A Brief Theory of Everything: Interobjective Ecologies
The evolution of knowledge can be seen as a development from Traditional views, to Modern, and then to Postmodern.
Traditionalism believed in historical precedent based on Western culture spanning back to the Romans and prehistory. This ontology came from the Greeks and was codified in Judeo-Christian doctrine. In the Enlightenment and the Industrial Age, culture transitioned to Modernism and liberal thought. The Traditional world was ‘flattened’ into an objective world of things. Science became the new metaphysics. A postindustrial economy brought Postmodernism and the framing of the world in terms of social interactions. Postmodernity focused its attention on social equity and social constructions. It assigned social ‘value’ to all ideas.
What is next after Postmodernity? Where do we go from here?
If Modernism was a thesis; a focus on objective knowledge, and Postmodernism was anthesis; a focus on intersubjective (social) knowledge, the next step is a synthesis between objective and intersubjective: “interobjective” knowledge. Interobjectivism is a focus on how social knowledge creates objective reality.
Interobjective is a term derived from psychology and means the nonconscious engagement in the course of social interaction that appears phenomenally objective for subjects. This field studies subject’s interaction with objects and separates knowledge phenomenally between things-in-itself and things-as-social constructs. This can be called ‘Interobjective Ecologies’ as people think they are living in an environment that is objectively true, but in fact have been socially constructed. A distinction can be made between ‘First Nature’ an environment before human intervention, and ‘Second Nature’ an environment created or modified by human action.
To understand this new ontology, the phases of Modern development must be understood.
In Traditional thought, there is Subject-Object relationship that is interactive and interdependent. This creates ‘Realism’, the idea that both the physical world, and the internal subjective world exist and are important. In Greek thought the statement ‘as above so below’ was used to show the objective world and subjective world include each other. In Christianity ‘man was made in the image of God’. Man was in God, and God in man. In Buddhist thought there is a ‘codependent arising’ of subject and object. A person’s lived experience, life, comes from a Subject-Object interaction.
Modernism breaks this subject-object relationship.
In Modernism since Kant, there emerges a distinction between Objective, Subjective, and Intersubjective knowledge. Objective information exists empirically in the world and is ‘true’ or not. Subjective information exists in the minds of people and is ‘beautiful’ (provoking emotion) or not. Intersubjective information exists in society and is ‘good’ or not. The dominance of science and empirical observation ‘flattened’ the world down into Objective knowledge; ‘Just the facts’. Knowledge was flattened down into science and became a system of objects. Science creates a model or map of empirical objects. The technology deployed is a map or model of the real. The model can be mathematical, geometric, or concept based. This is ‘Objective Idealism’ as the map replaces the real and represents an ideal condition, not reality as it exists. The map ‘flattens’ social knowledge and subjective knowledge into objective knowledge only.
Postmodernism was a critique of, and extension of Modernism.
Postmodernism tries to create a ‘theory of everything’ by reframing Objective knowledge as being part of socially constructed knowledge. Where science creates a map of the physical world, Postmodernism creates a map of the social world. This map include language, communication, socially constructed ideas like morality, and interactions between peoples. It focuses on equity and culture. It adds a system of values to determine what is ‘good’. The world is ‘flattened’ into Social Knowledge. This is called ‘Intersubjective Idealism’, maps and models of social interaction. It flattens down both the objective world of Modernity, and the subjective world of human experience down into socially constructed maps. The technology is a map or model of society. The model can be language, historical facts, economics, and social concepts.
Interobjectivism is the next logical step.
Interobjectivism is an object-society fusion where the subject cannot distinguish between different maps of meaning. Instead of a ‘System of Objects’ as in Modernism, or a ‘System of Social Relationships’ as in Postmodernism, there exists a ‘System of Phenomena’ that is indistinguishable from objective reality to the subject. The person exists in an ecosystem of objects that are socially constructed and must navigate them as if they are objectively real. The technology of this age is embedding maps or models into objective reality until there is no distinction between the map and reality: hyperreality.
For the individual to understand this new world, and not become totally unhinged from reality, there must be an understanding of their lived experience. This becomes a ‘System of Phenomena’. The individual must understand the difference between the various maps of meaning that produce their lived experience:
1. Objective Phenomena: Existing in the real world
2. Subjective Phenomena: Existing in the mind and emotions of the individual
3. Intersubjective (Social) Phenomena: Existing in society
4. Interobjective Phenomena: Existing in the ‘built environment’ and the abstract ‘digital environment’
Each system has its own logic. The logic of Objective information is ‘is it true?’. Is it empirically real? The logic of Intersubjective information is ‘is it good?’. Does it have social value? The logic of Subjective information is ‘is it beautiful?’. Do I feel intellectually and emotionally connected with the phenomena?
The logic of Interobjectivism is; ‘What is the lived experience?’ This creates a map of the world that is objective, social, and subjective.
What does this mean for the subject? How does a person live in this world?
There will exist three different worlds of experience: the natural world, the built environment, and the hyperreal world of social machines. A person will experience these three worlds as one continuous environment and will not be able to distinguish between them. The natural world will encompass what it always has: gravity, sunlight, heat and cold, and other natural phenomena. The built environment is the world of buildings, roads, and cities. This will appear to be the same, but in actuality it will be ‘socially constructed’ to meet the objectives of society. Embedded in the built environment will be a hyperreal world of digital machines that control social interactions and the phenomenal world of the individual.
The Modern, Postmodern, and Interobjective worlds exist today. The Modern world can be said to have started in Enlightenment, but really took hold in the Industrial Age of the 1700 and 1800s. Its height was the expression of Modern art in the 1860s on until about the 1970s. The Modern world is waning and being overtaken by the Postmodern world. Postmodernism takes control and overpowers the Modern. The Postmodern world started in the 1960s and has progressed to its height today. The Interobjective world was born in the 1980s and has undergone 40 years of development. It is still in its infancy. In the coming years it will overtake and overpower Postmodernism. We may expect this new age to come into its full power in the next 20 years.
As this new world develops, we must not forget that the Traditional, Modern, and Postmodern worlds will continue and exert various degrees of influence. For the religious person, the Traditional world will still exert some pull. For the scientist the Modern world will still be central to their work. For the politician and the artist, the Postmodern world will still hold sway. Yet more and more, for all people, the Interobjective world will become more important. The day-to-day experiences of life will be controlled by Interobjective interactions.
The birth of a new age is always a dangerous time as new technology is implemented. Modernity weaponized mass production and science to create huge armies and nuclear weapons. It produced World War I and II. Postmodernity weaponized social interaction to create systems of propaganda and economics to exert social control over the population. It produced uneven development of capitalism and wealth inequality. Interobjectivism weaponizes the hyperreal world to dominate and control lived experience. This could create a utopian world of peace, democracy, and shared wealth, or it could create a dystopian world of hyper-control, and elimination of personal freedoms and autonomy. It is up to us to restrain the weaponization of new technologies and to use them for good.
Most importantly, to maintain a hold on reality, we must see Modernity, Postmodernity, and Interobjectivism as forms of Idealism. They are increasingly abstract maps of meaning, but in the end are just maps. To not go mad from the ghost world of the unreal, we must focus on lived experience of the individual. By maintaining a healthy subject-object relationship we can return to a ‘real’ world of phenomena.
For an introduction to Postmodernism read here: https://jaime-roberts.medium.com/the-hyperreal-world-of-postmodernism-93f1130f55f0
