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Every form of rule has its own devotional objects. The theologian Ernst Troeltsch speaks of 'devotional objects that fascinate the imagination of the people'. These objects stabilize rule by making it habitual and anchoring it in the body. In German, devot also means submissive.
Smartphones have established themselves as the devotional objects of the neoliberal regime. As apparatuses that serve the purpose of submission, they resemble the rosary, which is just as mobile and handy. The like is the digital amen. By clicking on the like button, we submit ourselves to the context of rule.
Non-Things
Byung-Chul Han and Daniel Steuer
So Princeton, by declining to investigate and punish speech that the university’s president himself regards as offensive and even irresponsible, passed the test. The university has honored—and thereby reaffirmed—its commitment to free speech and robust discussion.
Free Speech Prevails at Princeton | Robert P. George
firstthings.com
A lot is wrong with the internet, but much of it boils down to this one problem: We are all constantly talking to one another. Take that in every sense. Before online tools, we talked less frequently, and with fewer people. The average person had a handful of conversations a day, and the biggest group she spoke in front of was maybe a wedding reception or a company meeting, a few hundred people at most. Maybe her statement would be recorded, but there were few mechanisms for it to be amplified and spread around the world, far beyond its original context.
People Aren’t Meant to Talk This Much
Ian Bogost
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