Episode #189 - Everything that connects us is slowly disappearing
Everything that connects us is slowly disappearing.
This episode continues exploring the philosophy of Byung-Chul Han, who argues that today’s society is not best represented by Orwell’s 1984 but by Huxley’s Brave New World, where people voluntarily embrace control through pleasure and self-optimization. Han claims that modern neoliberalism, with its slogans of authenticity and empowerment, actually dissolves community bonds, rituals, and shared narratives, leading to widespread narcissism, anxiety, and disconnection. What disappears, he says, is “constructive negativity”—the pauses, transitions, and moments of reflection that allow for deep understanding, real difference, and truth. As rituals vanish and information floods perception, Han sees society replacing meaningful communication with shallow noise, flattening culture and weakening democracy. In this world obsessed with transparency and efficiency, he suggests a radical antidote: be an “idiot”—someone who slows down, embraces uncertainty, and reconnects with the depth and discomfort that make life and love real.
Further Reading:
The Transparency Society by Byung-Chul Han (2015)
Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power by Byung-Chul Han (2017)
The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present by Byung-Chul Han (2020)
See the full transcript here.
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