The Real Freedom is in Paper Books

La vera libertà è nei libri di carta

In recent years, for various reasons, I have had to pack my books several times (moving residences or moving some of them to the basement to occupy less space at home). Having thousands of books means lengthy related tasks and heavy boxes to carry.

If all of my printed books were digitally squeezed into an ebook reader, I would carry minimal weight and could access them wherever I went; I would have my complete library at my fingertips. I could also free some space in my house. Nonetheless, I do not regret having purchased and carried my paper books.

Recently, I wanted to try an ebook reader and bought a number of ebooks, especially for traveling. However, I ended up also buying the printed edition, even though this meant carrying they physical books back and forth between Europe and Asia.

Printed books offer a freedom that is still unsurpassed by digital technology. Now that summer is approaching, I can leave my printed books on the beach without fear that they will be damaged by sand or a ball, or be stolen. Coffee and other liquids can stain a paper book but the book will not be completely damaged.

Having a baby around paper books is not a problem. The baby may tear a few pages, stain or step on the book, or use the book as a toy, but the usefulness of the paper book remains. A paper book as an “analogical” technology degrades gracefully, but digital technologies either work or do not work.

Reading a printed book in the sun is easier than reading a screen, despite the best and most impressive advances in screen technology.
When electricity will be interrupted because of energy prices, and I cannot recharge my electronic gadgets, my paper books are still available for reading.

When the failure of only one electronic component jeopardizes an entire ebook reader, my paper books are still around, even though they may be yellowish, damp, or have torn pages.

If I cannot afford to upgrade to ever more sophisticated iPads and Kindles, my paper books will not need an upgrade. When the rare earth metals required for electronics are gone, paper books will be cheaper than their electronic counterparts, when considering the price of the hardware. Paper is a highly renewable resource if used with the right criteria.

A few companies control the ebook market and governments are able to know and potentially control the types of books we read by deciding on what’s good and what’s not good and by interfering with our uploads. If this happens (we are not that far from its occurrence), I will still be able to read my preferred paper books. Prohibited or controversial paper books have always been available, even under the most repressive regimes (though with greater difficulty), whereas electronic information can be easily traced and blocked.

My printed books simply need to be carried, whereas an electronic reader requires the right lighting conditions, electricity or batteries, cables, and often an Internet connection.

My printed books age with me, whereas an ebook reader becomes obsolete and needs to be replaced at regular intervals. My paper books do not blink, do not require Internet connections, do not see others’ annotations and comments, do not connect with readers’ social networks, do not talk, and do not do anything except exist to be read.

Thus the words from a printed book can resound inwardly because of the surrounding emptiness, like the beats from a well-tuned drum.

Negli ultimi anni, per varie ragioni, mi sono trovare ad inscatolare i miei libri in diverse occasioni (anche solo per spostarne una parte in cantina quando stavano invadendo la casa). Avendo migliaia di libri, significa tanto lavoro e scatole pesanti da maneggiare.

Se tutti i miei libri si trovassero in formato digitale all’interno di un lettore ebook, il peso totale sarebbe insignificante e potrei accedere a tutta la mia biblioteca ovunque mi trovassi. Inoltre potrei liberare spazio in casa. Ciò nonostante, non rimpiango di aver acquistato e di aver trasportato i miei libri stampati.

Recentemente ho voluto provare a leggere su ebook invece che su carta, in particolare durante gli spostamenti. Però alla fine ho acquistato anche la versione stampata, non tanto per una visione nostalgica dei libri, ma perchè con il lettore digitale non potevo immergermi nella lettura. Sono ritornato alla carta anche se questo comportava portarmi del peso avanti e indietro tra viaggi e spostamenti.

I libri stampati offrono un grado di libertà che non è stato ancora superato dalle tecnologie digitali. Ora che sta arrivando l’estate, posso lasciare i miei libri cartacei in spiaggia senza timore che possano essere danneggiati dalla sabbia, da una palla o che vengano rubati. Una bibita o altri liquidi possono macchiare un libro ma questo non potrà essere danneggiato più di un tanto.

Un bimbo che gira intorno ai libri stampati non rappresenta un problema. Il bimbo potrà forse strapparne alcune pagine, sporcarlo o camminare sul libro, oppure usarlo come un giocattolo, ma la funzione del libro rimane. Un libro cartaceo, in quanto tecnologia “analogica”, degrada con grazia, mentre le tecnologie digitali o funzionano o non funzionano.

Leggere un libro stampato al sole è meglio che leggerlo su uno schermo, nonostante i migliori sviluppi nenella tecnologia degli schermi.

