L.M. Sacasas: The Questions Concerning Technology

Episode 135
I spoke with L. M. Sacasas (substack.com/profile/1810437-l-m-sacasas) about:
* His writing and intellectual influences
* The value of asking hard questions about technology and our relationship to it
* What happens when we decide to outsource skills and competency
* Evolving notions of what it means to be human and questions about how to live a good life
Enjoy—and let me know what you think!
Michael is Executive Director of the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, Florida and author of The Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and society.
He does some of the best writing on technology I’ve had the pleasure to read, and I highly recommend his newsletter.
Find me on Twitter (twitter.com/spaniel_bashir) for updates on new episodes, and reach me at editor@thegradient.pub for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions.
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Outline:
* (00:00) Intro
* (01:12) On podcasts as a medium
* (06:12) Michael’s writing
* (12:38) Michael’s intellectual influences, contingency
* (18:48) Moral seriousness
* (22:00) Michael’s ambitions for his work
* (26:17) The value of asking the right questions (about technology)
* (34:18) Technology use and the “natural” pace of human life
* (46:40) Outsourcing of skills and competency, engagement with others
* (55:33) Inevitability narratives and technological determinism, the “Borg Complex”
* (1:05:10) Notions of what it is to be human, embodiment
* (1:12:37) Higher cognition vs. the body, dichotomies
* (1:22:10) The body as a starting point for philosophy, questions about the adoption of new technologies
* (1:30:01) Enthusiasm about technology and the cultural milieu
* (1:35:30) Projectivism, desire for knowledge about and control of the world
* (1:41:22) Positive visions for the future
* (1:47:11) Outro
Links:
* Michael’s Substack: The Convivial Society (open.substack.com/pub/theconvivialsociety) and his book, The Frailest Thing: Ten Years of Thinking about the Meaning of Technology (lmsacasas.gumroad.com/l/CWRfq)
* Michael’s Twitter (x.com/LMSacasas)
* Essays
* Humanist Technology Criticism (thefrailestthing.com/2015/07/09/humanistic-tec…)
* What Does the Critic Love? (thefrailestthing.com/2012/07/07/what-does-the-…)
* The Ambling Mind (theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/the-ambling…)
* Waste Your Time, Your Life May Depend On It (theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/waste-your-…)
* The Work of Art (theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/the-work-of…)
* The Stuff of (a Well-Lived) Life (theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/the-stuff-o…)

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