lix blog

Cross-linking web 2.0 applications and feeding clouds with data is what the industry sells us as the age of the “social network society” or “social media society”. Identifying emerging expressions and new words describing old techniques is what often discloses most of the real intentions behind “innovative technologies”. Storing all information and knowledge as a cloud of data without passion and attention is what turns the internet into a muckheap, where the one who knows best how to dig through the dung and knows how to “ask the right question” returns to be successful and “wise”.

It’s nevertheless this ability that offered a big success to a large community of critical and self-reflective nerds and hackers, allowing themselves to integrate their auto-didactic skills into profitable services. To extend these ambitions and intentions, it’s the principle of Free Licensing and Open Source Technology that now seems to overflow into a full disclosure of privacy and data retention.

Social Networks are severely destroying and jeopardising personal social interactions and relations. The common sense of betraying his boyfriend with a second Facebook profile and conventionalise his public figure and image towards a non-real and fictional manifestation of one-self marks a new form of self-deception. It’s then the application that builds the framework of honesty around one’s personality which would demand a paradigm shift to regain control over the self being.

It’s not the discourse of privacy aware figures vs. users claiming not having anything to hide, which will bring up a social change, but the non-awareness of being and the paradigm shift which displaces self-reflection and ego into a fictional projection. It’s not the addictive effect of technology that causes an ubiquitous and pervasive demand of technology, but the subconscious awareness of potential self-distruction thereafter.

Further it’s the lack of ethical questioning towards one-self and the multiple alter-ego-selfs as me-xing, me-fb, me.com, I-whatever, myspace, youtube, etc. leading towards a dissolution of moral values. This is when data-mining and -filtering methods will apply and straight forward SMS to my love-affair will be filtered by my provider or hardware manufacturer.

Social media and social network technology abduct users from self-discovery and finding personal, inner values, feeding them with a fictional mirror, which is never achieved in reality and will not revert into a living spirit. One needs to commit virtual suicide to be re-born in the real world.

“The bird struggles out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born, must destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God’s name is Abraxas.” — Hermann Hesse (Demian)

[Update: See article “The Many Faces of You” ex NY Times)

People usually refer to privacy or safety reasons, arguing about the possible abuse of information in social networks and augmented reality applications. And it’s kind of boring to constantly explain and tell people why they do have something to hide.

See what’s culture of arbitrariness:

… and I still don’t carry a webcam in my underwear.

[Update:] And here‘s a glimpse about the abuse and misuse of your personal data. (Who can you trust?)