Social media is a major change in the collective consciousness of humanity. The speed of communication, universality of common knowledge, and distributed nature of the internet allows for a new kind of existence. This alone means social media and the internet technologies deserve profound consideration.
There is a simple fact we must acknowledge: we are changing.
We are changing as a species. Our behavior has fundamentally shifted as information technologies have advanced, and in turn the way we think about ourselves, other people, and reality itself has shifted with it. We are becoming something new.
This change is important. We must seek to understand it.
Philosophy is the study of certain problems or issues. While one can look at any subject philosophically, philosophy in general discusses:
- Ontology - The study of what exists.
- Metaphysics - The study of how what exists works.
- Epistemology - The study of what and how we can know.
- Logic – The study of how to reason.
- Ethics – The study of what to do about all of this.
New systems of thought, new ideas of identity, and new ways of living go hand in hand with the “New Media”.
Philosophy ends up considering all five of these branches when it studies certain specific issues, like political philosophy or philosophy of mind.
We have become a new kind of subject, considering new kinds of objects.
This demands a new branch of philosophy. This is Social Media Philosophy.
What’s the blog about?
Here I will examine, study, discuss, and debate the different philosophical implications of social media and the new internet-centered technologies. If it’s about social media, then it is fair game.
How is this blog different?
While many blogs, including my own blog thePuckWrites, focus on social media, Social Media Philosophy will be about the “big picture” questions implied by social media, such as:
- How does the idea of identity change when you can be in many places at once?
- What new ethical considerations arise in virtual situations?
- What are the implications of the differing computing philosophies (open source, proprietary, etc?) when applied to all forms of knowledge?
All of these questions will be discussed from within the heart of the beast, with the subjects for consideration coming from the chaotic online world as they occur. These are no outsider’s theories from on high. Everything will be based on what is happening, as it is happening, with the best speed possible.
Why do things this way?
Philosophy has historically been a monologue, a long conversation that smart people had with themselves in books and journals. This is the old way, the way of the old world and the old media. We are going to do things our way.
This blog will not be a monologue. It will be a conversation, as only our online culture can have one.
Journals are closed. The internet is open.
Philosophy has historically been…well, boring. It has had an incredible need to be respectable, isolated and rational. Philosophy, historically, would tell us that our uses of the internet are a waste of time. Worse, some of them would call us immature or frivolous. They look at our preoccupation with technology, media, and information as philosophically uninteresting. Trivial. Childish.
There are those who would use us.
Even worse, there are elements within the old world that seek only to co-opt the new technologies and media. They make Facebook profiles and fake blogs to try to manipulate social media to their own purposes. Whether it is some law-maker trying to legislate, an “outsider” company (you know what I mean) trying to exploit, or some activist group trying to “radicalize”, none of them understand this new world and all of them want to use it. If we don’t create a new philosophy for ourselves, they will be glad to do it for us.
We have our own world, with our own concerns.
Those concerns are what I want to address in this blog. From all angles possible, I want to consider what is happening within our online world and what those changes mean.
And I want you to do it with me.
Join me.
If you are what you consider a “social media” person, then you know there is far more to this than another fad or hobby. This is a new way of existing. The words we use, like “evangelist”, say a lot about how we really feel. We know this is big. We know nothing will ever be the same.
Through your interactions with me through various social media, we will collectively give birth to a new branch of philosophy. As I have said many times, I will settle for nothing less than a new renaissance, and I want every single one of you to help it happen.
Within this, we have the chance to make history, to create a social media philosophy by using social media. A lot of people have talked about this, hinted at it, and now the time is ripe. It is time to do what we do best.
Create. Share. Debate. Discuss. Collaborate.
Stay tuned.
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I don't think anyone should be surprised the the social web is no smarter than the masses it'd made up of. By the logic above, which I agree makes sense, Web 2.0 should be akin to us rushing through the trees shouting alerts calls to each other (tweets?) and picking knats out of our hair.
Not that this is a problem. Clearly our Social mind is infantile and can be reduced to some our core emotions: fear, desire for sex, desire for communication, desire for recognition. But there is also this push to grow and mature.
Even the borg need a queen.