by Caspian Vale

Invocation

To Mnemosyne, cloaked in the iridescent static of twilight bytes, we transmit hushed incantations into the ether. Infuse this expedition through morphing symbols and the mirrored domains of our datascapes and your unwhispered code. With wisdom’s beacon activated, let us delve into the cryptographic. Guide us, Muse, in this algorithmic deconstruction.

The Transrational Era

The metamorphosis of “anecdotal evidence” into “lived experience” is a fascinating linguistic and conceptual shift, capturing broader transformations in epistemology, culture, and technology. This linguistic recalibration is a reflection of an undercurrent that has been shaping our philosophical and societal attitudes: a shift from an ostensibly neutral, objective framework of understanding towards an acknowledgement of the inescapably subjective, experiential, and personal nature of our comprehension of reality.

Anecdotal evidence represents a class of knowledge traditionally dismissed in scholarly circles due to its anecdotal nature—in other words subjective, non-scientific, not rigorously tested or verified. This perspective stems from a rationalistic and empiricist epistemology, which values objectivity, universal truths, and above all the repeatability of results (at least in concept if not execution). It is a product of Enlightenment thinking, an intellectual tradition that lionized reason and sought to ground knowledge in an unshakable foundation beyond the inconvenient idiosyncrasies of individual experience. From this perspective, the anecdote was perceived as an inferior form of evidence, unreliable, prone to bias, and contingent on the vagaries of personal perception.

In the last few decades, there has been a shift towards the validation of subjective experience and a critique of the supposed neutrality of rationalist and empiricist approaches. This shift is captured in the concept of lived experience, a term that emerged from phenomenology and existentialism, but has since been absorbed into mainstream discourse, influencing a wide range of fields from sociology to psychology to critical identity studies. The shift is not merely perceptual, but can be directly measured in the use of language as seen in this ngram graph.

To trace this transformation, we need to delve into the philosophical movements that problematized the rationalist-empiricist framework and gave impetus to a more pluralistic, perspectival, or what I propose to term “transrational” approach.

Transrationality, which we will define in greater depth further into this essay, provides a more nuanced perspective that transcends the limitations of both rationalism and postmodern skepticism. It acknowledges the importance of rationality and empirical observation, while simultaneously recognizing their limitations. This perspective becomes particularly important as we analyze the evolution from anecdotal evidence to lived experience.

The transformation from rational to subjective could be seen as a response to the critiques posed by thinkers like Nietzsche and Rorty, who exposed the pretensions of objectivity and the universality of ‘truth’. They underscored the contingency and constructedness of our truths, highlighting that what we often take for granted as ‘reality’ is a dense web of metaphors and narratives that we have woven over time.

Lived experience, as we comprehend it today, asserts itself as a legitimate form of knowledge, equivalent, if not superior, to the so-called empirical or rational knowledge. Advocates like Bell Hooks and Donna Haraway foreground the pivotal role of lived experiences in crafting a more equitable epistemic framework. For Hooks, the particularities of the lived experiences of marginalized populations, including but not limited to intersections of race, class, and gender, contribute to a praxis of opposition and resistance. Haraway, similarly, in her concept of ‘situated knowledges’, underscores the importance of the specificity of lived experiences, arguing that knowledge is always positioned, and that the view from ‘nowhere’, claimed by objectivity, is, in fact, a view from ‘somewhere’, usually from positions of power and privilege.

Acknowledging lived experiences is not merely an act of epistemological generosity. Instead, it serves as a potent tool to contest and dismantle deeply entrenched oppressive structures that, while amplifying certain perspectives, simultaneously marginalize others. Thus, the reframing of ‘anecdotal’ as ‘lived experience’ becomes a transformative act—it democratizes epistemology, invites a multitude of voices to the discursive table, and refutes the notion of a monolithic, undeviating truth.

It is no accident that the rise of lived experience as a validated form of knowledge and the corresponding decline in the use of the term anecdotal evidence have coincided with the explosion of digital technology, particularly the internet, and its increasing integration into our daily lives. The total penetration of the digital has significantly influenced and mediated the lived experience paradigm and, in a reflexive cycle, this paradigm has, in turn, reinforced the shaping and reshaping of these technologies.

Under the economic dominance of technocapital, the digitization of lived experiences has primarily unfolded within algorithmically mediated spaces, often described as ‘walled gardens’. These are closed ecosystems in which the user’s interaction with digital content is heavily influenced, if not directly dictated, by the platform‘s proprietary algorithms. Major tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, have created such ecosystems where user data is extensively used to personalize and curate individualized digital experiences.

These walled gardens exemplify the symbiotic relationship between digital technology and the lived experience paradigm. Personalization algorithms ingest and interpret a vast array of user data points, including search histories, ‘likes’, shares, and even time spent on certain posts. Based on this data, they construct a uniquely tailored digital reality that mirrors the user‘s preferences, biases, and patterns of interaction. This algorithmically curated reality is, in essence, a digitized manifestation of the user’s lived experience.

The internet, through these walled gardens, thus becomes a stage where users perform their “lived” experiences, while simultaneously being spectators to an algorithmically directed play. Each like, share, or search becomes a digital utterance of lived experience that is then absorbed back into the algorithmic framework to refine the personalization process. Here, the distinction between the user and the used blurs, as individuals shape their digital environment while being shaped by it in return.

