It is often said that technology causes people to become more separate from each other. That is true in its way, but technology also re-centers the connection we have to each other in new ways. Ways that unlock more truth potential.
First, we gain exposure to way more people than we would without technology. Everyone reading this is someone I would probably never have been able to interact with if technology didn’t exist. Most of these tech-mediated interactions are fairly low quality, but sometimes they produce an amazing connection. And even when not, they allow for elevated encounters based around common themes, in this case truth and philosophy.
Second, because we are all hiding behind a screen and username, we feel more liberated to say what we really want to say. We become the mask we wear, as Zizek sort of put it. He thought our true self was the ‘false internet self’ and in his own roundabout way I think he was right. We act differently here than in real life, at least we should act differently online because what is the point of being online if you won’t even act differently than your real life self? Why not explore and test new ideas and interesting possibilities, push limits and challenge yourself and other people in ways you otherwise cannot?
Third, well there was a third point and now I forgot it… oh, right. Heidegger. He thought of technology in terms of its essence he called techne which is the ability to disclose truth. Technology is more than just a means to an end, some stuff we create, it works with us and within us, it shapes and changes us just as we shape and change it. We too are a technological process, he points to language as an example of this. He sees language as a technology, a good example of one that fundamentally alters us in the interaction with it. Techne is truth as disclosure, an unfolding process.
When we interact via technology, such as online here, we are doing so within a medium that is fundamentally truth-disclosing by its very nature. That may seem weird to people who only see the negatives of being online. But those negatives too are examples of truths being opened up to the world. If we do something it is something we would do, obviously. Context and environment are very important. Online gives us a new context where we are exposed to tons of new environmental effects that we otherwise would not have. New possibilities, new encounters, new ideas, new images, new people, new trends, new sounds, new music, new games, new movies, new books, new research, new questions, new everything.
If technology leads you down a negative path and you end up worse off because of it, that only reflects on you. Not badly, I mean it reflects on you that you are still made from the old world stuff, for hard real life encounters of fundamentally more limited natures. Those feel good because they are based more in feeling. Instinct and direct social mediation in the real world, which is different than being online. Some people are naturally so tuned to the real world that online is dangerous for them, I get that. But for the rest of us who can adapt, this technology brings us together in new ways giving us over into truth so we can develop and become more. It is a burden and responsibility, you are free to squander it in stagnation or utilize it to become better. And often I notice we cycle through both approaches, since both do indicate various truths to us.
