Are we living in a transparency society?
Byung-Chul Han describes our society as a Transparency Society. It’s a concept that has stayed with me during my last three months in New Zealand, where removed from a pseudo state of delirium that I found to characterize many of the inhabitants of the city of Amsterdam, I began to read about philosophy. I was in San Giminiano, Italy, when at the Illustrolibreria I stumbled upon Hegel's “The Need for Philosophy” edited by Christian Belli and Jamila M.H. Mascat. Hegel describes philosophy as a deep and irrepressible need of the human being, an instance that is strongly rooted in his nature. This need, according to Hegel is an existential necessity. Humans feel the need to understand the world around them, to make sense of experience, and to resolve the contradictions that arise in their daily lives. And today, never before have we constantly questioned the meaning of the experience we are having when even the steadiest pillars that have carried our society forward are slowly beginning to crumble.
Lately, I've been getting into Byung-Chul Han's work, reading and listening his thesis. His books, The Burnout Society (2010) and The Transparency Society (2012) offer an accurate critique of the contemporary social and economic system without looking away from the need for each of us to be part of it and live with dignity. Byung-Chul Han describes our society as a transparency society because it privileges openness and connection as core values, rooted in a culture characterized by digital diffusion and mutual voyeurism, i.e. the tendency to observe the lives of others. A society where sharing is everything, and without it its constituents almost seem and feel they are not even alive. According to Han's analysis, this tendency leads to a devaluation of true intimacy and human connection, which require a continuous game of revealing and concealing.
Byung-Chul Han posits that a society fixated on transparency inherently becomes one focused on performance. This is because only visible actions can be measured, and only measurable actions can be optimized. When our lives become entirely observable, competitive mechanisms are triggered that would not exist without constant comparison with others. As I share TikTok carousels reassuring my followers that they're not falling behind in life, I find myself flooded with messages from lost, anxiety-eaten young people. Not surprisingly, it is hard to wake up as in checkpoints, lined up in competition with X billions other people.
It is inevitable to feel behind, to feel that we are not doing or being enough. Every day we find ourselves bombarded with tangible confirmations of others' successes, successes that are exhibited and measured with precision, creating this continual subtle sense of pressure. Added to this is the most powerful weapon ever invented by neoliberalism: the mantra of “You can be whatever you want, it's all in your hands.” This seemingly motivating narrative pushes us in a rather forced direction: we can either plunge into the red ocean of competition or find ourselves excluded, feeling perpetually inadequate and insufficient. But after all, what are we really chasing?
Another major flaw in the Transparency Society according to Han is that in a system where everything is visible, the concept of trust begins to wobble, as trust is based on uncertainty and the acceptance of risk. Trust inherently involves an element of the unknown, as we cannot fully ascertain every aspect of another's intentions, actions, or thoughts. In the society of transparency, trust is replaced by surveillance and control, where individuals slowly become fully visible to authorities or organizations in the broader sense. This way they can exercise different levels of manipulation and control based on the information shared.
If the opposite of competition is collaboration as the opposite of control is trust, then the dynamics that can help us address some of the breaking points in our system are clear. The ability to be together, to conversate, to collaborate, and to trust are all antidotes to a slight sickness of living. Creating spaces for genuine connection and exchange is challenging when we are all more or less stuck in narcissistic tendencies that slowly rob us of our ability to give in a non-transactional way. However, I think there are all the resources out there to create collective spaces that bring an alternative vision to life for those who are seeking it. Spaces dedicated to dialogue, channels for creative expression, collectives that move multiple bodies in unison and that can serve as reference points for those who feel lost.