Se e quando l’elettricità verrà interrotta a causa dei problemi legati all’energia, e non potrò ricaricare i miei gadget elettronici, i miei libri saranno ancora disponibili per essere letti.

Se il guasto di un solo componente elettronico rende l’intero lettore ebook inservibile, i libri di carta saranno ancora lì, anche se un po’ ingialliti, umidi o con pagine sciupate.

Se non potrò permettermi di acquistare gli ultimi, sempre più sofisticati iPad o Kindle, i miei libri stampati non necessiteranno di alcun upgrade.

Quando i metalli rari necessari per l’industria elettronica saranno finiti, stampare un libro costerà meno del suo corrispondente elettronico, se consideriamo anche il costo dell’hardware. La carta e’ una risorsa altamente rinnovabile se utilizzata con i giusti criteri.

Poche aziende controllano il mercato degli ebook ed i governi sono in grado di conoscere e potenzialmente di controllare i libri che leggiamo decidendo ciò che è buono e ciò che non lo è interferendo con i nostri upload. Se arriviamo a questo, sarò ancora in grado di leggere i miei libri preferiti. Libri proibiti o controversi sono sempre stati disponibili anche sotto ai regimi più repressivi (tuttavia con maggiori difficoltà), mentre i formati elettronici possono essere tracciati e bloccati con facilità.

I libri stampati devono essere semplicemente portati con sè, mentre un lettore elettronico richiede più conoscenze tecniche, elettricità o batterie, cavi e spesso una connessione Internet.

I libri stampati invecchiano insieme a me, mentre un lettore ebook diventa obsoleto e necessita di essere rimpiazzato ad intervalli regolari.

I libri stampati non lampeggiano, non richiedono Internet, non mostrano le note e i commenti delle altre persone, non si connettono con i social networks dei lettori, non parlano, e non fanno nient’altro che essere letti.

Quindi le parole che escono da un libro stampato possono riverberare internamente a causa del vuoto circostante, come il battito di un tamburo ben accordato.

L’ideologia della macchina

L’ideologia della macchina

This is a guest post only in Italian.

Ospito con piacere un estratto dall’ultimo libro di Enrico Manicardi, “L’ultima era”, pubblicato da Mimemis Edizioni, acquistabile anche presso il sito www.enricomanicardi.it

«La tecnologia che promette di liberarci in realtà ci rende schiavi regolando le nostre attività in, e attraverso, lavoro e tempo libero; macchine e fabbriche inquinano i nostri ambienti e distruggono i nostri corpi; i loro prodotti ci offrono l’immagine della vita reale invece della sua sostanza»  Aufeben, n.4, estate 1995.

Nel mondo delle macchine, stiamo diventano macchine a nostra volta. Come tanti automi telecomandati siamo chiamati soltanto a seguire le istruzioni che ci vengono impartite e ad adempiere ai comandi imposti. In un concetto, dice bene Umberto Galimberti, nel mondo delle macchine siamo tutti chiamati a funzionare, proprio come funzionano le macchine.

Non c’è un dittatore umano che ci costringa a trasformarci in congegni dal rendimento utile, è la mentalità che abbiamo acquisito che ci dirige: la nostra educazione, la nostra istruzione, la nostra accettata libertà vigilata, i nostri sbrigativi rapporti con gli altri (e con noi stessi), la nostra indotta convinzione di non poter fare altrimenti. L’inganno che ci confina al ruolo di cinghie di trasmissione del Grande Motore, trova nell’ideologia della Macchina la sua stessa natura svelata, persino etimologicamente.

Il termine “macchina”, notava Remo Bodei (1), deriva proprio dalla parola greca mechané, che significa “inganno”, “artificio”, “astuzia”. «Testimonianza dell’antica illusione che si possa trasformare l’ambiente eludendone le leggi» (2), la macchina è il risultato della manipolazione della Natura finalizzata a sovvertirne il corso per porla al servizio degli scopi stabiliti dagli umani. «Preposta alla costruzione di entità artificiali, di trappole tese alla natura per catturarne l’energia e volgerla in direzione dei vantaggi e dei capricci degli uomini», la macchina appartiene «al regno dell’astuzia e di ciò che è “contro natura”», ne ha concluso il celebre filosofo della scienza italiano (3). Leggi tuttoL’ideologia della macchina

L’ideologia della macchina

Publishing News

Notizie editoriali

I am delighted to receive the IndieReader Discovery Award in the psychology category for The Digitally Divided Self: Relinquishing Our Awareness to the Internet. The winners, judged by top industry professionals, were announced at Book Expo America (BEA) in New York City.

