As the current wave of disruption, manifesting itself through various conversations about artificial intelligence swirling around us (which, from our perspective, would be better described as a »Reflective Intelligence«), builds into a cultural crescendo reminiscent of Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa. Indeed, when, as a kind of embarrassment of thought, even the leading figures in its epistemological field conjure up a dys-utopian race toward civilizational collapse (as with Geoffrey Hinton), it’s easy to overlook how the Computer’s intellectual roots in our Machine Culture date back to the 18th century. And because of this, reflecting back on Digitalisation's origins in the crackling rift of Writing’s electrification becomes even more essential. We’re pleased to share this brief conversation between us about reading between the lines regarding Electrification, Massification, and the shifting definition of Writing in the early chapters of Martin’s Short History of Digitalisation.

Hopkins Stanley and Martin Burckhardt

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It is difficult to ignore how Capitalism has slipped into a deep values crisis – and indeed, you might be forgiven for thinking we are in a Potemkin village, a zombie economy sustained only by memories of a glorious past or by cash injections from central banks. For this reason alone, our conversation with Peter Fleming was extremely valuable, as he, with his keen sense of fundamental upheavals, recognized the signs of the times early on. Observations like how work has become little more than a mythological narrative for reassuring ourselves of our sense of importance and self-worth, or that universities have turned into dark zones in our era of Human Capital—sometimes jokingly called Whackademia—and that in this morally decayed environment, it is almost impossible to cling to the specter of the homo economicus as the ideal of utility-maximizing rationality. In this sense, it’s only logical that Peter Fleming's dirge ends with a reflection on Capitalism and Nothingness. And while this may be a somewhat somber topic, we found our conversation with him to be very enjoyable and entertaining.

Peter Fleming is a Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. During his time in London, where he taught Business and Society at City University, he chaired the London Living Wage Symposium at the House of Commons. His work has been recognized with several awards.

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Following our presentation of the »Labyrinth of Signs,« parts I and II, we now provide a deeply reflective yet light-hearted post-mortem discussion between us to help you understand what it means to be literate. Martin’s concept of Psychotope becomes more understandable as our conversation progresses; it becomes clear how essential the Alphabet is in enabling us to be literate in our thinking, writing, and discourses, revealing that we are essentially working with an outsourced, historical unconscious in how it shapes us through its use. This is evident from the fact that the origin of Symbolic Logic remains a gaping blank space in Philosophy—even more so: it’s hidden within the conspicuousness of its absence. Something I’ve come to know as the Burckhardtian leitmotif of »The Philosopher’s Shame.«

It’s also no coincidence that »Geist der Maschine« features a chapter on how Sigmund Freud developed his concept of the unconscious, which we’ve also translated into English and will be posting soon. For now, it suffices to say that this chapter explains how and why Freud excluded the 19th century’s material culture (meaning its Logic of an Electrified/Telegraphic Society), which fulfilled his metaphysical needs, while simultaneously introducing something like a black box unconscious of the Unconscious into the World as its Psychotope.

Hopkins Stanley

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