John Wiley & Sons Non-things Cover We no longer inhabit earth and dwell under the sky: these are being replaced by Google Earth and the.. Product #: 978-1-5095-5170-5 Regular price: $14.86 $14.86 In Stock

Non-things

Upheaval in the Lifeworld

Han, Byung-Chul

Translated by Steuer, Daniel

Cover

1. Edition May 2022
110 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-5095-5170-5
John Wiley & Sons

Short Description

We no longer inhabit earth and dwell under the sky: these are being replaced by Google Earth and the Cloud. The terrestrial order is giving way to a digital order, the world of things is being replaced by a world of non-things - a constantly expanding 'infosphere' of information and communication which displaces objects and obliterates any stillness and calmness in our lives.

Byung-Chul Han's critique of the infosphere highlights the price we are paying for our growing preoccupation with information and communication. Today we search for more information without gaining any real knowledge. We communicate constantly without participating in a community. We save masses of data without keeping track of our memories. We accumulate friends and followers without encountering other people. This is how information develops a form of life that has no stability or duration. And as we become increasingly absorbed in the infosphere, we lose touch with the magic of things which provide a stable environment for dwelling and give continuity to human life. The infosphere may seem to grant us new freedoms but it creates new forms of control too, and it cuts us off from the kind of freedom that is tied to acting in the world.

This new book by one of the most creative cultural theorists writing today will be of interest to a wide readership.

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Hardcoverepubmobi

We no longer inhabit earth and dwell under the sky: these are being replaced by Google Earth and the Cloud. The terrestrial order is giving way to a digital order, the world of things is being replaced by a world of non-things - a constantly expanding 'infosphere' of information and communication which displaces objects and obliterates any stillness and calmness in our lives.

Byung-Chul Han's critique of the infosphere highlights the price we are paying for our growing preoccupation with information and communication. Today we search for more information without gaining any real knowledge. We communicate constantly without participating in a community. We save masses of data without keeping track of our memories. We accumulate friends and followers without encountering other people. This is how information develops a form of life that has no stability or duration. And as we become increasingly absorbed in the infosphere, we lose touch with the magic of things which provide a stable environment for dwelling and give continuity to human life. The infosphere may seem to grant us new freedoms but it creates new forms of control too, and it cuts us off from the kind of freedom that is tied to acting in the world.

This new book by one of the most creative cultural theorists writing today will be of interest to a wide readership.

Preface

From Things to Non-Things

From Possessing to Experiencing

Smartphone

Selfies

Artifical Intelligence

Views of Things

The Villainy of Things

The Reverse of Things

Ghosts

The Magic of Things

The Forgetfulness of Things in Art

Heidegger's Hand

Things Close to the Heart

Stillness

Excursus on the Jukebox

Notes
"Byung-Chul Han [...] has sounded the alarm about the next and even more sinister stage of societal evolution, wherein the terrestrial order itself gives way to the rising digital order."
Matthew Olemesky, The American Spectator
Byung-Chul Han is the author of more than twenty books including The Burnout Society, Saving Beauty and The Scent of Time.