Open Password – Wednesday, May 18, 2022
#1072
Fragility of access – Criticism of the information society – Criticism of immediate understanding – Criticism of organizational grammar – Criticism of transparency – Criticism of one-sided reading – Criticism of the reduction of complexity – André Schüller-Zwierlein – Hans-Christoph Hobohm – Age of Access – Information justice – Rainer Kuhlen – Transformation of the information markets – Open Access – Dialogues of Plato – Criticism of Socrates – Karl R. Popper – Totalitarianism – Bo?theia – Schol? – Ascholia – Respect for Complexity – Aischyn? – Mäeutisches Benevolence – Explosion of Communication – Hate Speech and Disinformation – Hans-Georg Gadamer – Jacques Derrida – Alan Turing – Ludwig Wittgenstein – Urge for simplification and unification – Jean-François Lyotard – Dark sides of the information society – Mental resilience – Libraries – Humanities – Ideologemes
Leipzig Book Fair – Manga Comic Con – Leipzig Reads – Antique Book Fair – Oliver Zille – Pandemic – IT Security – Cyber Attacks – German Companies in International Comparison – Cyber Experts – Cyber Insurance – Hiscox – Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report – Economic Downturn – Shortage of skilled workers – Forrester Consulting – Home Office – VPN – Cybercriminals – Markus Niederreiner
- Title
Fragility of access – Five criticisms of the information society: immediate understanding – organizational grammar – transparency – one-sided reading and the reduction of complexity – strengthening social resilience
through libraries and the humanities – By Hans-Christoph Hobohm
II.
Leipzig Book Fair: 2023 postponed by one month due to Corona
III.
IT security
Cyber attacks are the biggest risk for German companies – Only three percent of decision-makers see themselves as cyber experts – Cyber insurance is the top security measure
Fragility of access
Five criticisms of the information society:
· of immediate understanding
· the organizational grammar
· of transparency
· of one-sided reading and
· the reduction of complexity
Strengthening social resilience
through libraries and humanities
Schüller-Zwierlein, André: The fragility of access. A critique of the information society. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2022. (Age of Access? Basic questions of the information society; 14) – XIV + 436 pages. – ISBN 978-3-11-073927-5 – 15.5 x 23 cm – 768 g – 109.95 euros .
By Hans-Christoph Hobohm
Hans Christoph Hobohm
As the last volume of the brilliant series “Age of Access – Basic Questions of the Information Society”, one of the editors of the series, the Regensburg library director André Schüller-Zwierlein, presents his own extensive statement. It has become a fairly fundamental “critique of the information society” (as the subtitle states). The series began with a bang in 2013 (Schüller-Zwierlein/Zillien (ed.): “ Information Justice ”) and now ends with volume 14 with a rumble of thunder. Not all volumes in the series have been published yet: Rainer Kuhlen’s “ Transformation of the Information Markets ” was published in 2020 with number 12 . Unfortunately, there is no overall overview printed in the volumes of the series and not all of them are “open access”, although that is exactly what is often discussed.
The volume recommended here addresses exactly that: the “fragility of access”. However, this is done from the perspective of an augurian flight of fancy, so that the lack of economic accessibility can be forgiven given the price of 110 euros. It remains to be hoped that as many libraries as possible allow physical access. The intellectual approach to this book is a challenge that the author implicitly emphasizes again and again. Not only that knowledge of French and (ancient) Greek, among other things, would be desirable for reading, but above all in view of the fact that the reader has to engage in a profound discussion of human existence, which is in dialogue with and supported by a series of the most important philosophers in intellectual history launches a violent attack against the information society.
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From Socrates’ criticism of writing to the debate between Alan Turing and Ludwig Wittgenstein
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So it doesn’t stay at the level of the general discourse of criticism of capitalism à la Castells or Zuboff or the political warnings of 2015 that have now faded away, such as Floridi’s » Onlife Manifesto » or Helbing and Gigerenzer’s (among others) » Digital Manifesto « . Rather, the criticism extends to Plato’s dialogues, in which Socrates’s criticism of scripture in particular is subjected to a new, more differentiated interpretation. The topos appears here in a completely different light than was the case with the frequently encountered “name dropping” in many postmodern discussions. With a contextualizing, hermeneutic textual criticism not only (as usual) with a few quotations, but from the entire construction of the dialogues, Schüller-Zwierlein deepens the more complex motivations of Socrates’ skepticism towards Scripture. Interestingly, he thereby rehabilitates Plato compared to Popper, who had basically accused him of being to blame for the totalitarianism of the 20th century [1].
