The Inauthentically Exhibitionist Technological Age

Exhibitionism is a key tendency in the technological age today: the technological age involves products that don't just use technology, but actively flaunt the inner technology in use. We have those rudimentary Apple computers which had see-through plastic exteriors that made the wiring and machinery visible. At that point in history, Apple's technology was not so advanced that they would want to genuinely flaunt it, rather, the exhibition of the wiring was done to create the fantasy of complexity. A lot of the sophisticated knowledge about devices today is at the level of wiring and not the 'sub-wiring' level, this is done in order to try and curb the effects of a more intense exhibitionist logic that would not have stopped at revealing the level of the wiring alone. Our impulses to destroy fragile wiring and machines is curbed by a fascinating knowledge of the wiring level. 

The dissection of frogs in biology is not relevant to learn about the frog, but rather we dissect frogs to prepare for the manipulation of the wiring of machines; but it is more a preparation for assembly-line technology-related jobs rather than advanced “bio-tech” jobs. The rise of the technological age has brought about changes in the education system that go beyond simple changes to the subject of "computer science," but impact all other subjects of study, especially all the sciences. Indeed, in an ironic vein, computer science itself seems to fall behind in the technological age.

The real logic of exhibitionism is not content with the revealing of naked flesh, but rather, beyond that, the revealing of the internal organs and ultimately the continuous “cutting up” of the outer layers that serve as clothing to reveal another layer of clothing within. It is “clothing all the way in” when it comes to exhibitionism, there is no truer authentic reality to reveal. The initial fascination with the insides of a computer must therefore be moderated by the understanding of the logic of exhibitionism: that the technology they see is not the more important, more serious, final reality. We are, in other words, inauthentic exhibitionists when it comes to our fascination with wiring.

Perhaps there will come a time when the exhibitionist logic gets so intense that the machines are broken apart, smashed and damaged, when we move beyond the fascination with their wiring and try to go deeper and deeper within the surface. Machines will eventually be seen in this scenario as "damage-prone" as they tempt us to destroy their exterior to look inside. Perhaps this exhibitionism towards the devices will outweigh our considerations of their “use-value.” A post-technological age could then begin.