Solitude lies at the lowest depth of the human condition. Man is the only being who feels himself to be alone and the only one who is searching for the Other.
Technology is not an image of the world but a way of operating on reality. The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power... but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that technology is a tool to manipulate reality rather than a true representation of it, and it raises concerns about its inherent lack of meaning.
In this quote, Octavio Paz reflects on the dual nature of technology, asserting that while it serves as a powerful means to interact with and alter our reality, it simultaneously embodies a nihilistic aspect that strips it of genuine meaning. Paz argues that technology expresses our inherent desire for control and power, yet in doing so, it may lead us to a soulless existence devoid of deeper significance, highlighting the philosophical dilemmas brought forth by our reliance on technological advancements.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a panel discussion on the future of technology and society.
More from Octavio Paz
All quotes →By suppressing differences and peculiarities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death
The North American system only wants to consider the positive aspects of reality. Men and women are subjected from childhood to an inexorable process of adaptation certain principles, contained in brief formulas are endlessly repeated by the Press, the radio, the churches, and the schools, and by those kindly, sinister beings, the North American mothers and wives. A person imprisoned by these schemes is like a plant in a flowerpot too small for it he cannot grow or mature.
Poetry is not a genre in harmony with the modern world; its innermost nature is hostile or indifferent to the dogmas of modern times, progress and the cult of the future.
If we are a metaphor of the universe, the human couple is the metaphor par excellence, the point of intersection of all forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is time recaptured, the return to the time before time.
Man, even man debased by the neocapitalism and pseudosocialism of our time, is a marvelous being because he sometimes speaks. Language is the mark, the sign, not of his fall but of his original innocence. Through the Word we may regain the lost kingdom and recover powers we possessed in the far-distant past.
Similar quotes
A low-carbon, clean energy economy can be an engine of growth for decades to come.
This is the whole point of technology. It creates an appetite for immortality on the one hand. It threatens universal extinction on the other. Technology is lust removed from nature. - Murray (WN 285)
I mean, you can't have advertising be the only official business of the information economy if the information economy is going to take over.
The Internet amplifies power in all respects. It can grossly exaggerate the power of the individual.
I think that technology is always invented for historical reasons, to solve a historical problem. But they very soon reveal themselves to be capable of doing things that aren't historical that nobody had ever thought of doing before.
In a time not distant, it will be possible to flash any image formed in thought on a screen and render it visible at any place desired. The perfection of this means of reading thought will create a revolution for the better in all our social relations.