While I begin diving into the reading needed for future essays, I have been enjoying many other writers here, as we all grapple with the Machine, and how it famously co-opts our attention. I particularly valued Pilgrims in the Machine‘s excellent recent piece. It prompted me to publish this essay I wrote in November last year, as it is not only technology which keeps us separate from our hearts and each other. The Machine certainly seems to have a will of its own now, but it was originally born from a split in the human psyche, (and from fundamentally misconstruing the modes of our bicameral brains.) In this piece, none of the distractions, nor my inability to be fully present, are attributable to ‘outside factors’ such as pervasive attention harvesting technologies, like smartphones, (unless you count the whole of one’s society and upbringing as ‘outside’, which I don’t, really.)
First published here with full transcript, notes and more images, March 6th 2023.
Episode 17 - I was beside myself