SG - Aphonism

About Aphonism

In 2024, Willem Schinkel, Professor of Social Theory (Erasmus University Rotterdam) bundled insights about (his) life without a mobile phone into aphorisms or aphonisms – as he would prefer to call them, pointing at a world inextricably attached to these devices. The result was his wryly written provocative collection of adages serving as an answer to any who might venture to ask him WHY he doesn’t have a smart phone. His book, Why I don't Have a Mobile Phone. Aphonisms is more than tiled wisdoms for Dutch toilet cubicles; it is more than observations fit for time capsules or ethnographic archives. This manifest collection of aphonisms reflects on Big-Tech billionaires, their systems of hardware and software and all whose existence have been altered by them. In conversation with Willem Schinkel we use his aphonisms as stepping stones to explore ourselves in relation to Big-Tech Broligarchies and our possible place in their new world order.

About series Big-Tech Broligarchies & New World Order

At the global level we see a scramble to redefine world order. Amidst destruction and upheaval, new dynamics of power are emerging on a stage previously dominated only by states. Big-Tech billionaires, whose services, products, platforms and infrastructure permeate our lives, have taken up position in this mix; even at the heart of the disruption. What does their oligarchical, techno-political power mean for world order, the future of democracy and our own personal choices? This series traces the long shadow cast by the ‘tech-bro’s’ and unpacks what is going on and what is at stake for the future of democratic societies, pluralist political stability and personal freedoms.

About Willem Schinkel

Willem Schinkel is Professor of Social Theory at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Amongst other things, his work deals with questions of migration, race, fascism, and property. His latest book (in Dutch) is Why I don't Have a Mobile Phone. Aphonisms (2024).