Schüller-Zwierlein works out that for Socrates, language and therefore people always need help ( bo?theia ) in order to be understood. In order for this to be possible, communication and access to language/text and people can only occur in the freedom of leisure ( schol? ) without any time pressure. However, “leisure” is not just the absence of activity ( ascholia ), as we understand it today, but above all concentration and attention. The support that people and texts need in order to be understood is therefore mutual. And this applies to oral and written communication, synchronic orality and diachronic writing. The “fragility of access” in the title of the book means the joint work on the text of one’s own self-understanding and the understanding of others, even over the centuries, as Schüller-Zwierlein wonderfully demonstrates in his exegesis of the Platonic dialogues.
Another basic condition of accessibility is “respect for complexity”. All of Socrates’ seemingly simple explanations, for example on the question of the knowability of truth, dissolve in the course of the dialogues. And when Socrates finally has to rush to court to receive his death sentence, there is still no definitive answer to the previously discussed basic questions of the philosophers discussing in the “Dialogues”. People would like to have simple answers, but even with mutual help and leisure, these are not available: the world is too complex and knowledge must be constantly updated in order not to be lost.
In addition, and this is impressively staged in Plato’s Symposium , there is shame and the “fear of the abyss of one’s own ignorance. Ultimately, it is aischyn? , the shame of intellectual attitudes, the shame of being corrected by the other (or the other) that prevents dialogue. […It is] the most important cause of the fragility of access. At the root of violence lies shame” (page 368). And here, too, one can only achieve a more peaceful self-image with mutual help and the meekly benevolence of others. It is important to receive the other thoughts, texts and people like a guest, to dedicate yourself completely to them and to endure complexity and otherness. As if Plato had foreseen today’s age of communication explosion with hate speech and disinformation 2,500 years ago. Schüller-Zwierlein gets to the point: “The information society is based on a misguided conception of language” (page 366), of communication and the idea of finding truth and knowledge.
On the basis of this Platonic foundation of his criticism of the information society in the first part of the book (up to page 61), Schüller-Zwierlein allows other readers of Plato to have their say and enter into dialogue with others. You can attend a posthumous dialogue between Hans-Georg Gadamer (the philosopher of understanding) and the deconstructionist Jacques Derrida or understand a debate (which took place) between Alan Turing and Ludwig Wittgenstein (as the “original event of the information society”). Above all, Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-François Lyotard and a few others are witnesses to the fact that physical violence arises in thought and language. The urge to simplify and clarify thinking, which underlies automation, ultimately leads to violence. Reproducing the individual, extremely readable and illuminating ideas from this second part of the book (up to page 270) would go beyond the scope of this review. Just this much: they certainly encourage a re-reading of the thinkers who appear there, such as Lyotard, whose “ Widerstreit ” (1983, German 1987) Gert Scobel recently said was the most important philosophical book of the last fifty years.
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The dark sides of the information society and strengthening social resilience through libraries and the humanities
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In the third part, the “dark sides of the information society” are discussed, such as the dataification of society, the logic of acceleration, the retreat of privacy, the (lack of) respect for the complexity of media, people and history as well as the critical function of storage memory. The discourse remains at a fairly high level and repeatedly shows the ethical consequences of current developments. As a quintessence, against the background of general problems such as reification, efficiency orientation (= time + acceleration), simplification, neglect and misunderstanding of language, the five “critiques of the information society” are named, which can repeatedly be referred to the three Platonic concepts:
- Criticism of immediate understanding
- Criticism of organizational grammar (dividing, counting, fetching and bringing)
- Criticism of transparency (which is not “truth”)
- Criticism of one-sided reading
- Criticism of the reduction of complexity.
In a final chapter, solutions that could offer “mental resilience” are discussed. Who would be surprised if the author, a librarian and humanities scholar, takes a (sharp) stand for libraries and the humanities. In a special sense in the information society, libraries offer a protective space that has been lost for access to others (texts and people) and to oneself. And the humanities naturally provide the space for reflection on the perception of linguistic and historical complexity and should be a guarantee against the critical excesses of the information society
“Respect the libraries and promote the humanities!” This warning and others of a similar nature have been given often, but in my opinion never before in such a fundamental way from our cultural and intellectual history. Beyond all short-term slogans or ideologies (such as “third place” or “cultural heritage”), it becomes clear and seemingly indisputable that there are (at least) two currently underestimated “institutions” that themselves offer assistance ( bo?theia ) in this increasingly complex and threatened world. The most important thinkers of our time are brought together here to offer their help and invite you to devote yourself to them with leisure ( schol? ).
And the book needs that too. But it is an invitation to concentrate on this again and again. Let’s hope that one or the other finds the time to do so in our rushed world. It would be desirable.