In addition, I announce that The Digitally Divided Self will be translated into Italian by Bollati Boringhieri. I am honored to be published by such a prestigious publishing house so rich in history.

Special thanks to Stefano Mauri, chairman of GeMS, who in the last twenty years has tirelessly sustained the independence and high quality of Italian publishing. He has also strengthened the dissemination of book culture and the defense of the freedom of the press in Italy. I would like to say an additional thank you to Michele Luzzatto of Bollati Boringhieri for believing in The Digitally Divided Self and for helping with the structure of the Italian edition.

Finally, for several weeks in April and May, my free ebooklet titled Facebook Logout: Experiences and Reasons to Leave It was the number-one free bestseller in the General Technology & Reference area of Amazon’s Kindle Store. For reasons beyond my understanding, in some countries Amazon charges a VAT tax (a bit less than one Euro) on my “free” ebook while on Smashwords is completely free.

Sono felice di recevere il premio letterario The IndieReader Discovery Awards nella categoria Psychology per The Digitally Divided Self: Relinquishing our Awareness to the Internet. La giuria, formata da professionisti del mondo editoriale , ha annunciato i vincitori alla Book Expo America (BEA) a New York.

Inoltre, The Digitally Divided Self verrà tradotto in Italiano e pubblicato da Bollati Boringhieri editore nella collana Saggi Psicologia, con il titolo “Il sè digitale diviso”. Sono onorato dal fatto che l’edizione Italiana venga pubblicata da un marchio di tale prestigio e storia.

Un grazie particolare a Stefano Mauri, presidente del gruppo GeMS, che negli ultimi 20 anni ha contribuito instancabilmente all’indipendenza e al rilancio delle case editrice italiane di qualità, oltre che essersi prodigato per la diffusione della cultura libraria e per la difesa della libertà di stampa in Italia. Un ringraziamento anche a Michele Luzzatto di Bollati Boringhieri per aver creduto in The Digitally Divided Self e per il supporto nella definizione dell’edizione Italiana.

Infine, il mio piccolo ebook gratuito Facebook Logout: Experiences and Reasons to Leave it per diverse settimane a Marzo ed Aprile è stato primo in classifica nel Kindle Store di Amazon per l’area General Technology & Reference. Per ragioni fiscali che vanno al di là della mia comprensione, per alcune nazioni Amazon applica una tassa (di poco meno di un Euro, a seconda dello stato), mentre su Smashwords è completamente gratuito.

Melatonin, screen media, light and sexuality

Melatonin is a very important hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain (the seat of the soul, according to Descartes).  Since melatonin controls nearly every other hormone produced by the body, it is often defined as the master hormone.

Melatonin is involved in many physiological functions and has varied therapeutic applications: It acts as a neuroprotective; improves headache, bipolar disorders and ADHD symptoms; protects against Alzheimer’s disease; offers antioxidant properties; strengthens memory; improves cancer survival; protects from radiation; improves autism, and much more.

A 2012 study on obesity and diabets concludes that “epidemiological studies link short sleep duration and circadian disruption with higher risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes” and “prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption alters metabolism and could increase the risk of obesity and diabetes.” (Buxton, 2012).

The popular use of melatonin supplements is for jet-lag symptoms, promoting sleep. Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland in darkness; thus, production takes place at night and is more pronounced in winter than in summer.

Being continually exposed to screen media and the light associated with it makes our brains believe it is still daytime.  Being exposed to such light during nighttime can disturb sleep patterns and trigger insomnia. While modern civilization has always used artificial light, the introduction of light-emitting laptops, tablet computers and smartphones created what Mercola (2011) defines on his website as “a state of permanent jet-lag.”  The light emitted by gadgets is much closer to us than ambient lights, which makes their melatonin-inhibiting action stronger.

Also, the type of light the screens emit makes a difference: Screen media mostly emit blue light, covering only a portion of the visible spectrum.  Our eyes are especially sensitive to blue light because it is the type of light normally found outdoors.  That way, gadgets can stop the production of melatonin needed for sleeping and for other health functions.  Among other risks, prolonged exposure to light can increase the risk of cancer.

Melatonin is also essential for healthy brain function, being one of the main endogenous brain antioxidants protecting the brain from free radicals.  Furthermore, there are connections between melatonin production and cognitive capabilities. Technology use, other than subtly affecting our psyches, has a direct physiological impact on our bodies, which, in turn, leads to changes in our inner attitudes.

Melatonin also has a strong connection with sexuality and sexual hormones. When melatonin levels rise in the body, usually in winter, testosterone levels drop, reducing sexual desire and frequency of mating.  For females, estrogen is also reduced. Just before puberty, melatonin levels drop suddenly by 75%, giving strong hints about the involvement of the hormone in the onset of puberty.

