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the problem that I'm trying to address
is that human beings think of ourselves
in terms of our utility value and that's
going to be the mean the end of us and
partly because machines have more
utility value than people you know we
can always develop a machine that will
have more utility value then then a
human being this is kind of what Norbert
Wiener was arguing back in there and the
guy who came up with cybernetics when he
was thinking about feedback mechanisms
and the first robots that we're gonna
have to think about what's the human use
of human beings but to me it bespeaks of
a reversal of figure and ground a
reversal of subject and object we're
thinking about how does technology treat
humans rather than how two human beings
use technology right so we are no longer
the figures we are no longer the actors
the intelligent agents have agency so
we've ended up living in a world where
even those who want to make technology
in theory that that's nicer to people
are still thinking about technology as
something that plays us and that's the
experience I have and and that I believe
is is real right now is that I'm not
using my technology my technology uses
me every time I swipe my smartphone it
gets smarter about me and I get Dumber
about it
but the the response that I'm trying to
to provoke is not another techno
solutionist response I don't think it's
about let's write algorithms to beat the
algorithms that are hurting us you know
let's there are a new army of that or
let's develop a better social media
network that does this or a better
smartphone algorithm no I think what
what I'm trying to do is a little bit
more homeopathic in spirit or
naturopathic rather than fighting the
disease and even giving more weight and
authority to that digital the digital
monster let's get offline know that
enhance our human Raziel
let's enhance our own our own vitality
our cultural immune response
you know if there's weaponized memes out
there then I don't want my kid using a
weaponized meme filter I want my kid
being strong enough to not respond to
the weaponized meme when in the States
we had this Twitter phenomenon where
there was this video of some mug a kid a
kid with a Mogga hat facing off with a
Native American and it was like 20
seconds it started out like this 20
second video and I saw all my friends
smart friends professors of media
friends and tweeting that retweeting my
God look at this horrible fascist child
and what and I was I was kind of amazed
it's like wait a minute can't you be a
human being for a minute can't you be
smart enough to realize you're not there
you don't know what happened
your wrist you're reacting to a picture
on social media and using it to vent
whatever the rage you have against the
Trump presidency or against Mogga people
or against racism or and of course you
know as they pull back it became another
story and they pull back a little bit
more and it became yet another story so
the object of the game is not to teach
Twitter how to make sure that these bad
messages don't come through
that's like saying well let's just rid
the world of viruses no the the object
of the game is to increase our own
immune response as people our collective
cultural immune response and the way to
do that is to have enough solidarity
between people who can sit in rooms
together make eye contact have
conversations and not feel so threatened
they can't tolerate one another you know
every semester that I teach I've only
taught for five years now every semester
I get more notes from students on the
first day of class notes signed by their
psychiatrists saying please excuse
Johnny from class participation and
presentations but because Johnny's got
you know it's a anxiety social anxiety
and I'm sure that's real but why is
there so much why hasn't Johnny been
trained in kindergarten first second and
third grade how to be in a room with
other people you know it's because
Johnny is education has been surrendered
to Johnny's utility value let's make him
a good worker you know anyone
in the UK who knows the history of
public education here you know public
education was not to make better workers
public education was started to give
dignity to the co worker so that they'd
be working in the mines all day but at
least they could come home and have the
dignity of being able to read a novel or
participate intelligently in
representative democracy when we turn
education into extensions into an
extension of work or we've really done
is taken a corporate cost and
externalized it to the public sector and
we've devalued education so it's no
longer teaching people that they have
essential dignity when they come in that
room but they're going to have to learn
something in order to be useful valuable
members of society and the principals of
the schools meet with the CEOs of the
companies to find out oh what do you
want them to know do you want them to
know Excel you want them to know Java
you want them to know Python will
deliver you the employee of the future
you know and give right to employee
there are no jobs in the future but
that's another story
right employing but it's fine
employments temporary we can talk about
that employment was invented in the in
the Renaissance it's not it's not
essential to work it's just it's really
employment was a way to prevent people
from owning their own businesses they
had to go work for chartered monopolies
that's when employment was born but
that's that's a whole other story so
yeah so I'm arguing that once we can
learn to establish and maintain basic
rapport with one another that's when the
great human conspiracy can begin and I
mean it the word conspiracy literally
conspire means what to breathe together
by people breathing together right now
that constitutes a conspiracy if you can
breathe together with other people on
our own because then the whole thing the
whole artifice begins to unravel you
know and you start to experience your
your power and you start to experience
the dignity of yourself and the dignity
of the other people that you're with and
once you touch that core of dignity in
yourself and others then it's much much
harder to be controlled by by anyone or
anything
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