One of the most exciting features of the Digital Habitat is that it inches up the human capacity of doing things at a distance, remotely, and by that, we are creating the infamous “global village”, but, frankly, I do not like the term coined by Marshall McLuhan quite as much as I like the term “telepolis”. Telepolis is much better suited to describe the phenomenon, since it contains the prefix “tele”, that means in ancient Greek têle, “at a distance, far off, far away, far from” and “polis”, a body of citizens, a self-governed, autonomous and independent city-state. The telepolis is the virtual city where we all live and where we stroll down the avenues and back alleys when we are on-line. Actually, we do a lot of stuff there already. We talk, meet, shop, play, watch movies and go to see shows and artworks. The more I think about it, the more it becomes clear that there is a lot of stuff that we do in real life, that is actually virtual. No wonder that on-line gaming is so popular, because game-play is, by default, the virtual activity par excellence, inasmuch as it is - disembodied - simulation. In a way, we can say that those blue, red and green pawn figurines on our board games are, in fact, the first avatars. If you have ever seen a 6-year-old losing in ludo king, or a day trader losing big at the stock exchange, it becomes clear that the real-life impact of a virtual activity can be very strong. Woody Allen said: “I hate reality but it's still the best place to get a good steak.” I’m not sure if that is an accurate description of the “place”, since “to get” a steak is not the same as “to eat” it. Honestly, it’s probably easier to get a steak in the telepolis than in reality, since most of us would rather prefer to buy it than to hunt or to breed cattle and slice up an animal - in order to get to the steak. Yes, I know, before the internet, we went to the local delicatessen or to the restaurant and paid our steak in cash. Most of us still do that in exactly the same fashion, today. But increasingly, everything that is not strictly an activity that involves your own body, like eating, can be done in the telepolis. You are hungry, you go on-line, order a steak, pay with paypal and wait for the delivery. All you have to do then is wolf it down. In the telepolis, your avatar is doing all these things at your command. Gobbling up your steak is the one and only thing you don’t want to outsource to him. That means, eating your steak is your "telos", your goal, aim and purpose. To be able to do things at a distance has always been a huge advantage. The "telum", Latin for "lance, spear" must have been an enormous advancement in terms of weaponry. Well, if you were able to use it properly: Coordination of sight, hand and arm movement and kinetic energy, combined with a great ability of measuring distances, all of this was crucial to hit the mark, while you could stay at a relatively safe distance from your adversary. There was a catch, of course. If you missed your target, your enemy could pick up the spear and use it against you. Today, in the digital habitat, this can happen all the same. Miss the mark and people will throw it back at you. Your avatar, aka your digital "telum" can be active 24/7 while you are sleeping, eating, having extended bathroom sessions, etc. Ideally, as long as you are in the telepolis, this activity goes seamless without any interference of the Real, but in the end - for better or worse - with very real consequences, depending on your "telos".
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AuthorThomas Behrens Visual Communication is not only taking part in the digital transformation - actively and passively - he will also reflect on it. Hence the blog. Archives
January 2021
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