Citation:Christodoulou, Marina. “Technopolis as the Technologised Kingdom of God. Fun as Technology, Technology as Religion in the 21st Century. God sive Fun.” Cahiers d'études germaniques N° 74, 2018. La religion au XXIe siècle - Perpectives et enjeux de la discussion autour d'une société post-séculière. Études reunites par Sébastian Hüsch et Max Marcuzzi, 119-132. -/- -------- -/- Neil Postman starts his book Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1993)1 with a quote from Paul Goodman’s New Reformation: “Whether or not (...) it draws on new scientific research, technology is a branch of moral philosophy, not of science.” (Postman 1993: motto; Goodman 2010: 40). I would extend Postman’s Technopoly to Technopolis, to give it more of a presence in time and space. Hence, I will use the term Technopoly when I am referring to Postman; the term Technopolis is my own. -/- In his book From Faith to Fun: The Secularisation of Humour, Russel Heddendorf argues that humour is a technology (Heddendorf 2009: 32-34), as it is understood and theorized by Neil Postman in Technopoly. Russel Heddendorf also argues that “Technopoly” is a term correlated with Wittgenstein’s use of the term “worldview” (Weltanschauung) (Heddendorf 2009: 11). -/- I would like to draw on these thoughts to propose that Technopoly (or Technopolis) could be the secularized Kingdom of God, namely that Technology is the Religion of the 21st century, and that Fun is a paradigm of such a Technology / Technique. God is yet another technique or Technology of and in Technopoly. -/- The godless individual in the 21st century, I will argue, is as much a believer as the faithful in the Sacred Religion (term used in opposition to Secular or rather Technological or Technologized Religion, which is Fun). He believes in Fun (as a post-modern form of pleasure), as much as the believer believes, or more accurately, believed in God. In the 21st century, the faithful in Sacred Religion believes in a fun God, as opposed to the serious God of the past. Fun is turning into the Technologized Religion for all; for the faithful in Godly / Sacred Religion, as well for as the unfaithful. Fun (pleasure, humour) is the definitive qualia of 21st century pleasure. The mechanics of Fun make it absolutely functional for controlling people; as Aldous Huxley wrote in Brave New World, people “are controlled by inflicting pleasure” (cited in Heddendorf 2009: 158). Now, indulging in pleasure is having Fun. In the 21st century, nobody is unfaithful, nobody disputes God, because God has been manufactured into Fun. We are living in the most religious century of all. -/- The commodity of God, now inextricably blended into work and leisure ethics and culture, is as unavoidable as survival. You don’t work, you don’t survive, you don’t exist. You work, you are entitled to leisure, or free time – the time (“busy-time”) when you are busy is work. The free time of leisure (“fun-time”) is a time for fun (pleasure). The time dedicated to Fun is culturally (capitalistically) pre-defined; no moment is actually free, each moment that is sold as free is to be bought with Work Time tokens –which is money. Believe is Enjoy. Happiness, achieved through pleasure, and pleasure through Fun, and Life as Play, is the recipe for Teleology in the 21st century. -/- The Technological God (Fun), as the Sacred God before him, is sovereignty’s technique or a social “mode of release”: demonstrations, marches, petitions, freedom of speech, citizen and human rights vindications, are “modes of release”, so that the next day, feeling relieved and released that you are working for a better life and a better world, you can wake up cheerfully to walk to your workplace, feeling it will change because of your marching, or your petition, or your speech, or the mass you attended, or the prayer you said yesterday. Thus life continues unchanging, through postponing hope; the tension of the tragedy is always released (lysis) in catharsis: refreshment for the next day of work. Art, especially cinema, (namely, simulated life) follows the same cathartic principles as real life. Thus, you can keep coping, and hoping in the meantime is of much help. Religion, Art, Science, Therapy, and Technology are all technologies used to market life, sell it or lend it, and humans are buying it back. Fun is free to produce, and expensive to buy. (shrink)

