The Ecstacy of Communication

Baudrillard is a critic of technology in modern society.   He describes the meanings of objects in everyday life and how there is a system through which objects are organized and valued in our society.

He argues that there is a screen and network within our society, where there is a communication between production and consumption through which objects are meaningful to humans. The example given of an automobile in the article argues that a vehicle is now a capsule with a computerized brain. The dashboard being the brain and the landscape in the window becomes the screen like the television. The vehicle is no longer a projectile but a participant in a series of mediated moments.

He has a cynical view of media and it’s effect on humanity. The example of the television displays that the object becomes the body.  He states, “the displacement of bodily movements and effects into electronic commands.”  The universe is essentially becoming a controlled screen, completely affected by technology.  It’s very evident that society mimics and mocks television personalities.  The media dictates how we dress, who we know, and how we react to situations.  Baudrillard has a lot of valid points, which stress that society has let technology take over our lifestyle. 

Baudrillard continues to explain that the most intimate processes of our life become a reflection of the media.  Our actions and universe unfolds onto the screen.  We’re part of the ecstasy of communication – we strive for the communication of the networks – telephone, television etc. The communication is the obscene, Baudrillard says. The scene excites us and the obscene fascinates us.

Technology is a developing aspect of society.  The article was written in the 1980’s, so at that time, technology was still sprouting.  If Baudrillard says that we have to suffer through this new state of things – how does he feel about how the technological networks have developed in the 90’s, and 2000’s? Baudrillard argues that technology is affecting society in such a negative way, but isn’t it technology that has developed culture over the past years?  Historically, the effect of technology has only benefited medical research, freed time through efficiency of shopping and paying bills and new safety innovations in vehicles and airplanes. If the scene is the obscene – we are obscene.  There is no way to get away from this development – so it becomes the end of private and intimate life.  Humans are no longer their own body, but a mirror to technology.