The last couple of decades saw a significant growth of precocious puberty, which, considering the concomitant massive use of screen media (video games, computers, Internet) by kids, can lead us to wonder whether there is a correlation between melatonin-inhibition by screen light and hormonal changes triggering early puberty.

Melatonin levels are inversely proportional to sexual desire and to the levels of sexual hormones.  Less melatonin, as when the production is inhibited by natural or screen light, increases sexual desire.  That’s probably good news for porn producers.

References

Mercola, F. (2011, January 10). The “sleep mistake” which boosts your risk of cancer.

Buxton, O.M., S. W. Cain, S. P. O’Connor, J. H. Porter, J. F. Duffy, W. Wang, C. A. Czeisler, S. A. Shea, Adverse Metabolic Consequences in Humans of Prolonged Sleep Restriction Combined with Circadian Disruption. Sci. Transl. Med. 4, 129ra43 (2012).

See also:

Close, Closer, Closest to the Screen

Per svariati impegni in questo periodo non riesco piu’ a gestire la doppia lingua. Poiche’ la maggior parte dei visitatori di questo blog arriva dall’estero, dovendo scegliere, ho optato temporaneamente per una lingua internationale. Credo che la maggior parte dei visitatori italiani di questo sito conosca l’inglese.

Clicca sulla bandierina britannica in alto a destra per l’articolo in inglese.

TV and the Internet: Dullness and Restless

Attention is one of the foundations of awareness. Without it, we have no protection against information which is poured into us. Without attention we cannot transform information into wisdom. Then without choice we ingest whatever is put in front of us.

Without attention we risk becoming servomechanisms of technology, clicking compulsively with no clear direction. An open mind without goals is very different from the lack of direction of a mind frenzied with the longing to be filled. Lacking attention we have no control over our intentions nor critical perspective for interpreting information.

Attention is an ingredient of mindfulness – the awareness of our inner state which includes our body, feelings, and sensations. Meditation techniques begin with focused attention and concentration.

With attention, awareness, mindfulness, “presence” and a quiet mind, we are nourished by our interiority instead of force fed by external stimuli. As attention is connected to our identity, weak attention produces a weak identity.

B. Alan Wallace, on page 6 of The Attention Revolution (Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2006) writes that “One progresses through each stage by rooting out progressively more subtle forms of the two obstacles: mental agitation and dullness.”

The strenghtening of the inner attention and concentration is a requisite for the progress toward an expanded awareness, which, in turn, “being lucid harmony (sattva) in action, dissolves dullness and quietens the restlessness of the mind and gently, but steadily changes its very substance. This change need not be spectacular; it may be hardly noticeable; yet it is a deep and fundamental shift from darkness to light, from inadvertence to awareness” (Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That, Acorn Press, Durham, 1982, p. 271).

TV definitely tends toward dulling the mind, as documented by Jerry Mander and many others. TV keeps the viewer glued to the screen both by giving a linear narrative and by quick edits and visual stimulation that leverage our ancient instinct. We can’t help but attend to any changes in our visual space, which in ancient times gave better chances of survival against predators. This mechanism of mental stimulation is even more present on the Internet than on TV because of its multitasking possibilities.

Also, the Internet, being composed mostly of small pieces of information competing for our attention, has a less linear narrative. Furthermore, the Internet, smartphones, and videogames don’t have a temporal structure; thus, there is no clear “beginning” or “end,” as in traditional media such as TV, where programs start and stop on a schedule. Thus, there’s no inherent end to online interaction. Online, we expect answers immediately, and with that expectation reinforced, our endlessly curious mind is pulled further into the current.

The positive side of dullness is relaxation and the positive side of mental agitation is a curious, active mind. A relaxed though active mind is a marker of a receptive, creative, and balanced mind. TV and the Internet seduce us by simulating those states.

For some time, I thought that TV promoted mostly dullness while the Internet causes mental restlessness, but those states are complementary and support each other. The two media are coming closer to each other. TV is presenting more “multitasking” capabilities by running text on the screen and by using quick cuts and edits, while the Internet is becoming more passive due to the presence of videos and an endless “real-time” stream of information (news sites, blog entries, Twitter, Facebook, Google+) that we browse mostly in a passive way. A great majority of people are lurkers and don’t contribute to the user-generated content, and even the active ones spend more time in a passive state rather than commenting or writing their own entries.

