nathansnook's review against another edition
informative
reflective
3.0
Kim Kardashian published ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ, a collection of selfies of herself in 2015, the peak of narcissistic individualism that created the wave of self-indulgent literature ranging from DWM (depressed woman moving) to autofiction.
Given that Han's book centers around image and iPhonography, he dates himself by a decade, with no mention of online media as non-things (Tiktok, vlogs, etc) which could've lent an interesting foray into the symbiosis of things and non-things, how they can communicate.
Han comes into the book that the world is doomed because of our focus from things (tangible objects) to non-things (stream, cloud services, etc). This could be farther from the truth. The pandemic (2020) created a shift in domesticating much of life, allowing people to focus on the things around them. People created man-caves out of their boring bedrooms. My brother, for example, indulged in LED light strips, Twitchifying his room for ambiance and peace of mind. This allowed people to be more in-tune with the things around them. Record players. Plants. Sonny's Angels for the standing desk. Byung-Chul ultimately boomerfies himself with such a hypothesis.
What I will say is that his fear of AI is fitting, fixated on the way we are caring less. As the world progresses into algorithms and ChatGPT, we are de-caring the essential ways of life. This rings true with the way big media is reacting in trying to replace its writers-on-strike with AI screenwriting.
"๐๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ-๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด, ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ."
He has some hits. He has some misses. In fact, I found his explorations into care and poetry a lot more interesting than his boomerish braindumps. For example, he talks about hands and the attention and care that goes into poetry.
"๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฉ๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ญ-๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"๐ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.."
Poetry, then, is an incredible part of humanity. In its intimacy. In its body. In its way to manipulate near and far. In how inherent it is for our very existence.
Han has a way of weaving sentences together in absolutes, incredibly Germanic. Though when personal anecodotes are weaved into his argument (his conclusion) it's weak and lacks personality in the stiffness of his language. For a philosopher, his thoughts are there, sure and firm, but he could use a bit more of the poetry he so fondly speaks of in the care of his own writing.
Given that Han's book centers around image and iPhonography, he dates himself by a decade, with no mention of online media as non-things (Tiktok, vlogs, etc) which could've lent an interesting foray into the symbiosis of things and non-things, how they can communicate.
Han comes into the book that the world is doomed because of our focus from things (tangible objects) to non-things (stream, cloud services, etc). This could be farther from the truth. The pandemic (2020) created a shift in domesticating much of life, allowing people to focus on the things around them. People created man-caves out of their boring bedrooms. My brother, for example, indulged in LED light strips, Twitchifying his room for ambiance and peace of mind. This allowed people to be more in-tune with the things around them. Record players. Plants. Sonny's Angels for the standing desk. Byung-Chul ultimately boomerfies himself with such a hypothesis.
What I will say is that his fear of AI is fitting, fixated on the way we are caring less. As the world progresses into algorithms and ChatGPT, we are de-caring the essential ways of life. This rings true with the way big media is reacting in trying to replace its writers-on-strike with AI screenwriting.
"๐๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ-๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด, ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ."
He has some hits. He has some misses. In fact, I found his explorations into care and poetry a lot more interesting than his boomerish braindumps. For example, he talks about hands and the attention and care that goes into poetry.
"๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฉ๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ญ-๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"๐ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.."
Poetry, then, is an incredible part of humanity. In its intimacy. In its body. In its way to manipulate near and far. In how inherent it is for our very existence.
Han has a way of weaving sentences together in absolutes, incredibly Germanic. Though when personal anecodotes are weaved into his argument (his conclusion) it's weak and lacks personality in the stiffness of his language. For a philosopher, his thoughts are there, sure and firm, but he could use a bit more of the poetry he so fondly speaks of in the care of his own writing.
marimaerchen's review against another edition
5.0
Un despertar, un encontrarme frente al espejo y frente a todas "mis" cosas y frente a la desmaterializaciรณn que nos rodea
foxmoon's review against another edition
5.0
A criticism of our digital world but one made so out of love for humanity. We are so imbued with non-things that we are losing our touch with things and therefore losing touch with others and therefore losing touch with ourselves. I get it.
I also get why reviewers might interpret it as "old man yells at cloud" and "things were better in the olden days" because yes, it is that, but so what? Maybe the "old man" is right. It reads a little bit like "I like this, so it is a thing, and I don't like that so it is a non-thing" and it's such a short book that some bold statements and assertions rely on you just going with themโbut I did. I picked up everything he put down. And it ignited my soul, if I'm being honest.
I kind of aspire to be austere when it comes to owning things, I think mostly everything I could want is available digitally, and everything else that's not utilitarian is just clutter. But now I am thinking that sentimentality is good actually and maybe experiencing everything through a screen is not as great as I tend to assume it is.
I also get why reviewers might interpret it as "old man yells at cloud" and "things were better in the olden days" because yes, it is that, but so what? Maybe the "old man" is right. It reads a little bit like "I like this, so it is a thing, and I don't like that so it is a non-thing" and it's such a short book that some bold statements and assertions rely on you just going with themโbut I did. I picked up everything he put down. And it ignited my soul, if I'm being honest.
I kind of aspire to be austere when it comes to owning things, I think mostly everything I could want is available digitally, and everything else that's not utilitarian is just clutter. But now I am thinking that sentimentality is good actually and maybe experiencing everything through a screen is not as great as I tend to assume it is.
amaiso's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
1.0
This book is riddled with faux-academic language and the author seems completely insufferable because of his hatred of technology and the internet.ย
I liked the chapter on Stillness but I think that everything outside that chapter was just repetitive.ย
I also hated that the book ended with an ellipses especially considering that the entire thing (and it was a short book!) was so rambling.ย
I feel like I just read some grumpy old manโs stream of consciousness.ย
I liked the chapter on Stillness but I think that everything outside that chapter was just repetitive.ย
I also hated that the book ended with an ellipses especially considering that the entire thing (and it was a short book!) was so rambling.ย
I feel like I just read some grumpy old manโs stream of consciousness.ย
clarpotasio's review against another edition
2.0
VALORACIรN: 1'5 estrellas
No sรฉ de dรณnde sacarรฉ el tiempo, pero en algรบn momento escribirรฉ la reseรฑa :')
No sรฉ de dรณnde sacarรฉ el tiempo, pero en algรบn momento escribirรฉ la reseรฑa :')
iris92's review against another edition
4.0
La primera mitad / tres cuartas partes del libro me resultaron pesadas. No solo por la escritura, que para mi abusa de citas, si no por el tema: sonaban mรกs a filosofรญa barata de "boomer" que a otra cosa. No usarรญa palabras tan bonitas, pero no me sorprenderรญa ver a mis adres o abueles concebir las mismas ideas...
Hacia el final, y especialmente la digresiรณn sobre la gramola con la que se cierra el libro, mi opiniรณn cambiรณ bastante. Cuando, por un rato, habla en positivo de aquello que hemos olvidado, sin usarlo para atacar todo lo que hemos adquirido, la filosofรญa del autor vuelve a brillar.
Me alegro de haber terminado este libro, que ha estado muy cerca de volveres un DNF (did not finish) para mi.
Hacia el final, y especialmente la digresiรณn sobre la gramola con la que se cierra el libro, mi opiniรณn cambiรณ bastante. Cuando, por un rato, habla en positivo de aquello que hemos olvidado, sin usarlo para atacar todo lo que hemos adquirido, la filosofรญa del autor vuelve a brillar.
Me alegro de haber terminado este libro, que ha estado muy cerca de volveres un DNF (did not finish) para mi.