I’ve been thinking about ‘reality privilege’ for a while now after reading something punchy on Miri AF’s Substack and then disappearing into reality myself for a couple of months (leaving some friends worried).
Thanks @inishmannin . I saw a film of Marc before he went fully dark (offline), it was beautiful and moving. He talked about the difficulty of partnership in this context — his then girlfriend didn’t want to live off-grid after being initially enthusiastic. He made a fabulous point that I have often felt in recent years, if you return to the point of origin (nature) and human relationship, does the news with its endless parade of tragedy, groupthink, propaganda and hyperbole even matter? He catalogued the futility of an online post against the relevance of catching a fish. I believe he plays chess once a week with Paul K. doesn’t he? When I come to the green isle, I hope we can all have dinner together!
Thank you Petra. I really appreciated reading this. You express so well why I feel this excruciating pain for a lot of my fellow humans. I don’t think you are gloomy. You know I have a rather “doomer” point of view. Is our only hope catharsis through collapse ? I am an elder privileged who lives on the fringes of society steeped in nature as you know but I keep a thin online link , and my fun thing is to feed wrong data in order to alter my digital twin and bug whatever they try to harvest from me. I am off social media for a long time as well. A friend of mine is now 7 years off grid , totally . I mentioned him a while back ( Mark Boyle ) and his book The Way Home. I will go to see him soon. He is like an island .
The idea that a ‘bad’ real life can be made better through the internet is so laughably naive as to be completely unbelievable, inviting the inevitable conclusion ‘there’s money to be made’. You may enjoy and be enlightened by a virtual discussion with a renowned philosopher but if that’s not your social milieu nothing will be gained. It’s obvious most people gravitate online to the same kinds of things they do in real life. The ability to discern the veracity of what you encounter is such an important point. While it is perhaps harder to discern truth from fiction, one must still have the ability to ask.
The extreme endpoints here seem to be; completely off-grid, living ‘harmoniously’ with nature and ‘the matrix’. (Both utopian/dystopian). Whether privileged or not, reality lies somewhere in between. People will go about their real lives, of which being online is an aspect of. This, in my opinion, is not actually enriching anyone’s life (although many pockets) but rather filling gaps, both psychological and physical.
Thank you, Nick for your interesting comment! I agree that the idea of curing a bad life through plugging into an online fun park is absurd! Evil even, because it does nothing to fix and is in fact contributing to the social deprivation problems. Yes, it’s the economic model of big tech that’s the problem, perhaps not the tech itself (although I’m no longer sure of that these days). The financialisation of our consciousness (turned into data) is what constitutes the real problem. It’s deeply immoral and should be stopped.
That was really interesting, thanks. Before 2020 my life was rich with reality privilege. Now - not so much. However, my inner reality is much, much, richer now. Lots to think about here. Thank you for crafting language around this.
Thanks @EDAU. I think this is one of the profound, far less commented upon aspects of the ‘coronacrisis’. Our lives moved online in one of the most significant changes in social and economic life since the Industrial Revolution, yet barely a peep about it. I hope to write more about this.
I was going to ask if you had connected w your Aussie colleagues who've written for the Brownstone Institute and this conference leads me to believe you have!
I don't live in reality privilege in the sense that I can't afford to go to that conference & wouldn't know what to do with myself if I did - but it helps to know it will be going on!
Thanks @blackcatnamedOlivia! It’s a big stretch for me too, and it helped that a significant chunk was paid for by them. I just learned the conference will be live streamed, so hopefully you can come along in the digital space. x
Such a great essay Petra, beautifully written and engaging. I think reality is such an important thing to bring to awareness, and be describing and analyzing. Once again, you have been able to see the forest, and write really insightfully about broad and sweeping social changes. Thanks for helping me understand experience I find it difficult to understand the changes you describe as I live it. I just know that things are not at all right.
