THREAD The last few days I’ve been spending a lot of time around relatives’ children and observing their behaviour has led to me to consider worrying thoughts about technology, experience and replaced experiences.
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These small children (1.5 and 3 years old) don’t play anymore. They have toys, but the toys lie to one side unplayed with while the children gaze eternally at strange YouTube videos that would appear aliens and outlandish to our grandparents.
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The videos they watch are mostly not Disney cartoons or other productions of a certain quality, but cheaply made videos of simple stories made by other people playing with toys.
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For example, little dinosaur figures play-fighting on a table, or rubber ducks going on a swimming adventure around the bath.
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While watching them watch these videos, it struck me: “They are watching the play that they no longer do themselves.”
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Instead of playing with toys and creating stories themselves, they are watching pre-made videos of other people pretending to play. The real experience of playing with toys has been replaced by the simulacra of playtime.
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I then realised that large parts of modernity are simply the replacement of the real experience for the simulation of the experience... the Sorcery of the Spectacle, if you will. This has been happening for a long time, and is now reaching even deeper, worrying, levels.
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One could say that this began long ago. Books and adventure stories provided a means for people to live vicariously through the stories they read. Schoolboys could recreate the exciting tales of colonial derring-do by reading tales of treasure hunts and ancient battles.
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This, of course, then evolved into films and TV shows. At this stage the damage was not too great, but it sowed the seeds of what was to come later. Slowly, slowly, even our most basic human needs are being replaced by the passivity of watching others do it.
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We don’t have sex anymore, we watch pornography. We don’t have real friends or communities, we post on Faceborg and Instagram. We don’t even work properly, we just deal in endless online manufactured drama.
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Consider the “mukbang” video. Originating from Korea, these are those YouTube videos of people filming themselves eating. Millions of people watch these videos... these videos of people just eating food.
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Consider “unboxing” videos: the most popular videos on YouTube by far. Children watch videos of other children opening presents and taking toys out of boxes while they show no interest in doing it themselves in reality. Isn’t this surreal to someone even born just 30 years ago?
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And yet the rabbit hole is getting even deeper. We’re starting to see deeper and deeper levels of distancing ourselves away from any real sensation or experience.
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Video games are an obvious replacement for real life experiences, this goes without saying. Yet there are some people now who enjoy watching others play games more than playing themselves. Twitch channels and game streamers are evidence of this.
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Play itself was originally a simulacra of real adult activities but made safe for small children. Play is a rehearsal for the real thing. But we’ve moved from real play to virtual play to now passively watching virtual play. What is next?
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It’s not just games, it’s existing passive entertainment too. One of the most popular shows in the U.K. is Gogglebox - a TV show where you can watch others watch TV shows.
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Websites post “recaps” of TV episodes so that you don’t have to invest 45 minutes in actually watching an episode of Game of Thrones but still know the talking points to highlight on your Twitter feed.
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At every level, at every age, at every step, we are removing ourselves from reality step by step. Creating ever more layers between ourselves and anything that might cause actual joy or pain.
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I believe that this is one of the reasons why we are seeing a rise in autism numbers. As we distance ourselves from anything of real substance, we lose our ability to understand it, like an autist who can’t understand the emotions of others.
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The reverse is true too. The overly emotional don’t know when to stop because they are increasingly removed from real life lessons that would teach them when their sympathy, empathy and emotion reaches dangerous extents.
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I don’t know where this will end, but I do know that we are unlikely to advance much as a species if we continue in this way.
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There is a theory about The Great Filter: that theory about why we don’t see the universe teeming with alien life despite its infinity. Maybe it is due to rogue AI. Maybe it’s energy entropy. Some believe it is because of innate destructively warlike tendencies.
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Perhaps though the reason for our future doom is something closer. Perhaps it is introspection. Perhaps it is narcissism. Perhaps it is the barriers you create between yourself and reality - and thus the path to learning. Perhaps it’s in the palm of your hand right now.
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At some point, children are dragged away from their iPads by their parents so that they can sleep & exercise. But in a godless world, who will step in & drag us away when we’ve spent too long staring at our screens? When we’ve forgotten to eat and rest? Who watches the watchmen?
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End of conversation
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