The Tyranny of Pre-digestion
~the tyranny of pre-digestion
Le seul véritable voyage, le seul bain de Jouvence, ce ne serait pas d’aller vers de nouveaux paysages, mais d’avoir d’autres yeux, de voir l’univers avec les yeux d’un autre, de cent autres, de voir les cent univers que chacun d’eux voit, que chacun d’eux est; et cela, nous le pouvons avec un Elstir, avec un Vinteuil; avec leurs pareils, nous volons vraiment d’étoiles en étoiles.
—Marcel Proust
Preemptively making a point, this quote is often bastardized as simply: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
~the tyranny of pre-digestion
The modern internet experience is like eating a meal where every bite has been pre-chewed. Before we read an article, we know how many people liked it. Before we watch a film, we’ve read its Letterboxd reviews. The origin of our opinion begins with others, and as a result, we no longer rely on our own experience as the primacy of our opinion.
What if our next generation of tools said fuck-all to consensus and valued one’s own distance?
~the tyranny of pre-digestion
I’ve been working on a 2x2 that plots coordination (social + technological) against implementation (individual + collective):
- Technological SovereigntyTechnological solutions, Individual Implementation
- Algorithmic TransparencyTechnological solutions, Collective Implementation
- Platform-independent IdentitySocial coordination, individual implementation
- Cooperative EconomicsSocial coordination, collective implementation
~the tyranny of pre-digestion
While that 2x2 deserves a piece in its own right, the 4 bullets map nicely onto the field of our networked experience. What might we build?