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cover of episode Ep. 357: What Worries the Internet’s Favorite Philosopher?

Ep. 357: What Worries the Internet’s Favorite Philosopher?

2025/6/16
logo of podcast Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Deep Questions with Cal Newport
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Byung-Chul Han
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Cal Newport
通过深度工作和数字极简主义等概念，推动人们重新思考工作方法和技术使用方式。
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Jesse
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Cal Newport: 我深入研究了韩炳哲的著作，他是一位备受欢迎的哲学家，以其对技术时代的深刻见解和警句式的写作风格而闻名。他的作品探讨了数字通信如何影响人际关系、尊重和公共领域。我挑选了他著作中的五个关键段落进行分析，分享了我对这些观点的看法，并探讨了它们在当今社会中的意义。我发现他的观点既有启发性，也有值得商榷之处，尤其是在互联网动态变化迅速的背景下。 Byung-Chul Han: (通过Cal Newport引用) 数字通信正在消除距离，导致心理距离的侵蚀，从而破坏了尊重。匿名交流加剧了不文明行为，而数字群体缺乏传统群体的灵魂和共同目标，难以产生真正的政治能量。新自由主义的绩效要求将时间转化为工作时间，数字设备通过将每个空间转化为工作空间，将所有时间转化为工作时间，从而使剥削更加有效。数字通信的病毒式传播缺乏信息内容，使其能够像流行病一样迅速蔓延。信息过载干扰了我们提炼事物本质的能力，思考需要否定性、辨别和选择。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Cal Newport discusses Byung-Chul Han's book "In the Swarm," focusing on five key passages. Han's work critiques the modern technological environment, examining issues like respect, outrage, work-life balance, virality, and information overload. Newport agrees with some of Han's points but also highlights areas where Han's analysis might not fully capture the evolving dynamics of the internet.
  • Byung-Chul Han's critiques of digital communication and its effects on respect, civility, and outrage are discussed.
  • Newport agrees with Han's concerns about anonymity and incivility online but disagrees on the impact of online outrage.
  • Han's critique of the "neoliberal imperative to perform" and its effects on work-life balance is analyzed, contrasting with Newport's functionalist perspective on pseudo-productivity.
  • Han's information theory of virality and its limitations are examined.
  • Han's concerns about information overload and its impact on thinking are discussed, relating to Newport's ideas on the art of thinking.

Shownotes Transcript

Few philosophers in recent memory have enjoyed as much attention as Byung-Chul Han. His mix of profundity and pithiness in tackling some of the big issues of the modern technical environment has made him “the internet’s new favorite philosopher” (to quote The New Yorker). But is he saying that is making such an impact? In this episode, Cal seeks to find out. He reports back on five of the biggest ideas he encountered reading Han’s 2017 book, IN THE SWARM. He then answers listener questions and concludes with a WHAT TO READ segment where he tackles a pair of competing articles on AI’s abilities.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo)

Video from today’s episode:  youtube.com/calnewportmedia)

Deep Dive: What Worries the Internet’s Favorite Philosopher? [3:50]

  • What’s Cal’s writing schedule when traveling? [29:26]- How do I adapt to new job duties after making partner? [31:44]- Should I do memory training? [33:22]- Can you explain how creativity and productivity are related? [36:16]- How do Cal’s responsibilities fit into his lifestyle-centric plan? [39:33]

CASE STUDY: A retiree adopts Cal’s principles [43:07]

CALL: Adventure work [46:13]

WHAT TO READ: Two Dueling Takes on AI’s Abilities [54:35]

Links:Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at calnewport.com/slowGet a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport)Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba?)theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/10/billion-dollar-ai-puzzle-break-down)scientificamerican.com/article/inside-the-secret-meeting-where-mathematicians-struggled-to-outsmart-ai/)arxiv.org/pdf/2504.01995)arxiv.org/pdf/2503.21934)

Thanks to our Sponsors:

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp:betterhelp.com/deepquestions)expressvpn.com/deep)shopify.com/deep)mybodytutor.com)

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering.