for most of human history.

Negative power means being controlled by prohibition or limitation, telling people you can’t do this or that. Today, people are controlled through positive power. Positive power tells you you can be whatever you want, you’re in charge, so you have no limitations. As long as you can put your head down, focus, grind, achieve your short term goals, set new ones and achieve those.

Authenticity is an ad campaign of neo-liberalism. It's a self absorbed nightmare. People now have to define themselves through themselves without any sort of help from the outside. Everyone is their own little personal project. Everything we learn is not just learning anymore. It's an investment in ourselves. Everything is about mentally optimizing yourself working, producing more efficiently with your mind.

“Every age has its signature afflictions. Thus, a bacterial age existed; at the latest, it ended with the discovery of antibiotics. Despite widespread fear of an influenza epidemic, we are not living in a viral age. Thanks to immunological technology, we have already left it behind. From a pathological standpoint, the incipient twenty-first century... See more

“In social networks, the function of "friends" is primarily to heighten narcissism by granting attention, as consumers, to the ego exhibited as a commodity.” ― Byung-Chul Han

“The complaint of the depressive individual, “Nothing is possible,” can only occur in a society that thinks, “Nothing is impossible.” ― Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society

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