“The body is everywhere assaulted by all of our new media, a state which has resulted in deep disorientation of intellect and destabilization of culture throughout the world. In the age of disembodied communication, the meaning and significance and experience of the body is utterly transformed and distorted.” — Eric McLuhan
Dear Friend of Planet Waves:
This is the latest in the long series of discussions I’m facilitating about the influence and impact of digital conditions on self and society.
Tonight I am joined by Roman Shapoval of The Power Couple (Bohdanna Diduch is the other half, not featured in this program). You met them back in September when they visited me in Buffalo. We then took a long walk in the infamous Love Canal disaster scene — it was the happiest thing to happen there since years before the evacuation in 1980.
My photos from that trip are not published, but they are available if you’re curious.
The Effects of Electricity Include Digital Conditions
As for the program — Roman and Bohdanna specialize in the effects of electricity and electrical fields generally, so I’ve taken my presentation on digital disemboidument back to the earliest electrical device, the telegraph.
We discuss the influence on society as dots and dashes took hold (which led to the war between the sexes, followed soon after by the War Between the States).
This trend of technological developent and social transformation continues into telephone, electric light, radio, television and then digital — and I go through them all patiently (and briefly visiting the gaslight and gaslighting).
It’s possible to map the changes in consciousness of society and of individuals by tracking the evolution of electrical media.
I’m offering this on a Friday night for its entertainment value as well as its information value. It will work just as well as audio, so you can step away from your device and just listen.
Here is my Medium article on invisble environments. Here is Uranus, Eris and the Riddle of the Internet.
With love,
Your faithful astrologer,
PS — Digital conditions and disembodiment have had a painful effect on human empotions, trust and the exchange of intimacy. I am now addressing this directly through bringing my Book of Blue project out to the front of my work.
It has long been in the background, circulating quietly. I sent this article out earlier in the week. I have since added two sections that pertain to couples: those in dom/sub relationships, and couples where there seems to be a differential in sexual interest.
Plese help get the article into the hands of anyone you think might benefit from it. For most young people in digital culture today, sex looks like this.
It’s not a book, but it’s a one-hour read (and the writing voice seems to be devlopable into monograph length). And there is an actual Book of Blue that’s not just photos; I am figuring out how to present that. I’m curious if anyone is interested. It’s a lot different from this article.
If you want to develop this conversation, please write to me at efc@bookofblue.com. All inquiries are of course confidential.
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