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Modern media and complex realities

Life isn’t straightforward and maybe it never really has been, but surely modern life has a whole new layer of complexity: we’re aware of everything, or we can be. We no longer live simply within our own society and culture, but simultaneously within a global one and in the light of how our narrower interests impact others now and have done in the past.

Previously those impacts were relatively easy to cover up as people were spun a tale of national mythology; now we can hear things from almost any perspective and in any number of voices. Information isn’t as easily controlled as it once was; which is good in many ways but also pretty challenging (see Notes One).

How can the human mind rise to these challenges, find firmer ground on which to stand, and begin working together in this new way? Because it seems technology has ‘come of age’ in a sense: the initial enthusiasm and novelty has worn down into a more realistic and practical sense of both the opportunities and obstacles being presented to us.

And, while it clearly offers great advantages and capabilities, it’s also showing itself to be quite difficult to master (Note Two). Yet it is now shaping our lives and the lives of coming generations at this unprecedented speed. We’re aware children are experiencing the world in a fundamentally different way (and uncertain over the implications), but as adults we’re also often caught up in the flow of it all.

I mean, notions of knowledge and communication are shifting: do we need to know anything, or merely how to find out; is communicating a significant social responsibility or can we define it ourselves? The pace of life and information has likewise changed, as stories happen instantaneously and outlets compete with ever more dramatic ways to meet demand or capture revenue.

It’s all quite overwhelming; not only the volume of information, but the means by which it seeks to make itself known. Then there’s advertising, the eye-catching world of entertainment in its various forms, and the overlays of opinion or agenda. Questions around the ultimate value of all this and the human capacity to respond wisely to it seem fairly crucial at this point (Notes Three).

Because, to my mind, culture is where we seek to give life meaning; whether that’s through reflecting on current events, immersing ourselves in stories, or considering the things modern society has to offer. How much meaning is contained within what’s going on right now and how well it serves us, I’m not entirely sure (Note Four).

Life now is almost unavoidably complex. With all this knowledge at our fingertips, we now have to learn how best to work with it without simply being swept along or throwing our intelligent hands up in resignation or despair. It doesn’t seem a reality we can avoid though and, given how so much is operating as a marketplace, it seems the real choice within it all may lie in our response.

Notes and References:

Note 1: History as a process of changes
Note 1: Communicating divergent experiences
Note 1: How do we find a collective vision?
Note 2: The potential of technology
Note 3: “Brave New World Revisited”
Note 3: Media within democratic society
Note 4: Missing something with modern culture?

Then there’s Patience with the pace of change, which looked at technology and modern life.

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Intrinsic values on the paths for change?

Where are we headed? It’s a question I’ve asked a few times here lately (see Notes One), and it seems to apply across many different settings and scenarios within modern life. Can we grasp the bigger picture of the past into the present, and – if we can – does if offer a clear sense of what to do for the best?

To me, it’s an intriguing question: if we could fully understand reality, would the path become clear? Because when we talk about change, more often than not there’s this sense of social or financial coercion or punishment being needed in order to motivate us; the carrot and the stick. But is that true, or does it underestimate our capacity to grasp what’s required and freely act accordingly?

Human motivation is interesting, as clearly we do often tend to act for our own advantage then justify the social or environmental impacts somehow. That certainly seems an element of our psychology. But then do we do that because we don’t care enough about those other things, or because we live in a system of scarcity? It seems we feel that our worth and our survival are threatened, so we must take what we can.

The ideas we hold around society and the sense of meaning that sustains it are surely very influential in terms of how we act (Notes Two), which in turn gives form to the lives we lead together. We might receive those ideas in strange ways – woven through technologies we use, hidden within the assumptions and characterisations of stories we absorb, lying unchallenged within conversations and relationships – but they are there.

Which makes me wonder if there is a fundamental human philosophy out there, resting tantalisingly close behind the fragmented and often contorted nature of reality. Whether there are common values and a completely fair way of working through things and structuring how we live in order to exist more harmoniously. That’s clearly idealistic though, as well as elusive.

So, in writing this under the theme of Web, I’m looking instead at how values serve us there: the ways technology highlights qualities such as empathy, tolerance, privacy, restraint, and responsibility; the picture that’s painting of humanity (Notes Three). This seems both a reasonable and pragmatic starting point for considering the importance and universality of how we are.

