Sometimes the jetsonian left is hard to spot because they don’t even have awareness of themselves. I work in education and I can tell you, much of the emphasis is on a utilitarian version and there’s a lot of support and appreciation for all the tech gadgetry as a liberating force. What was once the critical literacy of progressives has warped into the instrumental goals of being able to compete in the market. As one of the only skeptics in my cohort I try not to panic but the spirit of humanity will be difficult to revive without the spark of imagination and embodied aesthetic practices that our current education system seems bent on destroying. I guess we’re all too embedded to have any real perspective. I appreciate you and Anthony and anyone else who is articulating this.
It started with us boomers then scaled up. We got our first black and white tv when I was three, and it was all downhill from there. My mom was convinced the new gadget would make us smarter, and when both parents were working, that thing was our babysitter (if we were in the house). The piece I did on infantilization feels almost confessional. I admit that when I first got online (o/a 1995), I was entranced. Therein lay the danger . . . thank God for work and raising kids and politics and fishing, which kept the beast at bay. (-; I have no idea how teachers cope with this shit, but you all have my sympathy and admiration.
At least the media was more earnestly attempting something quality then. I feel fortunate that through a series of traumatic events I ended up being raised by my grandparents who were part of the greatest generation: very DIY and waste not want not types. I grew up with shows on PBS Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, reading rainbow and turner classic movies. I did fine in school except I was always late because I stayed up reading my own stack of books from the library and ignoring my schoolwork. I was the classic “she has so much potential but doesn’t apply herself” but I always tested out. I ended up dropping out of high school after my very authoritarian and nationalistic science teacher ripped up my anarchy zine that I had labored over for my AP history class (9/11 had just occurred so I think it triggered him). Then I began my vagabond life which lasted over a decade. When I had my own son I went back to school because I wanted to be with him (and to steal money and time from the government so I could, I have no shame). I do feel like education has always been my calling though, the lost art of teaching. I can’t tolerate what is currently happening so I will not last in the mainstream but hopefully I will find a place to exist in the fringes. I love children and I love teaching but I won’t be a soul crushing edtech administrator. As you noted in your infantilizing article, this is a choice to do what I think is right, and as I’ve done that more than a few times now I’ve realized it often comes with a social cost. I keep thinking of that stupid cliche the phrase, if everyone jumps off a bridge… I used to think well yeah, who wants to be alone. Now I think, well, if I don’t then not everyone is. I guess that’s what maturity means to me, creating a future possibility for my child and others through whatever means are available. I’m always writing while trying to track and navigate parenting responsibilities and work so it’s a bit chaotic, fragmented and full of errors :)
I hear you. I have a bit of a grudge against tv, because it talked me into joining the army (long story). I keep Illich in mind on tech development--there are two watersheds, the first when something actually makes an improvement, and the second when it becomes counterproductive. We seldom talk enough about speed in this regard, esp wrt tech. (I think I skipped a generation in my parentage, too, with my dad being 45 when I was born.)
<<whatever means are available>> <-- yep, that there's the rub
“Jetsonian LEFTISM"? Peter Thiel is no leftist! The improbable alliance of the Christian Right with the tech oligarchs—which can only be a marriage of expediency—puts the lie to anyone who pins the love of technological "progress" on one ideology or the other. It's the love of power, actually. Tech has a siren song for anyone who seeks total control.— But I'm speaking too soon 'cause I just started reading this
Sometimes the jetsonian left is hard to spot because they don’t even have awareness of themselves. I work in education and I can tell you, much of the emphasis is on a utilitarian version and there’s a lot of support and appreciation for all the tech gadgetry as a liberating force. What was once the critical literacy of progressives has warped into the instrumental goals of being able to compete in the market. As one of the only skeptics in my cohort I try not to panic but the spirit of humanity will be difficult to revive without the spark of imagination and embodied aesthetic practices that our current education system seems bent on destroying. I guess we’re all too embedded to have any real perspective. I appreciate you and Anthony and anyone else who is articulating this.
It started with us boomers then scaled up. We got our first black and white tv when I was three, and it was all downhill from there. My mom was convinced the new gadget would make us smarter, and when both parents were working, that thing was our babysitter (if we were in the house). The piece I did on infantilization feels almost confessional. I admit that when I first got online (o/a 1995), I was entranced. Therein lay the danger . . . thank God for work and raising kids and politics and fishing, which kept the beast at bay. (-; I have no idea how teachers cope with this shit, but you all have my sympathy and admiration.
At least the media was more earnestly attempting something quality then. I feel fortunate that through a series of traumatic events I ended up being raised by my grandparents who were part of the greatest generation: very DIY and waste not want not types. I grew up with shows on PBS Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, reading rainbow and turner classic movies. I did fine in school except I was always late because I stayed up reading my own stack of books from the library and ignoring my schoolwork. I was the classic “she has so much potential but doesn’t apply herself” but I always tested out. I ended up dropping out of high school after my very authoritarian and nationalistic science teacher ripped up my anarchy zine that I had labored over for my AP history class (9/11 had just occurred so I think it triggered him). Then I began my vagabond life which lasted over a decade. When I had my own son I went back to school because I wanted to be with him (and to steal money and time from the government so I could, I have no shame). I do feel like education has always been my calling though, the lost art of teaching. I can’t tolerate what is currently happening so I will not last in the mainstream but hopefully I will find a place to exist in the fringes. I love children and I love teaching but I won’t be a soul crushing edtech administrator. As you noted in your infantilizing article, this is a choice to do what I think is right, and as I’ve done that more than a few times now I’ve realized it often comes with a social cost. I keep thinking of that stupid cliche the phrase, if everyone jumps off a bridge… I used to think well yeah, who wants to be alone. Now I think, well, if I don’t then not everyone is. I guess that’s what maturity means to me, creating a future possibility for my child and others through whatever means are available. I’m always writing while trying to track and navigate parenting responsibilities and work so it’s a bit chaotic, fragmented and full of errors :)
I hear you. I have a bit of a grudge against tv, because it talked me into joining the army (long story). I keep Illich in mind on tech development--there are two watersheds, the first when something actually makes an improvement, and the second when it becomes counterproductive. We seldom talk enough about speed in this regard, esp wrt tech. (I think I skipped a generation in my parentage, too, with my dad being 45 when I was born.)
<<whatever means are available>> <-- yep, that there's the rub
I’m definitely not defending t.v. They did glorify war and make being in the army look romantic and heroic so I can see the draw.
Something related...been a busy day on the anti-AI front.
https://rhyd.substack.com/p/the-backlit-cave?publication_id=318528&post_id=178158980&isFreemail=true&r=5byrz&triedRedirect=true
Also, I am reminded of the Star Trek episode about a planet-controlling computer named "Landru".
“Jetsonian LEFTISM"? Peter Thiel is no leftist! The improbable alliance of the Christian Right with the tech oligarchs—which can only be a marriage of expediency—puts the lie to anyone who pins the love of technological "progress" on one ideology or the other. It's the love of power, actually. Tech has a siren song for anyone who seeks total control.— But I'm speaking too soon 'cause I just started reading this
Anthony is referring to certain socialists, not Thiel.
They just haven’t seemed to be in the forefront of tech worship lately. Or I’m just not aware of those who are.
It was some of the Jacobin crowd . . . Anthony was wrestling with them.