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Great essay. I find myself frequently returning to the interview with Byung-Chul Han here: https://www.noemamag.com/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-information/

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May 20, 2023Liked by Anton Cebalo

Thank you for bringing the philosopher Byung-Chul Han to my attention, Anton -- interesting insights.

"In his 2017 work Psychopolitics, Han writes of how power today has grown reliant on manipulating psychological states, uniquely made possible by technologies of control."

And to think, this was before our recent -- often comical, as in the "Rephrase" suggestion by Grammarly’s algorithm for your sentence -- but potentially terrifying experiences of and potential biases (and controls) invariably conferred (and deferred) to "Artificial Intelligence" algorithms. [And let's face it: like The Highlander, "in the end, there can be only one!"]

Reductions to mere inputs and outputs, indeed; or, as likely in the case of AI: Garbage-In, Garbage Out (and God help us if and when "it" ever concludes that the human race has been, and is, mostly Garbage by its undoubtedly pre-programmed Utopian standards -- like "Saving the Planet from the Human Cancer Virus" or the like).

BTW, I agree wholeheartedly with your concluding paragraph and hope that your thoughtful essays and ideas continue to gain momentum and traction online and beyond. I, for one, (often mired in, as you state in a prior comment, "so much narrative-peddling, especially when it comes to politics") will be an evangelist of them.

Oh, and congratulations on being featured as the lead story in Substack Reads last month. Cheers!

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May 15, 2023Liked by Anton Cebalo

I thought that name Byung-Chul Han was familiar. He's discussed in this podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FgTunWWQeOlofYgWcRVRH

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May 15, 2023Liked by Anton Cebalo

The Internet's effect on society is under discussed. This is the discussion we all should be having. The switch Byung- Chul Han discusses, moving away from freedom, began with the creation of suburbia. That disconnection continues into the internet. I am afraid only a societal cataclysm stops the runway train.

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I have found this really useful, thanks.

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Great read, thank you. In the third paragraph of the bulk Han attribution quoted, is it supposed to be:

"But at the same thing, things are more transparent than persons."

Or is it:

"But at the same time, things are more transparent than persons?"

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"I think the solution, in this case, seems fairly straightforward"

I disagree. In more than half of your post, I felt like you were making broad sweeping philosophical claims without providing concrete examples, without showing how Han's metaphorical rubber meets the road.

What is your proposed solution (i.e. government policy prescriptions) to consumerist culture, burnout, and modern psychological manipulation?

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