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Dec 6, 2022

"Only in lingering contemplation, even an ascetic restraint, do things unveil their beauty, their fragrant essence" --Byung-Chul Han

I Practice Philosophy as Art

"If we want to understand what kind of society we live in, we have to comprehend what information is. Information has very little currency. It lacks temporal stability, since it lives off the excitement of surprise. Due to its temporal instability, it fragments perception. It throws us into a continuous frenzy of topicality. Hence its impossible to linger on information. That's how it differs from objects. Information puts the cognitive system itself into a state of anxiety. We encounter information with the suspicion that it could just as easily be something else. It is accompanied by basic distrust. It strengthens the contingency experience." Philosopher Byung-Chul Han is known for his writing on the perennial ills of our time; alienation, loneliness, fragmentation and more. In this interview he reflects on how we might respond to a world of digital alienation.