Modern life seems to be taking place as much through the veil of the internet as through its hidden impacts on the ‘real world’, and that’s an undeniable challenge: how to bring values to bear within the echo chamber of technology. It surely requires even greater strength to be clear on what we’re doing and resist the easier paths and justifications being offered; to fully understand and picture the implications we may never see.

Which comes back to motivation: are we led by what’s offered, by knowledge of the consequences, or by our understanding? The basic human question of ‘how to act’ surely hasn’t yet been solved, it’s only found new forms.

Notes and References:

Note 1: How do we find a collective vision?
Note 1: Communicating divergent experiences
Note 1: Where’s the right place to talk?
Note 2: Culture, art & human activity
Note 2: Education with the future in mind
Note 2: People, rules & social cohesion
Note 3: Individual responsibility, collective standards
Note 3: The human spirit

In many ways, Intrinsic worth over social identity runs alongside this with thoughts on the value of human life.

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Community, needs & local solutions

As human beings, we exist within communities. Be that family, peers, friends, school or workplace, cultural affinities, political leanings, social connections, or whatever other groupings we may feel a part of. These relationships seem to shape us, impart meaning, offer belonging, and give us our understanding of and engagement with life (see Notes One).

It’s a beautiful thing really: these connections that draw out different aspects of us and give them a home; the ways we reach out to others and form these bonds, often creating something unique and new; how all of that changes the face of the world surrounding us, weaving threads of interest and activity around our daily lives.

How conscious we are of that, how deliberately and intentionally we act within our communities is an interesting question for our times; especially when it comes to local community, to our immediate geographical surroundings (Notes Two).

Those posts – and others within the theme of Community – looked at how that’s changed: how business frequently seems to be stripping away trust and natural cooperation; the loss of local relationships and cultural life; ways what was once meaningful and apparent is often now abstract and remote.

Without a doubt, modern life’s dramatically different from what went before. Naturally evolving, organic communities built around necessity or industry seemingly having given way to something quite different. Technology, modern economics, and various other social shifts have changed the ground we walk on and how we share it with one another.

That said we’re still humans with similar material, social, mental and emotional requirements. We still look for meaning, identity, security, involvement, friendship, and self-esteem. We generally want to belong, and we also need to survive and live relatively harmoniously with others and within our environment.

In that light, surely local community should still be this vital, practical, engaging reality? Rather than a dry, formulaic, soulless place peopled with legacies, automatons, fragmented solutions, and potential risks.

Why we’re struggling on this level, why older systems are fading or failing and the solutions stepping in to replace them seem to not quite be gaining traction, is interesting. Maybe it’s because we’re often presented with replacements that take the form of a business, or because technology’s been fundamentally changing how we relate as well as drawing us away from our immediate surroundings (Note Three).

It just seems quite essential in many, many ways that we exist in real relationship to other people and the world around us. Not simply tuning others out or opting for the convenience and economy of large companies and brands, but looking at how we can purposefully sustain local initiatives through the choices we make and the activities we participate in.

Modern life offers this global sense of belonging and identity, but in a way it’s an illusion of sorts. The world around us is very real though, and it seems that local community offers a valuable opportunity to really engage with that and create something meaningful and constructive that works for everyone.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Learning to be human
Note 1: Mirrors we offer one another
Note 2: Reviving local community
Note 2: “New Renaissance”
Note 2: “The Spirit of Community”
Note 2: People, rules & social cohesion
Note 3: Using internet to construct community

Posts within the theme of Economy & Values build on this, with ideas around money and the things we do.

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Russell Brand and “Under The Skin”

I find myself slightly hesitant in writing this, because I don’t generally write directly about people as much as considering their work. But in the case of Russell Brand the two seem so closely combined it’s almost impossible to speak of one without the other.

Which is a truth in itself, I suppose. He’s someone who’s taken his life experiences, his personal journey through various difficulties and his broader search for meaning and made ‘all of that’ part of what he offers us as a public figure.

And it seems in many ways that he is quite representative of modern life in an extreme form: struggling with finding an acceptable place in society, with how to contribute something worthwhile, with the image we present to the world and how it makes us feel, with what seems right and constructive both personally and collectively, and with how to overcome things that challenge us.

