"Contemplative lingering, dwelling on things, which is a recipe for happiness, will be completely replaced by the hunt for information." (Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive)

We have entered a new sort of hunter-gatherer stage, one in which information and data are the objects of our hunt. We save information, take photos, screenshots, article clippings, etc.—with little discrimination, hoarding it all in our increasingly consumptive digital storehouses. But as Han writes here, this sort of mindless collecting is devoid of the thrill and joy that comes with skillfully hunting down your intended prey. Our constant and immediate access to information leaves us unchanged. As comedian, Pete Holmes deftly put it, "the time between knowing and not knowing is so brief that knowing feels exactly like not knowing. So life is meaningless."

There is, as I have suggested before, a value in knowing how to learn things. Our brains benefit from simply having time to reflect on a problem or challenge. It's why going for a walk to think things through or even having uninterrupted time in the shower can be so beneficial. When we reduce that lingering time, we deprive our brains of something essential to what makes us human. I also think losing that reflective space is also, in part, what is driving this mass mental health crisis.

Want a small way you can fight back against all of this? Go for a walk—and leave your phone at home.

"This new form of rule does not force us to be silent. Rather, it constantly asks us to communicate, to participate, to express our opinions, desires, wishes and preferences—even to narrate our lives."

(Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive)

Han makes note of a census attempt in Western Germany in the 1980s that was met with loud pushback, even protest. People felt the questions were too personal and boycotted it. This resulted in a pause and then revised census.

Today, however, people give over all sorts of personal information with barely a second thought. We are, in Han's view, building our own prison—a form of digital totalitarianism—one that is increasingly exploiting every area of our lives.

"There is no cooperative, networked multitude that could serve as a global protest movement and revolutionary body. Rather, the current form of production is based on the solitary, isolated, disconnect entrepreneur of the self. It used to be the case that, although enterprises competed with each other, there was solitary within each enterprise. Today, everyone is in competition with everyone else, even within a single enterprise. This universal competition may lead to an enormous increase in productivity, but it destroys solidarity and the sense of community. You cannot form a revolutionary mass our of depressive, disconnected individuals."

(Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive)

This touches on one of my favourite problems, how do we build around cooperation rather than competition and it's one I don't have a good answer for. Han addresses the way cooperation under capitalism has been commodified as well. The rise of the sharing economy, in which access rather than ownership became the model, is still based on competition. Look to the rise of all the different food delivery apps as an example. Each of them employs clever (and costly) advertising to win the consumer. Han notes that it also puts this "sharing" behind a paywall. You still need money in order to borrow from these services. Those who lack are left out.

"Out of the oppressed worker, neoliberalism creates the free entrepreneur, the entrepreneur of the self. Today, everyone is a self-exploiting worker in his own enterprise. Everyone is both master and slave. The class struggle has been transformed into an internal struggle against oneself. Those who fail blame themselves and feel ashamed. People see themselves, rather than society, as the problem.”

(Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive)

I've long felt that one of the central myths of capitalism is this idea that anyone can make it. Sort of like living in a hockey town in Canada, everyone knows someone who did, just to make it feel almost accessible. The system is propped up and defended even by those it exploits because they buy into this myth.

I like what Han is saying here: that the neoliberal system has also solidified itself against resistance by making it a struggle against the self. Those who don't 'make it' under capitalism blame something about themselves. They're not working hard enough, they made a bad investment choice, their career just hasn't taken off yet. This is why I think capitalism thrives off our guilt.

That said, as we watch whatever late-stage capitalism is becoming, we can certainly see the way anger is being weaponized against others. This could be the result of rage being commodified and a primary driver in the attention economy. Docility somewhat goes out the window when anger sells so well.

"Every political revolution must be preceded by a revolution of consciousness, one that gives death back to life. The revolution must create an awareness of the fact that life is only truly alive when there is an exchange with death."

From 'Capitalism and the Death Drive', Byung-Chul Han