Also, TV programs have now less temporal structure. Shows and news morph into each other in a continuous stream, where there’s no more “end.” Jerry Mander, considering an increase in hyperactivity among children due to TV, writes in In the Absence of the Sacred (Sierra Club, San Francisco, 1991) that “television viewing, if it can be compared to a drug experience, seems to have many of the characteristics of Valium and other tranquilizers. But that is only half of the story. Actually, if television is a drug, it is not really Valium; it is speed” (p. 66).

Per svariati impegni in questo periodo non riesco piu’ a gestire la doppia lingua. Poiche’ la maggior parte dei visitatori di questo blog arriva dall’estero, dovendo scegliere, ho optato temporaneamente per una lingua internationale. Credo che la maggior parte dei visitatori italiani di questo sito conosca l’inglese.

Clicca sulla bandierina britannica in alto a destra per l’articolo in inglese.

Facebook Logout: Experiences and Reasons to Leave it

Ivo Quartiroli - facebook logoutFacebook Logout: Experiences and Reasons to Leave it is available to download as a free eBooklet in different formats at Smashwords. Also is available at different ebook stores as Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

A special thank you to the contributors.

This is the Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Musings about Facebook
The Quality of Relationships
Privacy Issues
Children
Facebook Changes the Concept of Friendship
The Inner Reasons to Leave
The Logout Process
Chapter 2: Logout Experiences
All Your Time or Nothing
This Time I Really Want to Leave it for Good
Bad Energy
Amplifier of an Inner Discomfort
Looking Through the Keyhole
An Affection-Compensating Tool
Boring to Death
Obsessive-Compulsive
From Village to Global Village
Reliving my Earlier Nightmares
Political Control
Not a Broad Communication
You Always Have to Feed the Beast
A Narrowed Down Tunnel-Vision Style of Contact
References

Ivo Quartiroli - facebook logoutFacebook Logout: Experiences and Reasons to Leave it è disponibile in Inglese per il download gratuito in diversi formati a Smashwords. E’ anche disponibile in diversi negozi online quali Barnes & Noble e Kobo.

Un grazie speciale a tutti coloro che hanno contribuito.

L’indice:

Chapter 1: Musings about Facebook
The Quality of Relationships
Privacy Issues
Children
Facebook Changes the Concept of Friendship
The Inner Reasons to Leave
The Logout Process
Chapter 2: Logout Experiences
All Your Time or Nothing
This Time I Really Want to Leave it for Good
Bad Energy
Amplifier of an Inner Discomfort
Looking Through the Keyhole
An Affection-Compensating Tool
Boring to Death
Obsessive-Compulsive
From Village to Global Village
Reliving my Earlier Nightmares
Political Control
Not a Broad Communication
You Always Have to Feed the Beast
A Narrowed Down Tunnel-Vision Style of Contact
References

Cybersocialità: la morte della socialità

This is a guest post in Italian only. The English version will be available in the future.

Oggi ospito un intervento/appello di Enrico Manicardi, che ho avuto modo di conoscere l’estate scorsa e di apprezzare la lettura del suo libro Liberi dalla Civiltà, un’opera importante che traccia le radici della civilta’ e la nostra dipendenza dalla tecnologia. Ivo Quartiroli

Cybersocialità: la morte della socialità di Enrico Manicardi

Parlare degli effetti che i social network hanno sulla vita moderna vuol dire parlare degli effetti della virtualizzazione della socialità. Dopo la virtualizzazione dell’esperienza personale trasfusa nell’epica della narrativa, dopo la virtualizzazione delle immagini portata dalla tecnologia ottica (fotografia, cinema, animazione), dopo la virtualizzazione della partecipazione sociale operata dalla politica (delega di poteri, farsa elettorale, appelli alle autorità), l’invasione del tecno-modo ci delizia della sua più recente conquista: la virtualizzazione della relazione.

Perché darsi la pena di far crescere rapporti personali quando è possibile, con un semplice “click”, trovare sempre qualcuno pronto ad interloquire con noi? Perché darsi la pena di parlare con il vicino di casa quando è possibile parlare con chiunque, nel mondo, connettendosi semplicemente ad Internet? Perché darsi la pena di mettere in piedi una serata conviviale con gli amici quando è possibile scandagliare migliaia di “eventi” già pronti e aderire quello più trendy?

L’esaurimento di tutto ciò che è vivo, reale, e il suo rimpiazzo con un’esistenza nella macchina, ci dice che il mondo in cui viviamo è sempre più sterile, impoverito, privo di calore. La tecnologia, con la sua promessa di ampliare le potenzialità umane, esercita in realtà l’effetto opposto: le esaurisce, le atrofizza, le spegne. E soprattutto impedisce ogni confronto tra ciò che essa mette a disposizione e ciò che toglie: interloquire con gli sconosciuti, appunto, invece di parlare negli occhi a qualcuno; numerare gli amici di Facebook invece di godere delle amicizie del cuore; aderire agli eventi programmati invece di creare convivialità.

