Additive data without narrative structure produces meaninglessness akin to Dadaism
Evidence
Dataism, it turns out, is amounting to digital Dadaism. Dadaism also takes leave of meaningful contexts of every kind. It empties language itself of sense: ‘The acts of life have no beginning or end. Everything happens in a completely idiotic way. That is why everything is alike. Simplicity is called Dada.’ Dataism is nihilism. It gives up on any and all meaning. Data and numbers are not narrative; they are additive. Meaning, on the other hand, is based on narration. Data simply fills up the senseless void. — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 133
Categorization
- SEED: Possible essay angle: ‘dataist nihilism’ as a follow-up to the Quantified Self discussion — meaning requires narration, data only fills a void.
- recurring: this claim recurs 3 times within its source
- XREF: connects to: Data abstractions strip narrative context to enable unlimited recategorization — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 448; Memory benefits from narrative, logical structure rather than disjointed facts — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4586; Syllogistic knowledge is narrative, while Big Data is purely additive — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 162 (+3 more)
Related
- Understanding is narrative closure, not cumulative addition of data (similarity 0.85)
- Syllogistic knowledge is narrative, while Big Data is purely additive (similarity 0.83)
- Numbers provide no narrative, and meaning requires narration rather than quantification. (similarity 0.82)
- Digital memory is additive whereas human memory is inherently narrative (similarity 0.82)
- Data abstractions strip narrative context to enable unlimited recategorization (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Syllogistic knowledge is narrative, while Big Data is purely additive
#expands(0.85) — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 162 - Data abstractions strip narrative context to enable unlimited recategorization
#corroborates(0.82) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 448 - Memory benefits from narrative, logical structure rather than disjointed facts
#corroborates(0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4586 - Postmodern fragments function as narratives detached from any single referent
#qualifies(0.75) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 233 - Ascribing static attributes to subjects strips them of history and agency.
#complicates(0.72) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 631