ABSTRACT
The progressive phase of currere is an exploration of what is imagined as futural. Like the regressive, the progressive phase or moment in the method of currere is an effort to sidestep the ego, to find a passage to psychic material the ego has evaded. C.A. Bowers questions “whether computers lead to substitute decontextualized ways of thinking about the world for the sensory encounters with the natural world that intertwine our lives.” Information technologies blur the boundaries between subjectivity and sociality, disabling the self from making the sometimes subtle, sometimes sharp, distinctions necessary for rational deliberative judgment to proceed, and not only politically. “Mobile communication,” Ling observes, “seems to strengthen communication within the circle of friends and family.” He suggests that mobile communication “supports better contact within the personal sphere,” if, however, “sometimes at the expense of interaction with those who are co-present.” In his analysis, Ling positions sociality and individualization at opposite ends of the spectrum.