L’invasione della tecnologia nel campo della socialità non è da meno. Non sono molti anni che i social network si sono diffusi nel mondo, eppure il termine “comunità” ha già perso tutta la sua carica vitale per trasformarsi in qualcosa di asettico e funzionale alla potenza della Macchina: comunità non è più quell’insieme di persone legate da vincoli solidaristici e di condivisione della vita, ma una rete di telecomunicazione e di sviluppo dei nuovi media.

Nel tecno-mondo non c’è posto per ciò che è umano, ma solo per ciò che è adattabile ai valori del tecno-mondo, ai suoi meccanismi di funzionamento, al suo potere. La planetarizzazione della tecnologia non svilupperà mai alcuna socialità, ma solo una “nuova” socialità che sarà sempre meno una socialità e sempre più una meccanica di relazione. La socialità morirà perché più saremo convinti che basti accendere un computer per essere “in contatto” con il mondo, più perderemo la capacità di accorgerci che nel computer non c’è il mondo ma un mondo: quello finto, programmato, spettacolarizzato e inconsistente della realtà virtuale.

E infatti, più dilagano i social network, più si spopolano i luoghi della socialità reale: le campagne, i cortili, le piazze, le strade. La gente non manifesta più, non si confronta più, non dibatte più su nulla. I bambini non giocano più tra loro ma da soli, appiccicati a monitor e a schermi digitali. Aumentano i nuclei monofamigliari, gli adulti non si fermano più fare quattro chiacchiere coi confinanti e persino gli anziani si divertono a chattare nella solitudine del loro sempre più crescente isolamento. Nel mondo della socialità telematica tutto cresce tranne la socialità: siamo sempre più soli, segregati, separati gli uni dagli altri, da noi stessi, dal nostro ambiente ecologico.

Dobbiamo riprenderci la nostra vita reale: quella immersa nel calore di relazioni vive e sensuali; quella che ci restituisce lo splendore di un’alba mattutina e i colori del mare, i canti della Terra, i sapori della vita e le sue avventure (e disavventure); quella che ci rende consapevoli di noi stessi e dunque anche responsabili verso gli altri, non indifferenti. Quella insomma che ci invita a spegnere computer, videotelefoni, iPad, iPod, iPhone e ci rimette a parlare con i nostri cari, ad abbracciare i nostri conoscenti, a baciare i nostri amici e compagni e a desiderare di essere persone reali e non “nickname”. Esseri umani, dunque, non macchine.

Enrico Manicardi è autore di Liberi dalla Civiltà.

The Digitization of Reality

excerpt from Chapter 4 of “The Digitally Divided Self : Relinquishing our Awareness to the Internet

The technological society increasingly permeates more segments of our life. Social connections, finance, work, research, news, dating, entertainment, shopping are some of the activities that have moved massively to the Net. These call out different qualities of our soul that have functioned in vastly different external settings.

Our inner attitude shifts as we work, shop, talk to a friend, or communicating with someone we are intimately attracted to. Different archetypes, muses, and aspects of our psyche activate us as we move from offices and laboratories to homes, nature, shops, and beds.

As different parts of ourself are drawn on, inner qualities, mind, and body can remain integrated. However, when we engage in this variety of activities in front of a screen, our setting is constant – and our mind utilizes a limited set of skills (speed, efficiency, rationality), while our body remains mostly in the background.

Regardless of what we are doing online, we use predominantly the same mind channels to interact with the computer, and there is no substantial difference whether we operate on Windows, Mac or Linux. Using the same modality for dating, shopping, communicating with friends, sexual arousal and scientific research impoverishes most of these activities.

Separation of the immortal mind from the mortal body by religions and philosophies formed the basis for representing intelligence and life in digital terms. Despite our neurophysiology telling us that our reason is embodied, this separation goes on. Our mind can’t function separated from our body. There is no “pure mind.” Concepts and reason are as much embodied processes as the digestion of food.

Yet because of the separation, how we interact with the computer is fertile territory for psychological ego defense mechanisms – in particular rationalization, dissociation, and splitting. These defenses are activated when the ego is feeling threatened – and are a protection against the re-emergence of the irrational states experienced during adolescence and difficult stages of adult life (Zanarini, 1985). Digital media can reassure us with their (supposed) predictability – we can feel in charge of a situation with just a click or a touch to the screen.

