"Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves."1 -Gandalf
"Ok, Boomer" - Pippin (probably)
I've taken to reading some Martin Heidegger lately. Reason being that I've also been pondering what is to be done about technology. I've been lead to understand that Heidegger has some insights into that. Maybe not digital technology which is the primary focus of my pondering, but he at least lived during the age of electronics. Hopefully those are only a stone's throw away from each other. So, my aim is to throw that stone, break his window, steal his good ideas, and burn the rest.
If we're going to use stones to steal ideas, it'd be a good idea to focus the pondering of digital technology a bit. What even is the question that ought to be answered about this thing? I'd say that the question at least has something to do with understanding the good of technology. Generally, it seems to be accepted that digital technology is NOT doing us good. People often speak of phone addiction, too much time spent on Youtube, too much time in video games, or other excesses like that. Else, there's talk about the interactions being not real, and a request that people get out into the real world.
Well, despite all that, I don't see anyone hurling their phones at the windows of dead philosophers like I've done with my stone. Seems to me that that indicates either there is some good. In fact, I should think there had better be some good. For something completely evil to become so pervasive, it seems that it would have to be monumentally insidious.
So let's assume that there is good yet in digital technology. Now, where may we say that the good in digital technology lies?
Well, its primary concern is in the communication of information. So, its likely that the goods and evils exist in those two ideas. As humans though, these two specific ideas are very important and they are married together in the structure that we call story.
Story is how we've always communicated ideas. It takes shape in many media and digital technology is the latest media for hosting human story. That all seems well and good. Maybe at this point, we'd be inclined to make comments about how there were probably some luddites hating on books way back when. Maybe we could just say that, pat ourselves on the back, and do a tik tok dance on Homer's grave.
But I threw a pretty nice stone at that philosopher's house, so I've got to put that to some use (good stones are hard to come by). Heidegger says: "In Dasein [think of Dasein as close to the word "being"] there lies an essential tendency towards closeness. All the ways in which we speed things up, as we are more of less compelled to do today, push us on towards the conquest of remoteness. With the 'radio', for example, Dasein has so expanded its everyday environment that it has accomplished a de-severance of the the 'world' - a de-severance which in its meaning for Dasein, cannot yet be visualized."2
That car radio that you never turn on because of Spotify unites the world so well that the world is ‘de-severed’ and has a meaning that Heidegger couldn’t figure out (at least in this work).
What we see here is correct though, we all yearn for closeness. Its built into our being so well that we always push towards that which will bring us closer. I argue that this closeness can be brought about through many actions. One of those actions is through story. Maybe it's sharing a story. Maybe it's participating in the story of others. Maybe it’s a solo story of our own.
Here's where our problems crop up though. Going on an adventure is dangerous. Big or small adventures that build the stories that we yearn for make us, at the very least, feel uncomfortable. If not late for dinner or eaten by a dragon.
The unfortunate reality is that digital technology has the potential to make us amazingly close, but our survival instinct and tendency to avoid the uncomfortable has convinced our yearning for closeness that participation from a distance by means of likes and comments can be good enough.
If you'll permit me to throw this in here, I direct your attention to a story about a stone. In the Lord of the Rings, Saruman the wise wizard, in his yearning for story and closeness, began using the Palantir stone to see distantly from the safety of his well-fortified tower. Not only did this cause him to have a distanced view of the world, but he soon became fixated on the most interesting of stories. The story of the new rise of Sauron. A story with a rise of conflict and a chance for participation in that story from his comfortable tower.
The Elves that made the Palantir stones intended them to be used to bring people closer. So if something good or bad happened in a distant land, the users of the stones could drop everything and go to engage the good or bad.
In the end of the story of the stones, they had turned into tools to facilitate a doom scrolling party between Sauron, Saruman, and Denethor. All three characters consumed and destroyed without ever having to leave the comfort of their homes. Each as lonely as could be despite the potential to be so close to others.
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As far as I can understand it, digital technology is and will continue to be a means to better closeness. It will always be good or evil depending on the person using it and their mindset in doing so.
So today, be inspired to be like a hobbit or an elf. Use digital technology to enhance your closeness when needed, but be willing to adventure despite any feeling that you belong in your tower or in your hobbit hole.
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"At that moment a heavy shining thing came hurtling down from above. It glanced off the iron rail even as Saruman left it, and passing close to Gandalf's head, it smote the stair on which he stood. The rail rang and snapped. The stair cracked and splintered in glittering sparks. But the ball was unharmed: it rolled on down the steps, a globe of crystal, dark, but slowing with a heart of fire. As it bounded away towards a pool Pippin ran after it an picked it up."3
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Special consideration to my youngest brother for first making to me the comparison between phones and the Palantir, and thanks to him for our insightful conversations on this and many other topics. Love you, Small Fry!
1 Tolkien, J.R.R., The Two Towers (New York: Ballantine Books, 1981), 258-259.
2 Heidegger, Martin, Being and Time (New York: Harper & Row, 2008), 140.
3 Tolkien, J.R.R., The Two Towers (New York: Ballantine Books, 1981), 241.