[1] Schölderle, Thomas (2010): Popper’s accusation of totalitarianism against Plato and the (un)honesty of scientific debate. In: Journal of Political Theory 1 (2), pp. 173–193.
Leipzig Book Fair
2023 postponement by one month due to Corona
(mdr) The association of Leipzig Book Fair, Manga-Comic-Con, Leipzig reads and antiquarian book fair will take place in Leipzig from April 27th to 30th, 2023. As Martin Buhl-Wagner, managing director of the Leipziger Messe, announced on Monday, this decision is intended to provide a secure framework to further develop the event network with exciting concepts.
Registration for the Leipzig Book Fair will be possible from August. Then the details of the program focuses, presentation options and conditions of participation will be announced. From 2024, the Leipzig Book Fair is planning to return to its original date in March.
Book fair director Oliver Zille explained the decision on Monday as follows: « This year’s cancellation has triggered a real storm in the book industry, which showed us one thing: We all want this book fair, we all need this meeting place for the book and media world – but the pandemic remains unpredictable . In order to enable the greatest planning security despite this uncertainty, we are postponing the Leipzig Book Fair next year to the end of April. »
IT security
Cyber attacks
are the greatest risk for German companies
Only three percent of decision-makers
see themselves as cyber experts
Cyber insurance
as a top protection measure
(Hiscox) According to the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report, cyber attacks are the biggest business risk / Number of “cyber experts” in Germany falls by 17 percentage points to 3 percent / A quarter of the IT budget of German companies now flows into cyber security / Two thirds of German companies protect themselves against cyber risks / Germany records the highest total damage costs in an international comparison
Cyber attacks are also the number one risk for German companies – even before the pandemic, the economic downturn and the shortage of skilled workers. Almost half (48%) of the companies surveyed worldwide now state that they were affected by at least one cyber attack in the last year; the previous year this figure was five percentage points lower. In Germany, the level remains high at 46 percent, as in the previous year. Because the threat situation is becoming increasingly difficult to assess, the number of “cyber experts” fell to 3 percent.
The results of the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2022 are based on a survey of 5,200 business decision-makers from Germany, the USA, Great Britain, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. For the sixth time in a row, the market research institute Forrester Consulting surveyed company representatives on behalf of the specialist insurer Hiscox about how to deal with and protect against cyber attacks.
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Cyber attacks as an expensive risk for companies
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In seven of the eight countries surveyed, companies see themselves most threatened by cyber attacks. In Germany, respondents believe the larger number of employees working from home (32%) is the main reason for the increased cyber risk. A company’s remote access service (VPN) is also often cited as a gateway for hackers (32%). The threat posed by cyber attacks is also reflected in the development of Hiscox claims figures. In addition to the absolute numbers of claims, the average claims ratio per insurance policy has increased by just over half (55%).
As hackers work more professionally, more networked and more internationally, cyber attacks are increasing both in frequency and in the amount of damage – the latter is particularly high in this country. If you look at the financial consequences of a cyber attack, the average total cyber damage costs for Germany are 18,712 euros – which puts Germany in first place in an international comparison (an average of 15,255 euros).
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The proportion of cyber experts in Germany is falling drastically.
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The number of “cyber experts” has fallen significantly. Internationally, the proportion of those who see themselves as cyber experts has fallen by 15 percent to 5 percent; in Germany only 3 percent see themselves as “cyber experts” (2021: 21%).
Markus Niederreiner, Germany CEO of Hiscox: « Although we are aware of increasing sensitivity to cyber protection measures in companies, the past weeks and months have shown how challenging it is and will remain to keep this risk controllable. This shows This can also be seen in the feedback from many companies that are much more critical of the cyber expertise they have acquired to date. Cybercriminals are becoming more and more professional, they are working more and more networked and internationally. In addition, the current political framework is further aggravating the situation. This is a development that « It’s just the beginning and we as insurers have to keep up with it. »
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Investments in cyber security are increasing to a quarter of the IT budget. _____________________________________________________
In Germany, the share of cybersecurity in the IT budget reaches a quarter of 24%. This means an increase of 4 percentage points compared to 2021. A steady increase in investments in cyber security can also be observed internationally. These have grown by 250 percent since 2019.
One of the most important investments in a company’s cyber security strategy is cyber insurance. Germany is at the forefront internationally here – 67 percent of the companies surveyed are already protected against cyber attacks – internationally this figure is 3 percent less. Only 11 percent of German respondents stated that they had neither cyber insurance nor did they plan to take out insurance in the future. In 2020, a quarter of German companies were still uninsured.
The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2022 and extensive further information about the study are available at www.hiscox.de/cyber-readiness-report-2022
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