As part of that, he seems to offer an interesting example of how we might work through our difficulties and hopefully face up to them with responsibility and optimism. So many people seem to be battling addictions of numerous sorts in life, making mistakes and needing to find ways beyond it all. Presenting a flawed yet human face to the world takes courage.

And, in grappling with the realities of existence, Brand presents an image of both intelligence and individualism; a lively and curious mind looking to make connections and find answers.

But while that rather public journey does seem to have value in itself, I suppose what interests me most – and the reason I’ve chosen to write this – is his relatively recent move into more social, political and spiritual conversations on his podcast “Under The Skin”. In this, he seems a fairly unique voice within British culture as he applies that inquisitive and open mind to exploring many of the ideas modern society rests upon.

While I might not necessarily agree with all the ideas expressed there or the manner in which they are raised, that’s not really the point. For me, it’s that deeper conversations start happening and words are found to wander into sometimes uncharted territories and begin to find our bearings.

That someone would willingly push themselves into the unknown then seek to find their feet out there under intense public scrutiny seems both fascinating and valuable. Because the journey to personal and social understanding is one we are all on in a way, as we try to reach for ideas to make sense of our lives and figure out what to do for the best.

That’s never really going to be easy, or perfect, but I think it helps that we’re not alone in our questioning. So, quite aside from his successful career in other areas, the way Russell Brand is starting these conversations around some often complex, unusual and important issues, and the fact he lets us in on these personal journeys of transformation, seem some quite interesting contributions to modern society.

Notes and References:

“Under The Skin” podcast is accessible via https://www.russellbrand.com/podcasts/

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Communicating divergent experiences

When it comes to human experience, we clearly all live through things differently: youth, place of birth, social realities, economic conditions, relationships, ideas, and struggles. Our own personal self, our unique make up and outlook, seemingly arises out of all these things. There may be commonalities, but essentially we live and make sense of it in our own ways.

And even when we have quite a lot in common, many shared ideas, it can still be incredibly difficult to relate and understand one another. Perhaps it’s almost easier to get along with those you have less in common with, as differences are more apparent and disagreements less close to home. Maybe when we live along the same lines but draw different conclusions that’s more confronting.

In a way though, we all experience the same complex reality. Especially now so much of how we live is global in reach and consequence (see Note One). Many of the reference points we now share to some degree affect us all: the impacts of current economic systems, the social concerns arising from modern culture, the vast and often troubling conversations spanning the internet.

So, maybe obviously, we have these pooled experiences of being human and also of being human in these times. We all have to relate ourselves to those realities – life, death, injustice, obstacles – and also find a way to relate to each other.

Which I find fascinating because it’s almost like we all have these pieces of the same puzzle: living within shared realities, our experiences of them shaped our lives, bringing us to a very real understanding of the impacts of how we are living. Human and systemic flaws ‘come to life’ through our experiences and we can give voice to them.

But that’s not going to be an easy conversation. Wounded or disadvantaged people have every right to feel the frustration, pain and injustice of that. And advantaged people might well feel attacked and held to account for things the system itself facilitated or sheltered. We very clearly don’t live in a perfect world, however well-intentioned, so there are undoubtedly many difficulties to be worked through.

Communication and identity are complex, important realities (Notes Two), as our subjective experiences mix in with those of others and society at large. Dealing with that, making space for one another, handling volatile emotions and painful realities, accepting mistakes and situations that possibly cannot be rectified, and finding a way out of it all is surely incredibly challenging.

It’s something touched upon within the themes of Communication and Change, and it’s really not easy to write about or imagine a solution to. Modern life has given us all a voice, and many of those voices and the ensuing conversations are problematic, difficult to resolve, and broaching new territory in terms of our capacity to relate.

Finding ways to respect and acknowledge personal experiences within our complex, fractured realities while also constructively reworking what sorely needs improving seems an almost beautiful challenge for our times.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Globalised society finding its feet
Note 2: Things we can’t talk about
Note 2: Mirrors we offer one another
Note 2: Listening, tolerance & communication
Note 2: “People Skills”
Note 2: Literature where West meets East
Note 2: Podcasts as models of transformation

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How do we find a collective vision?

