I admit …

I dare to wonder more philosophically, however [admittedly possibly because of this lacking knowledge]

Does this mean we duplicate reality? Or are we now going to hide real reality  behind faked reality?

Ops ….

the evening before the day I came across this sentence I went to a presentation that was part of the Ringvorlesung at the LMU, dealing with

Opportunities and Dangers [Möglichkeiten and Gefahren]

Topic that evening:

[here for the audio]

I can’t claim not being guilty myself, following this secular trend towards the homo qui faciunt multa simul, man as multitasking being – in short we may also say homo digitalis. Still, I m not sure if I really want to all with the lemmings, being perhaps at times the avant-garde of this crowed, loosing consciousness by too many consciously fed news and requirements and opportunities and connections ….

It is not the good old days, but it is about questioning, as I did in a short contribution to the debate that evening, the need to have TV news, with a ‘central news block’ – spoken words and film and photo, a ’ticker’ at the bottom, informing about an entirely different topic, a separated block on the one side with different news again and a ‘banner’ informing about the broadcast station, the time …. Do we need newspapers that spread little clippings on various topics, telling us at the beginning how long it takes to read the article …

Don’t we need more slow reading, beginning to read a text, putting the book or paper down to reflect? Don’t we need more talks after class with 仪, 考, 卫 and 予 delving into topics, teachers and students being partners? Don’t we need more time on the veranda, sitting after las reuniones en el edificio del gobierno, with very frank discussions, in the rocking chair in La Habana, near to Paseo e Linea y, chatting with Teresita, el doctor, Orietta or Geober about Che, Fidel and the book fair? …

Around that time when I read the article about augmented reality, after going to to presentation on faked news, I was also listening to some lectures by Hans-Georg Gadamer [yes, all downloadble from that augmented reality]. In one of them he mentions a remarkable development in philosophy: the dialogues in ancient Greece, later the Kantian and Hegelian monologues …. – and today …?

No, I do not suggest to turn the clocks back, but still I dare to confess: whenever I travelled, and some people say I did a lot, it was about teaching and leaning – and the most important learning took place in those disputes and dialogues …

Gadamer, in one of the lectures, makes other interesting point, talking about academic tests. He sys the really interesting question we can ask students – interesting in terms of ‘testing’ a student – is about something we do not know ourself …

 … homo qui faciunt multa simul, the homo digitalis – man as multitasking being …

Is there any reason for being surprised that there is no Latin term for multitasking?

Well, that is one of the points that we will have socialism before AI-ism: we still can ask questions, which computers only know answers, even if the answer is always 42.

As further reading the following two are recommended:

Aristotle ON LONGEVITY AND SHORTNESS OF LIFE

and

Seneca ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE

But don’t rush through it …