Transmediale Keynote: Byung-Chul Han

Byung-Chul Han was born in Seoul and studied philosophy and literature in Freiburg i. Br. and Munich in Germany. Since 2012 he teaches philosophy and cultural studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK), where he directs the newly established Studium Generale general-studies programme. Han is the author of sixteen books, of which the most recent are treatises on what he terms a "society of tiredness" (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft), a "society of transparency" (Transparenzgesellschaft), and on his neologist concept of shanzai, which seeks to identify modes of deconstruction in contemporary practices of Chinese capitalism.

Surveillance by maximizing communication. Stazi info against will. Now nobody protests because of voluntary participation. Nobody protests against surveillance -> Who would we protest against? Not a single thing.

Transparent body

Thoughts legible
Cannot look into soul (Zeus & Poseidon) - dream always existed.

'Glass body'

far sighted. (delusion of melancholy)
nowadays depression is imageless (transparent body = image)
fantastic images haunted melancholy.

Info & data are not images.

Self driving car will change self image: the car no longer represents power/sexy. "There is no self driving phallus". Car sharing is also happening more, as currently "it's not possible to share a phallus."

Transparency has/creates pornographic images.

hyper communication allows no events, its tiering
It creates a crisis of the body, as porno removes imagination of the body
- turn face in pornographic (body not capable of speaking)

Nowadays Close ups have pornographic gaze, as they remove essence of body [Because they remove the imaginative?]

Google: big data pharmacy => turn body into data to prolong life for immortality.

Life has not transparency, though machines can be.

immortality will one day be reached but at the price of life - which will be gone.

Contemplation as possible exit

now madness is the only way
solution always has consequence, contrary to redemption
redemption rather than solution

Politicians like companies are interested in control. So don't expect law on this. And even if they want it, we don't want it (become more conformist) - Digital left

Philosophers are not interested in the current world (ie. Pegida)

Remembering is a narrative process - contrary to a timeline. The mind has levels of time influencing each other. While data are layers, no stories.

History is narrative, not data. Make yourself transparent by wearing webcam. Transparency is not necessarily optical => Data is transparency. Transparency makes things more visible than the eye perceiving. Opticon (as in Panopticon) = gaze (feel) Most people don't feel a gaze nowadays. As the digital Panopticon is voluntary.

Big brother has a friendly face.

Truth creates transcendental form of meaning "We are in crisis of the mind" - a crisis of communication.

Dataism vs. dadaism

form of nihilism -> no narration
"We have invented happiness" - "little bit of poison helps sleep"

We are master & servant at the same time:

inmate & supervisor at the same time in Panopticon
voluntary => efficient subjugation. (Life is not only surveillance but also confession)
Not forgiveness, but attention
Social media as feudal lords

People are happy to treat themselves as container

Data does not answer "Who am I" (dada)
Counting ≠ recounting
Selfies point to an instable self (insecure & reafirm)
- As it does not work, they take more and more selfies

The subjugated subject is unaware: that is a smart form of rule

Seductive & relies on self-optimisation
It 'simply happens' - highest form of rule/power (unaware rule [^ how does that relate to ideology?])
It uses/exploits freedom as we will never say: "protect me from what I want"

App freedom making it harder, go online. Dataism.

Quantifying self: data for self-optimization

Behave on purpose in opaque way.

Short sentences help counter our info obesity.

More info ≠ more understanding.

Transparency

Transparent body
Used to have good gonnotations
Now a new paradigm: violence of transparency
- digital distopia (word as panopticon)
New shift of paradigm: shift of body
- first new enlightenment
- Moral law => info control
Now permanent communication
Second enlightenment is spiritual
- Action trough operation
Transparent when they become part of the stream
- Efficiency/optimal
- gluch from gap [???]

Transparent time = smoothed out (without events)

Is speeding up of communication, the speeding up of the marked?
An axiom of digital order
Heideggers earthly order: earth is that which closes itself. Which shrinks from every discovery.
- Earthly is oposite of transparency
- Earth made transparent by data (planet growth)
- 1st Enlightenment: stats released people from fraith. It revealed history

Stats are not under personal control => bio politics (Foucault) Performance oriented society

Foucault does not deal with current form of power. Free rule & power merge => freedom is used for power. (propagating with freedom)