The premise of all rhetoric is persuasion. It can be changing someone’s mind to conform to what a speaker thinks or convincing someone to invest, maybe even purchase, a product. Technology has become the greatest medium for persuasive dialogue in history and everyone is susceptible.
In Steve Holmes’s essay “Ethos, Hexis, and the Case for Persuasive Technologies” this I realized that is all the more visible. Manifesting itself in interactive systems such as Amazon where we are swarmed with advertisements based on our history. Technology has evolved from a passive accumulation of knowledge to a web of rhetoric that has had a big impact on dialogue.
We live in an age where distance is an illusion and secrets a myth. The traditional platonic rules of rhetoric have become obsolete because it doesn’t rely solely on the human element. Digital rhetoric has become dependent on algorithms and feedback, operating beyond our awareness and as incalculable speeds. Where once interaction and persuasiveness was dependent on character, credibility, and habit it has become dependent on data flow.
Persuasive technology has co-opted a once sacred place in the human experience. It has surpassed our ability to convince each other through pictures, adds, and math. Technology has even gone beyond the mental and sensual mediums used to influence, inspire, and generate emotion.
To to guard against the internet we must understand it as another aspect of human nature. It demands caution and an awareness that everything you post or purchase will be used against us.
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