released 3/13/2026

Steven Knepper and Robert Wyllie explain philosopher Byung-Chul Han’s interpretation of a more “contemplative Nietzsche,” whose critique of busyness for its own sake and of obsession with health above all else Han shares. They also discuss Han’s evolving work on the effects of media technology on concepts of freedom, desire, and receptivity to others. After the publication of his The Burnout Society (Stanford University Press, 2015), Han’s work took a “media studies turn,” as he began studying the experience of acceleration that comes with digital technology. He explores how digital media dulls our capacity for true receptivity to others and to the world and limits opportunities for real encounter. Han blames not media developers but our own human desires for our current predicament. Knepper and Wyllie are co-authors (with Ethan Stoneman) of Byung-Chul Han: A Critical Introduction (Polity, 2024).

14 minutes

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