What is it to have vision? Ideas on what it’s all about and how things could be. Is that even what life’s about anymore, or are we more or less going with the flow? And is it even possible to reach an all-encompassing sense of where we want to be headed? It’s interesting to consider, and surely quite important in many ways (see Notes One).

I’ve talked occasionally about the flow of time (Notes Two), essentially toying with thoughts about the ‘weight’ of the past and whether it’s possible to grasp a true understanding of it. We stand at the end of a long chain of experiences and ways of being that have handed us the tools and outlooks at our disposal, and where to go from there seems a valid question.

I mean, we have knowledge on a level never before experienced: knowledge of the material world around us and also of the diverse societies making up the globe, currently and historically. That’s an immense body of information, possibly bottomless, even before looking at the volume of ideas now being churned out each day.

Trying to fathom that and gain a full picture of everything we can know seems to border on the impossible. Of course, the information is there and almost everything can be considered valuable, with a lesson to teach and a human reality to appreciate. But where can we draw the line? Do we have the capacity to gain a truly global perspective, and how much does it ultimately help us to do so?

That’s one part of my question here: can we gain a clear view of the past, the pathway to current realities. Then, beyond that, there’s the issue of what happens next. If we manage to form a sense of ‘where we stand’, does it lead to understanding what should be done for the best?

Which I guess is politics: the ideas we have or defend, the principles we feel we can afford to stand behind, the options we’re offered for society. Whether or not politics can deliver what might be necessary is a completely different question, as is its complex relationships with other areas of social and economic life. But it does seem ‘vision’ finds a home of sorts within politics.

Beyond that though, how does our understanding or worldview shape our personal and interpersonal realities? And where do we get these ideas from? What we think about life and the importance of our roles within it must have a profound impact on our daily decisions and their inevitable consequences (Notes Three).

I suppose what I’m wanting here is to push things back and create a clearer space to work with; to find the essential framework for understanding where we are and what it all means. As thinking beings, surely our ideas on life and the wisdom of our actions matter a great deal. Finding ways to grasp it all, make sense of it, and move forward seems a uniquely modern challenge.

Notes and References:

Note 1: “Towards a New World View”
Note 1: Where’s the right place to talk?
Note 2: History as a process of changes
Note 2: Culture and the passing of time
Note 3: Media within democratic society
Note 3: Need to stand alone & think for ourselves
Note 3: People, rules & social cohesion

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The potential of technology

The question of technology is surely one of the most challenging aspects of our times. It has changed us, is changing us, and will likely continue to do so in ways we can only try to imagine. And in reflecting on the potential of that, I’m really looking at the roots of that word: power, ‘being able’, and ideas around qualities that may be developed for future success.

In a way, technology seems to be the enshrined or codified sense of our understanding. Thought itself, logic, and a certain way of reasoning have essentially ‘become’ technology. And in seeking to apply that we are in turn recreating our current sense of understanding over how the world is and should be organised (see Note One).

Rather than being unique to technology, that’s maybe more the outcome of modern thinking: a way of life that was once deeply interwoven with our dependence on environment has gradually risen above that to a more abstract sense of mastery (Note Two). But, as in that post, there seems a risk of our starting points somehow evolving into contorted versions of their original truths.

Surely we need a very clear understanding of the paths to our present realities and the intentions behind these structures we’re replicating, if we don’t want to be ‘locking in’ something that could prove damaging (Notes Three). The fact we’re essentially changing how we relate to one another based on the tech realities we’re creating seems a fascinating if daunting experiment with human nature.

Of course, technology enables us to move forward in ways never before possible. It’s undoubtedly an incredible leap for human connectedness, knowledge and awareness. But it seems that if we’re not entirely aware of what we’re doing we risk being limited by design and possibly trapped by that lack of understanding: if the ideas we’re programming into technology are shaping us in new ways, what if we are mistaken?

Technology also has this strange ability to somehow make things simultaneously easier and more difficult (Note Four). In so many areas we seem to be grappling with the benefits it offers as much as our ability to not let it take over our lives. We clearly know it has the power to completely transform human society, but it’s also a force to be reckoned with in many ways.