What, if anything, is problematic about the involvement of celebrities in democratic politics? While a number of theorists have criticized celebrity involvement in politics (Meyer 2002; Mills 1957; Postman 1987) none so far have examined this issue using the tools of social epistemology, the study of the effects of social interactions, practices and institutions on knowledge and belief acquisition. This paper will draw on these resources to investigate the issue of celebrity involvement in politics, specifically as this involvement relates (...) to democratic theory and its implications for democratic practice. We will argue that an important and underexplored form of power, which we will call epistemic power, can explain one important way in which celebrity involvement in politics is problematic. This is because unchecked uses and unwarranted allocations of epistemic power, which celebrities tend to enjoy, threaten the legitimacy of existing democracies and raise important questions regarding core commitments of deliberative, epistemic, and plebiscitary models of democratic theory. We will finish by suggesting directions that democratic theorists could pursue when attempting to address some of these problems. (shrink)

The second volume of “Advancing Uncertain Combinatorics through Graphization, Hyperization, and Uncertainization: Fuzzy, Neutrosophic, Soft, Rough, and Beyond” presents a deep exploration of the progress in uncertain combinatorics through innovative methodologies like graphization, hyperization, and uncertainization. This volume integrates foundational concepts from fuzzy, neutrosophic, soft, and rough set theory, among others, to further advance the field. Combinatorics and set theory, two central pillars of mathematics, focus on counting, arrangement, and the study of collections under defined rules. Combinatorics excels in handling (...) uncertainty, while set theory has evolved with concepts such as fuzzy and neutrosophic sets, which enable the modeling of complex real-world uncertainties by addressing truth, indeterminacy, and falsehood. These advancements, when combined with graph theory, give rise to novel forms of uncertain sets in "graphized" structures, including hypergraphs and superhypergraphs. Innovations such as Neutrosophic Oversets, Undersets, and Offsets, as well as the Nonstandard Real Set, build upon traditional graph concepts, pushing both theoretical and practical boundaries. The synthesis of combinatorics, set theory, and graph theory in this volume provides a robust framework for addressing the complexities and uncertainties inherent in both mathematical and real-world systems, paving the way for future research and application. In the first chapter, “A Review of the Hierarchy of Plithogenic, Neutrosophic, and Fuzzy Graphs: Survey and Applications”, the authors investigate the interrelationships among various graph classes, including Plithogenic graphs, and explore other related structures. Graph theory, a fundamental branch of mathematics, focuses on networks of nodes and edges, studying their paths, structures, and properties. A Fuzzy Graph extends this concept by assigning a membership degree between 0 and 1 to each edge and vertex, representing the level of uncertainty. The Turiyam Neutrosophic Graph is introduced as an extension of both Neutrosophic and Fuzzy Graphs, while Plithogenic graphs offer a potent method for managing uncertainty. The second chapter, “Review of Some Superhypergraph Classes: Directed, Bidirected, Soft, and Rough”, examines advanced graph structures such as directed superhypergraphs, bidirected hypergraphs, soft superhypergraphs, and rough superhypergraphs. Classical graph classes include undirected graphs, where edges lack orientation, and directed graphs, where edges have specific directions. Recent innovations, including bidirected graphs, have sparked ongoing research and significant advancements in the field. Soft Sets and their extension to Soft Graphs provide a flexible framework for managing uncertainty, while Rough Sets and Rough Graphs address uncertainty by using lower and upper approximations to handle imprecise data. Hypergraphs generalize traditional graphs by allowing edges, or hyperedges, to connect more than two vertices. Superhypergraphs further extend this by allowing both vertices and edges to represent subsets, facilitating the modeling of hierarchical and group-based relationships. The third chapter, “Survey of Intersection Graphs, Fuzzy Graphs, and Neutrosophic Graphs”, explores the intersection graph models within the realms of Fuzzy Graphs, Intuitionistic Fuzzy Graphs, Neutrosophic Graphs, Turiyam Neutrosophic Graphs, and Plithogenic Graphs. The chapter highlights their mathematical properties and interrelationships, reflecting the growing number of graph classes being developed in these areas. Intersection graphs, such as Unit Square Graphs, Circle Graphs, and Ray Intersection Graphs, are crucial for understanding complex graph structures in uncertain environments. The fourth chapter, “Fundamental Computational Problems and Algorithms for SuperHyperGraphs”, addresses optimization problems within the SuperHypergraph framework, such as the SuperHypergraph Partition Problem, Reachability, and Minimum Spanning SuperHypertree. The chapter also