The Convivial Society

The Convivial Society is a newsletter that delves into our interactions with technology and its connection to larger cultural movements. It draws from the historical and philosophical aspects of technology, incorporating elements of media ecology as well. Instead of quick opinions, it offers thoughtful reflections on the significance of technology in our lives.

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The Waters of Lethe Flow From Our Digital Streams

1 month ago | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas

Welcome to the Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and culture. I once again find myself with two or three post in the works, so while it has been quiet for a month, the pace may pick up a bit now. In this post, I’m thinking about memory (a perennial concern) while following an associational thread that might illuminate the meaning of our experience and help us navigate life with a measure of wisdom.
The Cat in the Tree: Why AI Content Leaves Us Cold

Jan 2, 2025 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas

Welcome to the first installment of the Convivial Society for the year 2025. Most of you know the drill: this is a newsletter exploring the intersection of technology, culture, and human flourishing. I’m glad to have kept up a decent pace of writing over the last couple of months, and hopefully that will continue. This post comes just a few days after the last, which is a bit unusual, but I’ve also learned that I need to write the thought quickly or else it will take leave of me.
Life Cannot Be Delegated

Dec 29, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas

Welcome to the last installment of the Convivial Society for 2024. Come January, this iteration of the newsletter will celebrate its fifth year. It’s been a joy to write, and a pleasure to connect with readers over the past five years. Thank you all. In this short installment, I offer you a principle which might guide our thinking about technology in the coming year, along with a couple of year-end traditions tagged on at the end.
To Hell With Good Intentions, Silicon Valley Edition

Dec 11, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas

Welcome to the Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology, culture, and the moral life. The newsletter takes its name from the work of the late 20th-century social critic, Ivan Illich. He features prominently in my writing, and in this essay I’m revisiting a talk he gave in the late 1960s and reapplying it to the current drive to deploy AI for good. I trust the provocation will be useful, especially to those among you who might professionally identify with this imperative.
The Enclosure of the Human Psyche

Nov 27, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas

Welcome to the Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and culture.
Amulets Against the Spirits of the Age

Nov 20, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas |Nicholas Carr

Welcome to the Convivial Society. Since the last installment a number of you have signed up after finding your way to the newsletter through diverse and sundry digital paths. You can peruse the archive to get a sense of what to ordinarily expect, but I would describe the newsletter as a place to explore the meaning of technology and its relation to the moral life. Of course, you’ll note in a moment that the description doesn’t quite fit this particular installment.
If Your World Is Not Enchanted, You're Not Paying Attention

Aug 22, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas

Welcome to the Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and culture. In this installment, I return to a perennial subject for me: attention and its moral dimensions. Because I do come back to this topic more than most, I sometimes feel as if I ought to give it a rest. But I continue to think that it is a vital matter, and a key to so much else. So, once again, some thoughts about attention, enchantment, and, ultimately, love.
Embracing Sub-Optimal Relationships

Aug 5, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas |Rob Horning

Welcome to the Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and culture. Basically, I think out loud here about the meaning of technology for anyone who wants to read along. In this post, I’m thinking about how we are starved for personal relationships yet at every point sold impersonal substitutes. I tried to keep this one brief, which means a bit of nuance and background got left behind (although I did tuck some of it into the footnotes). I hope you’ll find it helpful nonetheless.
Re-sourcing the Mind

Aug 1, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas |Matthew Crawford |Max Read

Welcome to the Convivial Society, a newsletter exploring the relationship between technology, culture, and the moral life. This post about LLMs, the labor of articulation, and memory began as what I thought would be a brief installment. As if to prove one of the core claims of the essay, that the labor of articulation is itself generative, it grew in the writing. I hope you’ll find some things of use in it.
The Work of Art

Jun 11, 2024 | theconvivialsociety.substack.com | L. M. Sacasas

Welcome to a brief installment of the Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and culture. I have three drafts in various states of completion, so you may see an uptick in the pace of posts coming to your inbox over the next two or three weeks. Meanwhile, this installment raises the question of the relationship between labor and creativity.