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The Crisis of Narration by Byung-Chul Han review – how big tech altered the narrative | Philosophy books | The Guardian

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From Instagram to health apps, the modern world no longer allows for rich and complex storytelling argues the philosopher in an entertaining polemic that’s short on humility I n Charlie Kaufman’s puppet animation Anomalisa, everyone looks and speaks the same. It’s as though a scene in an earlier Kaufman-penned film, Being John Malkovich, in which Malkovich surveys a restaurant from his table and notices everyone – waiters, diners, perhaps even a passing dog – have his face and voice, has gone global. No one is immune: at one point, the mouth of the narrator, a motivational speaker called Michael Stone, falls from his face into his hands and chatters away all by itself. The guru’s improving homilies are so artificially intelligent, predictable and effectively transhuman, that they need no warming body or soul to sustain them. But that’s not the worst of it. Each puppet is incessantly enjoined by life coaches and other professional fascists to express their individuality. But how can the

Byung-Chul Han: ‘He writes as though he’s never been contradicted.’ Photograph: Album/Alamy View image in fullscreen Byung-Chul Han: ‘He writes as though he’s never been contradicted.’ Photograph: Album/Alamy Philosophy books This article is more than 2 years old Review The Crisis of Narration by Byung-Chul Han review – how big tech altered the narrative This article is more than 2 years old From Instagram to health apps, the modern world no longer allows for rich and complex storytelling argues the philosopher in an entertaining polemic that’s short on humility Stuart Jeffries Sun 18 Feb 2024

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