In saying that, I’m thinking of how we struggle with the sheer pace and volume of content that now overwhelms us on a daily basis. Also how the changes being brought about in this way seem largely out of our control. Holding our own in a world of rapid change requires great strength and certainty, qualities seemingly undermined by the very nature of that reality (Note Five).

Technology undeniably offers amazing opportunities for communication, coordination and effectiveness (Notes Six); but not without challenging our self-control and thorough understanding of all that’s gone before. Hopefully, we are able to rise to the challenge of making this a constructive force within modern society.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Using internet to construct community
Note 2: Culture and the passing of time
Note 3: “Education’s End”
Note 3: “Response Ability” by Frank Fisher
Note 3: Culture, art & human activity
Note 4: Pre-tech in film
Note 5: “Paradox of Choice”
Note 6: Modern activism in practice
Note 6: Blogs illustrating ways of being

Beyond that, the theme of Web addresses issues around technology while “Ecological Intelligence” talks of how surroundings shape us.

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Culture, art & human activity

Ideas around the role of culture within human society and how it relates to or shapes what we are doing and how we perceive it have woven through a few posts here so far (see Notes One).

At times, I’ve considered how culture seems to arise in relationship with nature and the world around us; helping us make sense of that world and find our way within it, both practically and imaginatively. Stories we tell can help us find peace and act wisely in relation to what surrounds us, whether we’re talking about other people within society or the environment in which we coexist.

Elsewhere I’ve talked of how culture informs our views on life: providing a palette of options we might choose from in forging our own identity and understanding others. Those options might be uplifting, constructive and empowering, or they could be more despairing, critical and uncaring. There’s a lot of complexity in how we represent modern society and how, in turn, that shapes our outlooks on life.

Making sense of the vast, reciprocal role of culture in our own times and historically is a fascinating prospect. In a way it reflects the realities and concerns of society; but how it does so presumably affects those very realities over time. The channels of the human mind, and how that filters into our attitudes and actions, seem to make culture a truly living and influential part of society.

Within that bigger picture, there’s then art itself. Looking at what art offers beyond the worlds of museums, galleries and theory, I feel the above processes can there become even more abstract, direct and powerful (Notes Two). Art seems to be a way of pulling things into focus and thereby questioning aspects of society, thought, perception or meaning.

In all of this, the ideas we entertain and the activities that run alongside them seem central to human life: as social, intelligent and imaginative creatures the process of involving ourselves in these discussions of meaning has apparently always been part of how we live. Making sense of the world, taking our part in it, and relishing the enjoyment of a shared cultural life seems an essential part of being human.

Personally though, I feel modern culture is at a stage where it’s also sensible to step back slightly from the commercial concerns at play there. If culture’s such a core aspect of human society and individual meaning-making, if these are the ideas and activities shaping our sense of the world around us and our place and value within it, then I hesitate at it being directed largely by business or similar calculations.

Cultural activities seem inextricably linked with human nature, but discernment and a clear sense of our wider realities seem to be becoming more important than ever. Because culture’s also about what we end up doing: the conversations we’re having, the things we’re actively taking part in, and the extent to which all that is supporting a healthy and inclusive society.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Culture and the passing of time
Note 1: Missing something with modern culture?
Note 1: How many aren’t well represented?
Note 1: Culture selling us meaning
Note 2: The value of art in society
Note 2: How well does art relate to life?
Note 2: Aesthetic value of nature

Related to this, People, rules & social cohesion asked what keeps society together and the parts we play in that.

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Pre-tech in film

When thinking about films, I personally tend to draw of a bit of a line around the turn of the millennium. Simply because technology seems to really have changed how we are as people and the kind of stories we’re able to tell. Movies before that time often have a certain innocence and also a weight to them that’s somehow lacking later. Before, and increasingly so the further back you look, things generally seem more ‘real’.

Obviously I’m talking generally here. This isn’t a clearly defined or rigorous thesis. But overall, the spread of technology within society itself as well as its use in the media industries seems to have changed things quite substantially.

Maybe it’s the distraction of possibility: technology can act as a portal allowing almost anything to happen. In life and in storytelling, it’s hard to maintain focus and give weight to what we do when the possibilities are endless. We might be present in the room, but we might also be doing something completely different and unrelated.

