Online lecture: Miriam Rasch

Friction, Ethics in Times of Dataism

Miriam Rasch is a philosopher, researcher and author of the book Friction, Ethics in Times of Dataism. For IMPAKT she speaks about our strong belief in data: what is the value and what are the pitfalls of this way of thinking?

Data is seen as the new gold of our technology-driven world. Rasch, however, argues against the belief that everything that exists can be translated in terms of data. Rash contrasts this so-called ‘dataism’ with the concept of ‘friction’, to describe the need for distance between humans and the world in order to think.

Rasch’s online lecture is part of We Are Data: a webproject focussing on the complexities of data and technology. We Are Data is a collaboration between IMPAKT and the Egyptian Media Arts Festival Cairotronica. In addition to Rash’s contribution, you will also find talks by Evgeny Morozov, Nagla Rizk and many others.

We Are Data is supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL, The American University in Cairo (AUC) School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Arts and the Tahrir Cultural Center (TCC).

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Miriam Rasch

― Speaker

Miriam Rasch studied Literary Theory and Philosophy, specialising in Ethics. She writes essays about life in post-digital times, with a focus on the philosophy of technology, ethics, and language. She’s also a critic, publishing with several Dutch media outlets. In 2017 she published “Zwemmen in de oceaan: Berichten uit een postdigitale wereld,” and in 2018 an open-access collection of experimental essays in English. “Shadowbook: Writing through the Digital,” 2014-2018, was published by the Institute of Networked Cultures. Her philosophical essay “Frictie: Ethiek in tijden van dataisme” came out in May 2020 with the Dutch publisher De Bezige Bij. In her book, Rasch argues about the increasing influence of data, against the belief that everything that exists can be translated in terms of data. Rasch contrasts this ‘dataism’ with the concept of friction, to describe the need for distance between humans and the world in order to be able to think. She is currently a Research Coordinator at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam.

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