Thanks @inishmannin . I saw a film of Marc before he went fully dark (offline), it was beautiful and moving. He talked about the difficulty of partnership in this context — his then girlfriend didn’t want to live off-grid after being initially enthusiastic. He made a fabulous point that I have often felt in recent years, if you return to the point of origin (nature) and human relationship, does the news with its endless parade of tragedy, groupthink, propaganda and hyperbole even matter? He catalogued the futility of an online post against the relevance of catching a fish. I believe he plays chess once a week with Paul K. doesn’t he? When I come to the green isle, I hope we can all have dinner together!
Thank you Petra. I really appreciated reading this. You express so well why I feel this excruciating pain for a lot of my fellow humans. I don’t think you are gloomy. You know I have a rather “doomer” point of view. Is our only hope catharsis through collapse ? I am an elder privileged who lives on the fringes of society steeped in nature as you know but I keep a thin online link , and my fun thing is to feed wrong data in order to alter my digital twin and bug whatever they try to harvest from me. I am off social media for a long time as well. A friend of mine is now 7 years off grid , totally . I mentioned him a while back ( Mark Boyle ) and his book The Way Home. I will go to see him soon. He is like an island .
Thought provoking as always Petra.
The idea that a ‘bad’ real life can be made better through the internet is so laughably naive as to be completely unbelievable, inviting the inevitable conclusion ‘there’s money to be made’. You may enjoy and be enlightened by a virtual discussion with a renowned philosopher but if that’s not your social milieu nothing will be gained. It’s obvious most people gravitate online to the same kinds of things they do in real life. The ability to discern the veracity of what you encounter is such an important point. While it is perhaps harder to discern truth from fiction, one must still have the ability to ask.
The extreme endpoints here seem to be; completely off-grid, living ‘harmoniously’ with nature and ‘the matrix’. (Both utopian/dystopian). Whether privileged or not, reality lies somewhere in between. People will go about their real lives, of which being online is an aspect of. This, in my opinion, is not actually enriching anyone’s life (although many pockets) but rather filling gaps, both psychological and physical.
Thank you, Nick for your interesting comment! I agree that the idea of curing a bad life through plugging into an online fun park is absurd! Evil even, because it does nothing to fix and is in fact contributing to the social deprivation problems. Yes, it’s the economic model of big tech that’s the problem, perhaps not the tech itself (although I’m no longer sure of that these days). The financialisation of our consciousness (turned into data) is what constitutes the real problem. It’s deeply immoral and should be stopped.
That was really interesting, thanks. Before 2020 my life was rich with reality privilege. Now - not so much. However, my inner reality is much, much, richer now. Lots to think about here. Thank you for crafting language around this.
Thanks @EDAU. I think this is one of the profound, far less commented upon aspects of the ‘coronacrisis’. Our lives moved online in one of the most significant changes in social and economic life since the Industrial Revolution, yet barely a peep about it. I hope to write more about this.
I was going to ask if you had connected w your Aussie colleagues who've written for the Brownstone Institute and this conference leads me to believe you have!
I don't live in reality privilege in the sense that I can't afford to go to that conference & wouldn't know what to do with myself if I did - but it helps to know it will be going on!
Thanks @blackcatnamedOlivia! It’s a big stretch for me too, and it helped that a significant chunk was paid for by them. I just learned the conference will be live streamed, so hopefully you can come along in the digital space. x
Yes - I hoped they would record. These are the authors that I was thinking of - https://brownstone.org/articles/retreat-from-enlightenment-can-be-stopped/
Excellent articles and people. Gigi was a lone wolf in the establishment.
Such a great essay Petra, beautifully written and engaging. I think reality is such an important thing to bring to awareness, and be describing and analyzing. Once again, you have been able to see the forest, and write really insightfully about broad and sweeping social changes. Thanks for helping me understand experience I find it difficult to understand the changes you describe as I live it. I just know that things are not at all right.
Thanks, Sarah. Talking it through with you helps me to understand it too.