digital exceptionalism is destroying your media literacy
What 100 Years of Solitude can teach us about WWDC, AI Hype & Crypto Bros
I was unsure if I would post this. After my short break from writing, I have looked at the kind of writing that resonates most with me, which will take this in a slightly different direction going forward. I’ll be writing about my expertise more, like social media literacy, the digital divide, and the trappings of the digital detox. But, after reading this through, I am proud of it, so I have decided to post it anyway. Another small shift I will make is to include more memes in my post's thumbnails. This isn’t spurred by magical insights from my writing break but rather just an enjoyment of memes.
“Fictional realties not only enrich our understanding of the world but give us the tools to survive” — Jack Zipes, Buried Treasures
Sometimes, the best analysis of the technology of our digital age doesn’t come from insightful op-eds in fancy newspapers. Sometimes, it comes from good, old-fashioned books.
We have come to expect important lessons to be taught through hard logic, facts, and an unshakeable belief in the real. So, when we read a book that involves aspects of magical realism, comic invention, and ideas of destiny, it can be difficult to understand how these apply to how we live our lives in a modern, techno-centric world.
The role of fiction in our lives is important, but it often goes unrecognised. This is particularly true in tales that engage in “magical realism.” as discussed by Salaman Rushdie in his essay collection “Languages of Truth,” where he states that “all literary problems are technical problems.” our stories often become things we cannot control or predict; they are living, in a way. This is how and why stories reflect the cultural zeitgeist in a way simple nonfiction cannot. They tell us a story, and we take from this story what we will. This allows them to reflect on society's problems in a far more relational way and less the description of one person.
In “Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairytales” Jack Zipes explores the political fairytales of the 19th & 20th century, and how they were used to confront exploitation and expose hidden truths about society. He explores how we are used to a watered-down, Disney version of fairytales that has weaved its way into the collective unconscious in a way that has tainted our view of fiction as a whole, trivialised it into something we cannot possibly take valuable analysis from.
There is a predominant cultural belief that the digital is somehow different from other technological developments—the Other of the technological world. This is the concept of ‘Digital Exceptionalism,’ the idea that the internet and digital technologies are unique and distinct from other technologies. This limits our possibilities, disempowers us, removes us from our history, and means we cannot learn lessons from the past.
People cannot see the parallels between previous technological resistance and the state of digital technology today. A prime example is the shutdown of labour broadcasting in the 1920s and 30s and the transition to a corporate-owned internet throughout the 2000s. About a third of early broadcasters were non-profit (churches, universities, etc), and half were created by for-profit enterprises, not to generate profit but to show their enterprise in a favourable light. By 1934, however, non-profit broadcasting accounted for only 2% of US broadcast time, leading non-profit broadcasters to become increasingly displaced & harassed. However, when people discuss building more ethical technology, these ideas are rarely discussed, displaying the real limitations that digital exceptionalism can create.
So, when we read a book that discusses reactions to the introduction of technology, such as the electric lightbulb, through the lens of magical realism, it is even harder for us to draw parallels between this and the clever marketing used to sell us the latest iPhone.
Leo Marx, in The Machine in the Garden (1964), coined the term technological sublime to describe the faux-spiritual haze given off by impressive technological advances. This has become a cornerstone in understanding our relationship with technology and how we react to it. In “American Technological Sublime,” David E. Nye takes this concept further to explain how American society has intertwined religion and technology to create a technological landscape that deifies technology and the people who create it.
This faux-spiritual haze is one of the key issues explored in One Hundred Years of Solitude, crafting a narrative around societal responses to technology that moves beyond anything that could be grasped in a simple nonfiction retelling. The book centres on the town of Macondo and the family who found it, exploring key turning points in the evolution of the family over 100 years. One of the many themes the author explores through this narrative is technological development.
