The digital death drive
Jan De Vos · 2020
This introductory chapter distils the issue of the digitalisation of (inter)subjectivity into a simple question: what will become of us? Apropos the argument that we have entered the digicenic age (the age of coding) with digital capitalism and its commodification of (inter)subjectivity, the chapter subsequently asks: should we bring in psychologists and neuroscientists to explain where we are heading to? However, while, at first, it appears that the Internet itself poses as a psychologist, knowing you via your clicks and likes, closer examination reveals that a lot of (neuro)psychology is scripted into the virtual via underlying algorithms. Consequently, this book argues that the very theories and models that are used to explain the Internet are those that were used to build and design it! To surmount the deadlock of circular explanations, a critique of (neuro)psychologisation within digitalisation is necessary. This chapter showcases this by engaging critically with Elon Musk’s psychologising philanthropic fantasies. However, Musk’s idea that the digital signals the death knell for humanity should be taken seriously, albeit I argue that Musk’s Neuralink project is itself part of the digital death drive, which, rather than bringing about the death of humanity, turns us into undead digital zombies.