Andreas Vlach
@vlach
Andreas Vlach
@vlach
McLuhan noted that “when information moves at the speed of signals in the central nervous system, man is confronted with the obsolescence of all earlier forms of acceleration, such as road and rail. What emerges is a total field of inclusive awareness. The old patterns of psychic and social adjustment become irrelevant.”
As the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze said, machines “express those social forms capable of producing them and making use of them.”59 Looking at the ways we interact with our smartphones reveals the social relationships and power structures that undergird modern society.
But is there not some truth to claim that reality pales in comparison to the digitally mediated worlds on offer? My most straightforward answer is, of course, no. But viewed from a certain angle, perhaps. As an example, consider the case of someone who has only lived where light pollution obscures all but a few of the brightest stars. Under these
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