Beyond the Digital

1
Beyond the Digital

• Rafael Capurro
• VIPER 99 Symposium
• Cut Copy

2
Contents

• Changing views
• Perception as world construction
• The real is the digital
• Beyond the digital

3
Changing views
matter
gods
spirit
what is real?
water
creatures
idea
actuality
4
Perception as world construction
The real is a thing (res) constructed by
perception and thinking out of the given (data)
(Kant)
Unthinking things have no existence out of the
mind of thinking things. Their esse is percipi
(Berkeley)
5
The real is the digital
Thinking is information processing. Things are
programs
What is, is what is digital. Esse est computari
What is, is what is digitally constructed. Esse
est informari
6
Beyond the digital
Spectrality
7
Beyond the digital
Being in cyberspace not just computation

• eliminating time and space

• eliminating body and matter

• doing things with words

8
Beyond the digital

• Being digital a ghostly feeling
• Our being in time is present-oriented
• Our being in space is global-oriented
• Our being with others is ghost-oriented
• Our being on earth is construction-oriented

9
Is the world after all just a dream?
Reality is vanishing
There is a lot of media-smog in the air
Ghostly technology is dreaming us
There is a lot of suffering, hunger and hate
10
?