The (Modern) Thin Line Between Intellectual Freedom and Subjugation
Has the advance of technology moved society closer to freedom or the opposite?
So the story goes, in 1749 Paris, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was on his way to visit an imprisoned philosopher friend when he stumbled upon a magazine ad that would change his life and the course of history. Generally regarded as a mediocre composer and playwright until this point, Rousseau found an ad for an essay competition sponsored by the Academy of Dijon. The prompt:
“Has the restoration of the sciences and arts contributed to the purification of mores?”
Or as we now understand it: Has the enlightenment, its push for logic as King, and the scientific/artistic advancements related to it, pushed society to its greatest heights of morality and progress?
In 1750, Rousseau, the spiritual father of the future French Revolution, won the competition with a definitive “No.”
In bringing up the same question, some three-hundred and fifty years later, I would largely have to agree with Rousseau’s insofar timeless proclamation of “No,” while also noting that society today is very close to changing my answer to a “Yes.”
I will point to technological advancements with the internet and global instantaneous communication as the “restoration of the sciences and arts” from the question above. Certainly, technological advancements of the past century have allowed for rapid globalization, all-time high levels of information being available to the public, and breakthrough medical advances. Digital media has also allowed for the rapid spread of new art forms, notably the digital transfer of music and the massive photo sharing capabilities now available to every person with an internet connection.
Have these various advancements made for a more moral society? A society allowing for people to live on a higher plane of “freedom”?
No, not at this point. I believe, as Rousseau did in a sense, that the omnipresent push for greater “operational efficiency” and “more information” has crippled people under the weight of these pursuits. They do not have the free time or the ability to have the ambition to pursue more fulfilling exercises in life. The modern day-to-day has saddled the average person with a seemingly insurmountable mountain of minutia that forces this average person to maintain the status quo.
There are so many hoops to jump through in daily life in order to guarantee “future success.”
I would harken to Foucault’s infamous ideas on the discipline of society, which I propose are made even easier with recent advances in technology. Now with social media and a constant connectedness to the digital world, it is easier than ever to understand the social norms at place seemingly worldwide. The desire to fit in and take a place in society is stronger and clearer than ever.
From the minute you wake up in the morning, to the moment you close your eyes at night, you are constantly being bombarded with social cues and normalization. Every time you pick up your phone or check Facebook, society is keeping you from free thought. It is making you think about how you fit in with everybody else.
When are you are not on the internet, you are at school or work being taught and doing tangible activities that will lead to your hopefully greater stature in the modern wage-earning system…
“I see all over the place immense establishments where young people are raised at great expense to learn everything except their obligations.”
Rousseau
I do believe that society has an unprecedented opportunity to find the freedom which it seeks though. This information and connectedness has provided the average person with an understanding of the worlds goods and evils that was not possible generations ago. This ability to understand is present. The ambition to understand is clouded beneath the noise that I discussed above.
To philosophize regarding one’s true standing, apart from “society,” has been conditioned as being outside the normal range of behavior. In the face of the overwhelming power structures already in place, one must view oneself clearly and truly decide how one wants to live one’s life.
We all only have one life to live, and it is my opinion that we should live it for ourselves and not with lock-step movements for society’s greater power structures.
If it is even possible, you have to remove all the noise of the outside, all the social expectations, all the corrected behavior, all the potential ostracism, how do you want to live?
The opportunity for intellectual freedom is there, if not outright freedom. The thin line is there to be crossed, though it is by no means easy.
