Today, seeking refuge can create the dual experience of breaking the mind-body connection, which stands in contrast to its more traditional outcome of physically moving from one place to another. Taking its origins from French and Latin, I was raised to see refuge as a form of retreat, running back, or seeking safety. Globalisation with advanced developments in tech has changed this, so I think a review of the applications of refuge in the contemporary world is long overdue.
I recently lucked out in joining a Cognitive Science of Focus workshop where keynote speakers shared tools to help attendees tap into the strength of their memory to boost cognitive function. Here, the multipurpose phone was highlighted as a tool that stifled focus - something commonly agreed upon across global cultures – perhaps, a necessary evil. What stood out in this talk was the speaker's careful manoeuvre from our need to check notifications and its cognitive link to safety. In current psychological studies, phone addiction — which can be defined as excessive use of gaming apps, social media, and immediate engagement with phone notifications — can lead to ‘switch cost’. This effect describes our lack of attentive focus when in the same room as our phones. Studies relate this to the frequency of notifications, and the notification trigger type: whether vibrate, silent, or ring. I have issues with how this view places our relationship with the phone at an inherent fault, that as a Human race, we have tended towards some state of decline because of this new tech. Challenging this view in part was the description brought to light at the focus group, which acknowledged our dependence on the phone, but instead highlighted this as a safety mechanism. In this view, we develop a dependence on this tech because we condition the behaviour of expecting news, of any kind, to come first through our phones. This description shows how I hope to reframe refuge in today’s world. When we condition the behaviour of expecting news, refuge comes from the shift of not being on our phone to being on it. Understanding this can be found in the unexpected. Over time, we have learnt to dwell on our existence. Something that started after the Second World War, and has continued throughout globalisation.
The second world war ended at Hiroshima and left nations at the end with their need for power and our responsibility to Earth. Soviet Russia started funding Afro-Asian conferences to help their pursuit of independence1; whilst America took every measure needed to stop the formation of communism. In this way, thinking about existence was more prevalent than ever. The world started to shrink as globalisation accelerated rapidly, advancing industries like transport, energy, and advertising. As a people, our thoughts began to converge towards a universal consideration of time and attention in response to our existence. What do I mean by this? As the industry advanced, new currencies formed. New predictors arose, like carbon emissions that could be used to measure the life expectancy of the planet Earth. New money-making opportunities arose. In advertising, whoever could monopolise the time and attention of application users won the bid. In the factory, like toothpaste manufacturing, whoever monopolised the time and attention of outsourced labour-power won the bid. In this way, our focus as a people shifted towards a consideration of time and attention. Acknowledging this shift made you more money. Because of this, our relationship with Refuge shifted.
Whereas before seeking refuge involved a movement from an old place to a new one; today refuge involves shifting our time and attention away from one thing to the next. Take our phones, every day we clutch them tight for fear of the worst outcome. A few weeks ago, I lost my phone, which left me still, not knowing what to do. But in the same way, that we develop a conditioning to a habit in the above example, so too do we continue this through other examples. Through hobbies, seeing friends, and passing time. With each activity that we give a little time and a little attention, we muster more refuge amongst a sea of social dependencies. Because in concrete cities like London, at a stage where the social standard has reached par with New York, the behaviour we have conditioned is that of citizenship, and so the time and attention we give to other things works as a refuge away from this role.
Technology can be a nice way to frame our thinking. Because of it’s man-made properties, we can identify it as something different to nature – separate and distinct. I have recently been enjoying ‘Silo’ on Apple TV. A series depicting a post-apocalyptic society advanced in underground survival. They live sheltered from the outside world, their only sighting of the outside being from the ultrawide window panels on the perimeter of the subterranean structure. Through these windows, truth is built. Whenever a citizen leaves the silo, they walk outside with a limited amount of oxygen, after each step, slowly leading to their impending doom. Everyone that leaves, dies; and everyone that dies, does so in front of the big window-like TV. We later find out that these windows are TVs, and that tech plays an intermediary role in circumventing the citizens' idea of truth. This example for me highlights the illusion tech can play on us. Our relationship to truth has been conditioned by the habits ingrained in us from society, throughout our childhood to adulthood: what is seen as the right thing to do; or how to do that thing. As the world has gotten smaller, tech has played the intermediary in distributing how to behave. News travels TV, the internet, memes, billboards, advertising, and social media – all advancements in tech. This distribution of things does not leave us helpless. In Silo, the real battle began after the mechanics in charge of the power to the entire structure decided to take control by turning off the power wherever they saw fit. Similarly, as we choose what to focus our time and attention on, each moment becomes a memory of refuge. Moving through space is how it started. Thinking through space is how it continues.
As technology advances, it will become increasingly difficult to identify where technology mediates and where we take control. Neural Link shows how we can control computer hardware with our brains, while Wi-R will change our interface with broadband connections as we boost connections using electrical charge from our bodies. As someone deeply interested in technology and philosophy, I offer this piece as a reminder that control is always in your hands, though I acknowledge the murky surrounding waters.
A complicated time that produced significant results. Read more in our piece about Third Way Cinema.