Blog 3

The reading that engaged and interested me the most was Dreyfus’ On the Internet, Chapter 4, where he discusses the “leveling,” where all information becomes equal in the eyes of observers. Dreyfus begins by talking about Kierkegaard’s disdain for The Press. He explains that the press and its ability to disseminate information to the masses give every person the ability to hold an opinion on matters that they have no firsthand knowledge of. They are able to hold a “God-like” view of worldly things and simultaneously hold them at a great distance. Not only are they given a birds-eye view of popular to topics but all the topics are being discussed with equal emphasis. No piece of information is given priority or considered less important than any other. He proposes that this leveling creates apathy to information where all information is horded for the sake gaining more interesting information with no purpose. He says that the seeking of information becomes a means of avoiding boredom but that by trying to subdue boredom in this was people ascend into despair in the Aesthetic Sphere. The internet, Dreyfus says, is the place to perfect the ascent into the Aesthetic Sphere where “nothing is too trivial” and “something interesting is only a click away.” Dreyfus goes on to explain the Kierkegaard’s Ethical Sphere where people are able to anonymously devote themselves to causes and ideas without making any real commitments by using the internet as their medium for their actions. This sphere reminds me of the reading we have done on the role of the internet on the social revolutions where people are able to stay at home and do nothing but get the feeling that they are helping to fight for a cause by “liking” a Facebook page or by changing the color of their profile picture. People by way of the internet are able to feel like they are fighting for revolution while remaining safely at their computer where they can “help” many causes at once which are only a hyperlink away.

Dreyfus’ article reminded me of how many hours I have mindlessly spent stumbling all over the internet in search of interesting information but always feeling like it was dull and how arrogantly I was able to sneer at one pages content and go on to the next where I might just as easily internalize some piece of information that came from a nobody who might have no real basis of their knowledge except another website. Thanks in part to this article I’ve put a stop to the mindless and aimless web browsing that was driving me to ennui. It’s also helped me put together something I was coming on to, which is that I have lost having a serious goal. I’d put up generic short term goals that would simply lead to more indecision in my life.