In real life as much as representations of it, tech gives us freedoms where, previously, our limitations may have given real substance to our actions (see Notes One). While it might be clumsy, the parallel that jumps to mind is weightlifting and how the challenge of resistance imparts strength and hones our intentions.

To ground this in examples, there are films like “The Net”, “They Live” or the “Terminator” franchise that explored the anticipated consequences of machines (or others) taking over our lives. But even when the stories had very little directly to do with technology, there’s a perceptible difference to how people speak, act and relate: they seem more present, more sincere, more powerful somehow in their relative isolation.

In so many areas of life technology has shifted the goalposts of what’s possible. Almost as if the walls were removed and we can go anywhere we please. Now, anyone can make a film or create an image, and almost anything can happen. That must make it hard to focus, choose the line to walk, and know what is ‘enough’ in the light of what’s now achievable.

Rediscovering that edge, that place where stories and characters have weight and actions connect, is quite an interesting challenge. It seems to be as much an art of ‘saying no’ to many of the possibilities we are offered: we can do almost anything, but what’s the right thing to choose?

Or maybe it’s more that we’ve changed. Maybe as humans we’re more jaded, less innocent, and generally distracted by the new pace of life. Maybe technology has changed how we are and what we expect out of films. And there must be a reflexiveness to culture, in that what we see in turn shapes what we consider to be normal.

As I said, these are generally quite anecdotal observations. I just know that in films made before that time there’s almost a refreshing innocence of looking back to when things were real.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Reality as a sense check
Note 1: “Towards a New World View”
Note 1: Using internet to construct community
Note 1: Community – what it was, what we lost
Note 1: Modern activism in practice
Note 1: “Education’s End”
Note 1: “Response Ability” by Frank Fisher

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Culture and the passing of time

Ideas around nature, meaning and society have flowed through a few posts lately (see Notes One), and point towards some of the more fundamental realities of life: that we exist in relationship to the natural world and much of human culture over the years bears witness to the changing forms that’s taken.

Traditions are often interwoven with the world around us: harvests, solstices, occasions for celebration, and times for drawing together. Human cultures can be seen to reflect our experiences of the seasons, the solar system, and the practical realities of the civilisations that forged a path alongside them.

That’s clearly a vast conversation, touching into history and belief as much as modern life. But my main point is that culture seems to come out of our connections with the world we live in.

At times that seems to have served to reinforce our place within nature and the ways society depends on it: human activities were directed towards their interactions with the land, upon which survival often rested. Everyday life was largely defined by environment and celebrations were closely tied to the hopes people had to place on that relationship.

All of that can seem naïve to the modern mind, given how we’ve largely divorced ourselves from such obvious dependency on the natural world. But surely that’s largely an illusion? We might appear more separate now, as urbanisation and remote production mean we don’t really see these realities, but to what extent can that ever truly be the case?

These days, the passing of the seasons can seem more an inconvenience we haven’t yet overcome. Our efforts to regulate our environments and increase our comfort seem to be insulating us quite effectively from certain realities. While we might complain about hot weather, cold weather, strong winds and grey skies, we ultimately still depend on nature’s regularity.

Unless of course we intend to generate all plant life artificially and are content to have our cultural realities shaped either by our own inclinations or the designs of the entertainment industry. Which seems an option, I suppose. It would take away seasonal uncertainties and liberate us from shared meanings if we just arranged things for ourselves.

I guess that’s the outcome of modern trains of thought: to be free of our dependence on nature and the meaning we once got from that. I’m not sure how intentional that second part is though. Do we mean to remove the meaning from our lives? Do we want to just define our own personal worlds of meaning?

Maybe we do. For me, there’s meaning to our environments and the ways we choose to live in relation to them (Notes Two). We exist within the world, and its realities of dark and light, warmth and cold, life and death are part of being human. We might seek to overcome that and celebrate signs that we’ve indeed conquered the ‘injustices’ of time, death and mortality, but these things can still be seen to hold significance in life.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Aesthetic value of nature
Note 1: Gardening & local environment
Note 2: Missing something with modern culture?
Note 2: Culture selling us meaning
Note 2: Age, image & self worth

In “Education’s End”, Anthony Kronman also spoke of how limitations effectively give our lives meaning.

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