adapts classical problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem and the Chinese Postman Problem to the SuperHypergraph context, exploring how hypergraphs, which allow hyperedges to connect more than two vertices, can be used to solve complex hierarchical and relational problems. The fifth chapter, “A Short Note on the Basic Graph Construction Algorithm for Plithogenic Graphs”, delves into algorithms designed for Plithogenic Graphs and Intuitionistic Plithogenic Graphs, analyzing their complexity and validity. Plithogenic Graphs model multi-valued attributes by incorporating membership and contradiction functions, offering a nuanced representation of complex relationships. The sixth chapter, “Short Note of Bunch Graph in Fuzzy, Neutrosophic, and Plithogenic Graphs”, generalizes traditional graph theory by representing nodes as groups (bunches) rather than individual entities. This approach enables the modeling of both competition and collaboration within a network. The chapter explores various uncertain models of bunch graphs, including Fuzzy Graphs, Neutrosophic Graphs, Turiyam Neutrosophic Graphs, and Plithogenic Graphs. In the seventh chapter, “A Reconsideration of Advanced Concepts in Neutrosophic Graphs: Smart, Zero Divisor, Layered, Weak, Semi, and Chemical Graphs”, the authors extend several fuzzy graph classes to Neutrosophic graphs and analyze their properties. Neutrosophic Graphs, a generalization of fuzzy graphs, incorporate degrees of truth, indeterminacy, and falsity to model uncertainty more effectively. The eighth chapter, “Short Note of Even-Hole-Graph for Uncertain Graph”, focuses on Even-Hole-Free and Meyniel Graphs analyzed within the frameworks of Fuzzy, Neutrosophic, Turiyam Neutrosophic, and Plithogenic Graphs. The study investigates the structure of these graphs, with an emphasis on their implications for uncertainty modeling. The ninth chapter, “Survey of Planar and Outerplanar Graphs in Fuzzy and Neutrosophic Graphs”, explores planar and outerplanar graphs, as well as apex graphs, within the contexts of fuzzy, neutrosophic, Turiyam Neutrosophic, and plithogenic graphs. The chapter examines how these types of graphs are used to model uncertain parameters and relationships in mathematical and real-world systems. The tenth chapter, “General Plithogenic Soft Rough Graphs and Some Related Graph Classes”, introduces and explores new concepts such as Turiyam Neutrosophic Soft Graphs and General Plithogenic Soft Graphs. The chapter also examines models of uncertain graphs, including Fuzzy, Intuitionistic Fuzzy, Neutrosophic, and Plithogenic Graphs, all designed to handle uncertainty in diverse contexts. The eleventh chapter, “Survey of Trees, Forests, and Paths in Fuzzy and Neutrosophic Graphs”, provides a comprehensive study of Trees, Forests, and Paths within the framework of Fuzzy and Neutrosophic Graphs. This chapter focuses on classifying and analyzing graph structures like trees and paths in uncertain environments, contributing to the ongoing development of graph theory in the context of uncertainty. (shrink)

CATEGORY: Philosophy play; historical fiction; comedy; social criticism. -/- STORYLINE: Tim, a physics professor with a certain taste for young female university students, recently got a new appointment at a London university. But, as it turns out, he is still unsatisfied. Why? Is it because Rachael unexpectedly left him under strange circumstances? Or does it have to do with his sudden departure from another university? Or is it his research? When Tim meets Christianus for a brown-bag discussion on philosophy and (...) science, new facts and perspectives are revealed. -/- TOPICS: In the course of the play, Tim and Christianus discuss different metaphysical, epistemological, and ontological ideas. Many of these are either related to isssues in the philosophy of science (explanation, methodology, scientific investigation, etc.), or to issues in human psychology and the philosophy of mind (the self vs. the mind, dualism, ‘Who am I?’, etc.). In one scene, for example, Tim tries to invoke ‘Ockham’s Razor’ (or ‘Occam’s Razor’) to quickly dismiss some of Christianus’s metaphysical ideas (see Scene VII: Ockham’s Raisin; Scene XIII: The Raisin Tale Revisited); in another scene, Christianus introduces his ‘Postman’ scenario, and the idea that successful (‘scientific’) prediction or forecasting is not necessarily a sure sign of true understanding (see Scene XV: The Postman Always Turns Twice). -/- NOTES: This work features elaborate footnotes and comments (including full bibliographical references) by the author, to enhance the reader's experience of the play and its philosophizing characters. (shrink)

Overview of challenges facing philosophical analyses of experience in the face of life with constant connection, social media, and data mining.