This is a profound and timely piece, Richard. I wonder if we have become so used to being hemmed in by hurry and noise that we have become a little afraid of space. Yet that is what we crave as human beings. Otherwise, we settle for becoming human doings alone and struggle to connect with each other and the ideas and perspectives each might carry.
AI is just the latest iteration of mass consumerism marketed to us as the latest labor-saving device. A hundred years ago, the automobile, the radio, the telephone, and home appliances began to be widely available to the public. As a result, personal identity shifted from who are you, who's your family, where are you from, to what brand do you purchase. Brands define who we are. AI has become just the latest version of this way of defining humanity.
These "things" have a utilitarian value. The problem is that they are used to define us as persons. They are like the images of the spectacle that Guy Debord describes, "The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images." Consumerism is defines us by the status image of the things that we buy, and the ideologies we support.
A century ago, Western nations were more homogeneous. Then, the heterogeneity of modern society emerged by dividing the market to build brand awareness and allegiance. This not only happened with consumer products but also with national identity. Political parties became brand conscious, with the result of gaining greater leverage over the populace as they pitted us against one another. Rene Girard has much to tell us here.
The turning point was the COVID pandemic. People realized that they had been manipulated by how the pandemic had been marketed as a modern consumerist campaign. Brand identification acts as a talisman to define us. Its effect is waning because the image is tarnished.
I thought a lot about this when I was in college. I wondered what happens when consumerism dies. Even a half century ago, it was clear to me that how we relate to one another as family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers is the foundation of a healthy society. I think we are discovering this truth that will help us through the time of change we are in.
This is a profound and timely piece, Richard. I wonder if we have become so used to being hemmed in by hurry and noise that we have become a little afraid of space. Yet that is what we crave as human beings. Otherwise, we settle for becoming human doings alone and struggle to connect with each other and the ideas and perspectives each might carry.
“hemmed in by hurry and noise” :-)
Perhaps we DO exist in duality afterall
AI is just the latest iteration of mass consumerism marketed to us as the latest labor-saving device. A hundred years ago, the automobile, the radio, the telephone, and home appliances began to be widely available to the public. As a result, personal identity shifted from who are you, who's your family, where are you from, to what brand do you purchase. Brands define who we are. AI has become just the latest version of this way of defining humanity.
These "things" have a utilitarian value. The problem is that they are used to define us as persons. They are like the images of the spectacle that Guy Debord describes, "The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images." Consumerism is defines us by the status image of the things that we buy, and the ideologies we support.
A century ago, Western nations were more homogeneous. Then, the heterogeneity of modern society emerged by dividing the market to build brand awareness and allegiance. This not only happened with consumer products but also with national identity. Political parties became brand conscious, with the result of gaining greater leverage over the populace as they pitted us against one another. Rene Girard has much to tell us here.
The turning point was the COVID pandemic. People realized that they had been manipulated by how the pandemic had been marketed as a modern consumerist campaign. Brand identification acts as a talisman to define us. Its effect is waning because the image is tarnished.
I thought a lot about this when I was in college. I wondered what happens when consumerism dies. Even a half century ago, it was clear to me that how we relate to one another as family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers is the foundation of a healthy society. I think we are discovering this truth that will help us through the time of change we are in.