ONLINE: Language After Technology: From Simulation to Liquid Meaning

After examining Ellul and Baudrillard - both of whom lay out how technological mediation erodes authentic meaning and replaces lived reality with systems of signs - we next shift from language as technological artifact to language as a cultural-moral environment. Scholars Isaiah Berlin, Zygmunt Bauman, and Neil Postman, in different ways, focus on how language shapes the conditions of freedom, moral life, and public culture.

Berlin brings forward the problem of plural moral vocabularies and what is lost when conceptual diversity is narrowed or managed. Bauman offers a sociological perspective on the “liquid” character of contemporary meaning - unstable, rapidly shifting, and easily co-opted. Postman ties these concerns to media ecology, showing that every technological form generates its own epistemology and reshapes how public discourse is conducted.

Taken together, these thinkers allow us to explore how technological mediation does not merely alter what language expresses but transforms the very conditions under which meaning is created, contested, and sustained. This week, we will trace how plural vocabularies (Berlin), liquid meaning (Bauman), and media environments (Postman) converge to shape the landscape of language - one increasingly influenced by digital systems, algorithmic filtering, and AI-generated language. We hope you’ll join us this Sunday for this interesting discussion!

READING MATERIALS
Isaiah Berlin - The Crooked Timber of Humanity, opening essay, “The Pursuit of the Ideal” (1990)
https://isaiah-berlin.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2018-09/Bib.196%20-%20Pursuit%20of%20the%20Ideal%20by%20Isaiah%20Berlin_1.pdf
Zygmunt Bauman - Liquid Modernity (2000)
https://easysociology.com/general-sociology/understanding-the-concept-of-liquid-modernity-in-sociology/
Or
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_modernity
Neil Postman - Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technopoly

TIMEZONES
For our members in other states:
6:00 AM Pacific Time USA
7:00 AM Mountain Time USA
8:00 AM Central Time USA
9:00 AM Eastern Time USA
In other countries, please convert time using this free tool:
https://www.worldtimebuddy.com
The meeting starts at 9:00AM Eastern Time. After 15 minutes of chat, the presentation starts at 9:15AM sharp.

ZOOM INFO:
CLICK TO JOIN - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83190269900?pwd=Jj1lbWLo3sdhWL830ba4NoF66liJvB.1

This group is a combined meeting of the Orlando Stoics and Plato’s Cave members. We enjoy open-minded, respectful conversations. If we differ in our opinions, then "we agree to disagree.” The long-term goal is to expand our minds via group discussions.

This meeting is free and open to the public.