Throughout the book, a group of travellers appear with fantastical new technologies: electric lightbulbs, moving pictures, etc. The characters in the book, both the family & the town inhabitants, have a wide variety of reactions to this technology. They often see it as a curiosity, as opposed to something that can bring real value to their lives, much like how one would see a typical circus attraction. The few who see it as something that can bring real value to their lives are scorned. This illustrates the many different reactions one has to the technological sublime. How we react when we are presented with a mystical technology
How we, as readers, react to this can tell us a lot about our perceptions of technology and is a useful tool for reflection. How did you feel about the travellers? About the people who scorned the technology? About those who embraced it? What other perspectives could be taken on these topics?
Not only do we see the scorn on the travellers that bring the new technology; but also the hesitation of technology that it implies. We are meant to see their hesitation at this technology as “primitive.” We scorn those who do not adopt every new technology with eagerness. But is this a reaction we have been taught to have in order not to question new technology and its potential social impacts? The interplay between the technological sublime and power creates a hierarchy of creators, experts, average users, and technophobes at the bottom of social progress. One Hundred Years of Solitude encourages us to question this hierarchy by presenting us with our own biases.
We also see the tale of a father who becomes enraptured with each new device the travellers bring, becoming obsessed with it and insisting each one will bring him his deserved riches. We see the exasperation of his wife, who sees his relentless obsession will bring them ruin. How does this tale differ from those who get enraptured with every new technology trend? Crypto, AI hype, dropshipping. It’s all the same, and the cycle of (usually men) becoming obsessed with every new technology, convinced it will bring them riches, even though it never does, is a cycle that continues today. This is one of the many traps of the technological sublime.
It is also easy to scorn those seduced by technology in the way the father and crypto bros are; I know I have scorned them in the past. But today, as in the time of One Hundred Years of Solitude, sometimes this promise is all that people have. And, indulging our own feelings of superiority does nothing to create a better future. All this does is reinforce the same hierarchy that creates the kind of poverty that leads people to indulge in promises of riches in the first place. We create more of the same by indulging in our scorn of these people. We create this hierarchy in which we are above them because we are the ones who truly understand technology.
So, what happens when we start outside of this hierarchy and our socially conditioned need to move upwards in it? We look at the power dynamics shown in this section and feel empathy. We understand why they have this reaction; we do not ridicule them. People indulge in these get-rich-quick schemes for a lot of reasons. Primarily technological literacy. The digital divide is real; those with higher incomes and a safety net are far more likely to be digitally literate. This is also the case in One Hundred Years of Solitude, where the travellers try to seduce those with the least in society. The family who found the town are often removed from these fantastical and varying reactions to technology; it does not reach them. The implication in the text is that this is becuase they do not need it; they have everything they need, why would they become enraptured by technology?
Where is the difference between the fantastical shows of new technologies in One Hundred Years of Solitude and today’s WWDC? There isn’t one; they evoke the same emotions in us, those spurred by the deified pedestal technology is placed on in today’s society. This creates the modern weaponisation of the technological sublime, the capitalist weaponisation that is interweaved with the way technology is marketed and sold to us. The adverts, the conferences, and the posters all interplay with existing dynamics of power and technology, crafting a version of the technological sublime manipulated for capitalist ends.
Like all the best stories, the story moves through and with a wide variety of people. It doesn’t just tell us the story of one person but of many. There are tales of obsession, tales of wonder, tales of hatred. All these tales bring together a narrative that encapsulates how people react to technology, how societal hierarchies impact this and how the introduction of new technologies can destroy or create one’s life. This is often the power of great literature - to hold up a mirror.
This prevents us from questioning the benefits of technology by pitting us against one another in a social hierarchy that serves no one but the ultra-wealthy. Like the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude, we are running around arguing about, hating, and loving the newest technology. Reading One Hundred Years of Solitude with recognition of digital exceptionalism allows us to understand the importance of taking a step back from our emotional reactions to technology and the importance of a pragmatic perspective.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Buried Treasures - Jack Zipper
Languages of Truth - Salaman Rushdie