Mathematicians, engineers, logicians, and philosophers have all contributed to understanding the mind in terms of its mechanical operation. George Boole, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and Bertrand Russell created the bases for representing the thinking process in such mathematical terms that it could be replicated by a machine. Postman (1997) looking at Babbage’s realization of mechanically manipulating non-numeric symbols, compared it to the third century Greek discovery that each letter of the alphabet had not only a unique sound, but that they could be grouped together into written words. They could then be used for the classification, storage and retrieval of information.

Measurements and numbers are the essential components of the digitization of reality. The philosopher Comte, the father of positivism, regarded anything which could not be measured as unreal. Measurement of matter could be applied to human beings, establishing an equivalence between people and objects. Without numbers and quantitative values, the “exact” sciences would be lost – but so, then, would the humanistic disciplines like sociology and psychology.

We grade students with numbers (or substitutes for numbers). We calculate intelligence with an IQ index. Most of medical science is about numerical values related to physiological parameters. I recently saw an advertisement for a toothbrush bragging that it “enters 50% deeper between teeth and removes 25% more bacteria.” That information – numeric – we can trust.

Consciousness, however, cannot be measured – much less any subjective inner state or ethical behavior. Thus human values lie beyond the purview of the information society. Magatti (2009) concluded that in techno-functional systems, the world is seen as a calculable objectivity, and its measurement is equivalent to truth. This way a chronic discrepancy has been created – in that whatever is outside technical modalities, like non-scientific language, can never be elevated to “real” or “truth.”

Paradoxically, calculations and mathematical models of reality – considered the ultimate objectivity and understanding of reality – create, instead, space for illusion and unreality. Building models of reality based on the manipulation of data detached from the organic, ethical and spiritual levels, can easily create models which only apparently match what is authentic. One example is the financial bubble which continued inflating, with few people warning about its divergence from the reality of true value.

Rationality itself, efficient in manipulating views and data to stake a logical claim, can deceive us as much as irrationality.

Data is King

The power of data is manifest in the massive data centers that major IT companies have built. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, Facebook, all have hundreds of thousands of servers, working in parallel and managing huge volumes of data on the order of petabytes (a million billion bytes). (Those data centers, which allow us to work more efficiently, coincidentally consume increasing amounts of energy, despite more efficient microprocessors.)

Chris Anderson (2008), in an article for Wired, wrote that with the amount of information available for processing nowadays, theory and models are no longer needed to make sense of the world – statistics and mathematical analysis are enough. He points specifically to Google, which does not fret about models. Peter Norvig, Google’s research director, said it clearly: “All models are wrong, and increasingly you can succeed without them.”

This attitude appeals both to people who perceive the limits of models and even paradigms, as well as to people who just don’t care about models and complex thought. Models have been mauled in the last century and certainties have been demolished by both philosophers and quantum scientists, so that we are losing the ground beneath our feet.

The last centuries have seen the melting of our accurately-erected certainties. From Kant, who saw the limits of the mind in understanding the “thing in itself,” through Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, which demonstrated the inherent limitations in formal systems, to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, we have been thrown into doubt about the possibility of knowing physical reality. This is what Edgar Morin (1986) meant about there being no certainty base, no founding truth – that the very idea of a foundation is collapsing along with the idea of ultimate analysis, ultimate cause, and primary explanation. The terrain we are left to live in is data. Looking for truth, on the other hand, is both an inner activity for our soul and an outer exploration of external and objective – historical and psychological – material.

Even though we cannot arrive at the ultimate truth through models created by the mind, we can reach ever-more refined approximations of truth. However, Anderson pointed out the impossibility of using the scientific method with such enormous quantities of data available. Hypothesizing, experimenting, and data analysis are now unwieldy. His attitude means that what works is being promoted as “true.” Yet it is consciousness that gives meaning to information.

In fact, giving data so much importance is its own ideological model, born from the belief that through digital data we can understand, reproduce, and process reality. The way IT companies organize and interpret data is also a model in itself. In Postman’s (1993) opinion, though Technopoly’s experts are experts only in their specialized fields, they still claim knowledge of all other matters as well. When data is allowed to rule, it can be regarded as a tool for understanding, and then acting upon, any aspect of our human canvas. It becomes a totalitarian model to which reality must be made to fit. So we find our culture in the situation, to use Postman’s example, where it is not enough to stand up for desegregating schools, but it must be proven with standard tests that reveal that segregated blacks score worse and feel humiliated.

