My
Saturday morning entrepreneur group has been an ongoing theme in this
column. And this is very simply because
so many of the situations that unfold at its meetings are extremely relevant to
my main topic: the effects of modern technology on living environments and
human behavior. Last Saturday, there was
a long sustained conversation about the different technologies associated with
Zoom and other similar apps for conversation.
This kind of discussion is going to become more and more common in the
group in the coming weeks. It used to be
that on those days when the group didn’t have a speaker, there would be a
discussion of ideas related to business.
For some of these meetings, one could have ventured to say the
discussion got quite philosophical.
And one
might say on a philosophical level, that the group is gradually shifting from
conversations of substance to conversations of process. By conversations of substance, I am referring
to discussions of ideas. A discussion of
ideas is an important element to giving a person psychological grounding, so
that he can develop rooted attitudes and perspectives, mental ballast that can
give him a solid orientation towards his activities. The discussions of ideas in the
entrepreneurial group were meaningful substantive discussions that I think were
very helpful in terms of monitoring the general flow of the business activities
of the members.
Nowadays,
in the vacuum and tension-pocket world in which we live, a world where there is
very little grounding either psychological or physical, the stabilizing agent for
people comes in a predictable trajectory of movement, the conversion of raw
movement into process. If one is going
to have to live in a vacuum, one at least wants to be able to propel oneself in
different directions, so that one doesn’t disintegrate from entropy and so that
one doesn’t collide with other free-floating and actively moving figures.
In
general, we can say that the stabilizing agent of grounding from more
traditional natural situations and environments leads to stillness, while the
stabilizing agent of controlled movement in modern technological situations and
environments leads to a predictable trajectory of movement. In each case the stabilizing agent leads to a
certain amount of calm and confidence in humans.
The
Saturday morning entrepreneur group in a certain way was a throwback to a more
traditional grouping of people.
Old-fashion businesspeople. But
the combination of Covid 19 along with the introduction of new younger members
has led to a shift of focus from substance to process – more typical in general
of many people in modern technological society.
Many people in the group feel very comfortable and secure talking about
technological strategies because it converts their daily life movements into
predictable processes. Modern technology
is not only a vehicle through Zoom and other similar apps for reestablishing
superficially a sense of community that has been lost through Covid 19. More important, it becomes a kind of
stabilizing agent in and of itself.
But
just how good of a stabilizing agent is modern technology? Modern technological devices are built around
data which are constantly shifting (unlike beliefs and ideas). So there is nothing to grab a hold of
there. The only stability comes in
continuing to move on a planned pathway.
The key here is that one has to keep moving. There is no rest for the weary. And without stillness, there is little
opportunity to link up with other people and to bond with them. I know someone is going to show me the
example of a spaceship linking up with the space station, both of which are
moving. But look how many calculations,
how much planning goes into that link-up.
If one had to do that on an individual level, it would make bonding
practically impossible.
Modern
technology doesn’t create links between people.
It mediates links. In mediating
links between people, it increases the direct linkages that are created between
people and technology. People become linked to the process of the
relating rather than the substance of the relationship. One just has to look at how an increasing
number of resources of the entrepreneurial group are going to be devoted to
technology as a process for communication rather than simply as a product of a
business. The connection becomes more
with the technology that is connecting rather than with the person or people at
the other end of the connection.
But
can a machine without emotions act as a stabilizing agent for a person’s
emotions? I frankly don’t see how. Machines and devices create a frictionless
flow of process that prevents dangerous collisions with other figures. The result is numbness. Numbness is not the ideal mental state in
which to form bonds with other people.
Contrast this with the stillness generated by grounding in a more
traditional natural living environment or life situation. Stillness does not mean a lack of organic stimulation
and numbness. Stillness means a lack of
movement and activity in a more traditional natural situation which provides people
with the opportunity to bond with another person or people. And as was pointed out in the past, without
bonding, there is no meaningful connection through family, community,
friendship and romance. And without
these connections, human society cannot continue to exist. Thus, process without substance leads to
fragile mediated connections between people.
This is what is happening these days among the members of my Saturday
morning entrepreneur group.
© 2020 Laurence Mesirow
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