Brains, Beings, Bits

Brains, bodies, realities have changed drastically in this century — exponentially in the last century. Quantified by neurons, or qualified by poetry, what it means to be human — our phenomenology — has evolved (or devolved). I write this on my computer, and sometimes I write on my phone. Sometimes, too, I type up notes I’ve written by hand; quote or reference texts I’m reading on a physical page. More and more though — I just type. Personally, I favor the past, but feel stuck, imprisoned in the present (as it slides towards into the future). When I write on and for the internet, I have a chance to communicate instantly at a scale that would not be possible otherwise. Economically — in terms of time and money — the digital is the domain for the written word; people simply don’t read physical books anymore — not really. To be — and to talk about Being — means having to communicate across phone screens; there are no real alternatives. The amount of information online means that the digital sphere has immense gravity; draws all incidental information towards it. There is no escaping, no outside. In previous centuries, arguments evolved over the course of months or years or decades or centuries; at the pace of books and articles, paintings and plays. Today, arguments are born and die like Mayflies. If I want to write — if I want dialogue — I need, can only, write now, for the Now.