Order  The Digitally Divided Self on Amazon

Review of “The Digitally Divided Self” by Self-Publishing Review

Henry Baum wrote a review of The Digitally Divided Self on Self-Publishing Review with some interesting considerations about the mind, technology and drugs:

This book begins with blurbs from some very heavy hitters, and some of my favorite writers, on the subject of new media – writers like Douglas Rushkoff and Erik Davis.  Erik Davis, in particular, writes on the more-esoteric take on the rise of technology, in books like Techgnosis.  It could help to have some familiarity with esoteric spirituality before approaching this book.  It would also help to keep a very open mind. The basic premise is that by having our heads lodged in the materialist world of the web and the tech we use to navigate the web, we are becoming increasingly led astray from true human and spiritual connection. If you’re an atheist, you might stop right there – but you shouldn’t. Because the implications of our attachment to the web is a vital subject, even if you’re not particularly spiritual.

If people are being honest, they’ll admit just how dependent on the web they’ve become.  People may joke about being Facebook addicts or, in the old days, the Crackberry, but it’s an important issue. I speak from experience.  There is something dangerously pleasant about that red “like” or new message on Facebook.

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Review of “The Digitally Divided Self” by Semiotico blog

Recensione di “The Digitally Divided Self” da Semiotico blog

Chris Arning wrote a thoughtful review of The Digitally Divided Self on his Semiotico blog:

If I had to sum up this book I might say “Marshall McLuhan meets the Dalai Lama”, but this is too trite, simplistic a verdict for what is an important and erudite text which covers a lot of ground and alerts us to a surreptitious peril.

There have been several minatory counter blasts about the Internet published recently. Perhaps you have come across The Net Delusion. Well, this book provides a similarly sobering view on the internet but from the spiritual perspective rather than the political one. Where Morozov points to the stultifying nature of the internet, Mr Ivo Quartiroli highlights the effect of the internet on our psyches and our well being. What makes this an important book is that, whether you subscribe to the broadly mindfulness-based substrate of the thesis, it critically evaluates the internet from a genuinely humanist perspective asking how it affects our state of mind. Quartiroli seems genuinely concerned by the narcosis into which we may be falling as we rush headlong into the dubious embrace of digital media.

Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows warned us of a rewiring of our brains and the engendering of shallow, distracted thinking patterns through heavy internet use. Eli Pariser’s Filter Bubble highlights how – through the offices of customizing algorithms – search engines sequester us in walled gardens and render our Internet search experiences much more parochial than we’d imagine. This book is a more ambitious enterprise, with more far reaching ramifications, in the sense that it suggests that the internet is in the process of altering our very states of consciousness in ways we are not aware of. This is certainly not the first book on this broad topic. Sherry Turkle in her latest book Alone Together reveals research into the deleterious effects of Internet and mobile phone usage on families and how it erodes emotional closeness and intimacy amongst young Millenials.

Read more…

Needless to say, I am very grateful to Chris for taking the time to share his deep insights about IT, the soul and The Digitally Divided Self.

Chris Arning wrote a thoughtful review of The Digitally Divided Self on his Semiotico blog:

If I had to sum up this book I might say “Marshall McLuhan meets the Dalai Lama”, but this is too trite, simplistic a verdict for what is an important and erudite text which covers a lot of ground and alerts us to a surreptitious peril.

There have been several minatory counter blasts about the Internet published recently. Perhaps you have come across The Net Delusion. Well, this book provides a similarly sobering view on the internet but from the spiritual perspective rather than the political one. Where Morozov points to the stultifying nature of the internet, Mr Ivo Quartiroli highlights the effect of the internet on our psyches and our well being. What makes this an important book is that, whether you subscribe to the broadly mindfulness-based substrate of the thesis, it critically evaluates the internet from a genuinely humanist perspective asking how it affects our state of mind. Quartiroli seems genuinely concerned by the narcosis into which we may be falling as we rush headlong into the dubious embrace of digital media.

Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows warned us of a rewiring of our brains and the engendering of shallow, distracted thinking patterns through heavy internet use. Eli Pariser’s Filter Bubble highlights how – through the offices of customizing algorithms – search engines sequester us in walled gardens and render our Internet search experiences much more parochial than we’d imagine. This book is a more ambitious enterprise, with more far reaching ramifications, in the sense that it suggests that the internet is in the process of altering our very states of consciousness in ways we are not aware of. This is certainly not the first book on this broad topic. Sherry Turkle in her latest book Alone Together reveals research into the deleterious effects of Internet and mobile phone usage on families and how it erodes emotional closeness and intimacy amongst young Millenials.

Read more…

Needless to say, I am very grateful to Chris for taking the time to share his deep insights about IT, the soul and The Digitally Divided Self.