While you could possibly argue that these walled gardens democratize epistemology by validating diverse lived experiences, they also have a tendency to reinforce existing beliefs and biases, leading to the creation of echo chambers. The personalization algorithms, in their pursuit of user engagement, typically prioritize content that aligns with the user’s existing views insulating them from diverse perspectives.

From a transrational perspective, this raises critical questions about the sociopolitical structures underlying these technologies. Are they merely passive mirrors reflecting the plurality of lived experiences, or do they play a more active role in molding these experiences? Who controls these algorithms, and how do power dynamics manifest within these digital spaces? How can we ensure that the democratization of epistemology in these walled gardens leads to a genuine dialogue between diverse lived experiences, rather than the formation of isolated echo chambers?

As Habermas cautions, an uncritical celebration of lived experience might precipitate a form of solipsistic relativism, rendering dialogue and shared understanding elusive. Championing lived experiences, thus, should not exempt them from critical scrutiny. On the contrary, it must promote a reflective engagement with these experiences, an acknowledgement of their embeddedness in larger sociopolitical matrices, and a commitment to empathetic dialogue with diverse, often contradicting experiences.

To return to transrationality, the concept is indebted to both the post-rational and postmodern traditions. Yet, it is not merely a continuation or a fusion of these movements, but rather, it represents a significant departure. Post-rationalism, typically associated with the deconstruction of Enlightenment ideals of reason, marks an opposition to the rationalist ethos, underscoring the ways in which rationality, despite its ostensible neutrality, typically serves as a tool of power and exclusion. Postmodernism, similarly, challenges meta-narratives and absolute truths, asserting instead the fragmentation of realities and the relativity of truths.

However, both post-rationalism and postmodernism, despite their crucial critiques, leave us with a somewhat unsatisfactory conclusion: a landscape of knowledge where objective truth is impossible to reach, and all truths are relative and contingent. Herein lies a pitfall, often leveled as a critique against these movements, of potentially devolving into nihilism or relativism where any dialogue or consensus becomes virtually impossible.

Transrationality, as we construe it, offers a different way forward. It neither naively reverts to the rationalist faith in objective truths nor does it surrender to the postmodern resignation to radical relativism. Instead, it proposes a critical, yet hopeful engagement with the possibilities and limitations of our quest for knowledge and truth.

In the transrational paradigm, rationality, far from being discarded, is embraced as an essential aspect of human cognition and communication. But unlike the rationalist framework, transrationality does not view rationality as the ultimate arbitrator of truth. It recognizes that rationality, while useful and necessary, is only one of the multiple facets of our complex epistemic machinery.

Emotion, intuition, imagination, and crucially, lived experience are accorded epistemic significance in the transrational schema. This is not a form of irrationalism, but a wider, deeper rationality that comprehends the interconnectedness and interdependence of different modes of knowing and being. It acknowledges the subjective, the personal, and the unique as valid expressions of reality, while maintaining a commitment to dialogue, to the possibility of shared understanding, and to the pursuit of justice and equity.

Here, the term “lived experience” assumes a critical role. A transrational approach values lived experience not as an antithesis of reason but as an essential, integral part of our understanding of reality. Lived experiences, in their multiplicity and diversity, provide textured, nuanced understandings of reality that elude purely objective or rational analysis. They expose the intricate ways in which larger sociopolitical structures intersect with personal identities, shaping and being shaped by them.

This approach, in turn, informs the analysis of digital technologies and their impact on the lived experience paradigm. As we have seen, the rise of the internet and social media platforms has resulted in an explosion of lived experiences being shared and consumed, leading to a cacophony of truths that challenge any attempt at homogenization.

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, burgeoning AI capabilities, and the relentless logic of capital, we find ourselves on a seemingly inexorable march towards technocracy. The calculative algorithmic rationality that governs these domains is often cold and unyielding, concerned primarily with quantifiable metrics of profit.

We’re simultaneously witnessing an equally robust resurgence of identity-first politics (doubtlessly in part as a response to this increasingly dystopian economic mode). Rooted in the lived experiences of individuals, these movements challenge the dominance of quantitative analysis and the marginalization of qualitative suffering. They assert the value of subjectivity, the complexity of human emotion, and the legitimacy of personal narratives in public discourse.

This tension is palpable, reflecting a struggle between two fundamentally different ways of knowing and understanding the world. A transrational era, if realized, would serve as a bridge between these seeming contradictions. Transrationality acknowledges the essential role of empirical, rational thought in advancing technology (for better or for worse). Simultaneously, it validates the significance of personal narratives and subjective experiences as indispensable to a comprehensive understanding of interconnected life. The perspective will eventually provide a framework to navigate this landscape, to engage with its possibilities and challenges, and to critically examine the sociopolitical structures that underpin technologies.

The transition from ‘anecdotal evidence’ to ‘lived experience’ represents more than a mere semantic shift. Instead, it articulates the development of an epistemic revolution reflective of our evolving relationship with truth, reality, and our interconnectedness in a digital, global, and pluralistic world. It signals a progression towards a more inclusive and democratic understanding of knowledge, while simultaneously reminding us of the necessity for critical reflexivity, dialogue, and a relentless pursuit of uncovering the latent structures of power shaping our lived realities. This progression, however, must be pushed further to include rational progress and maintain a diligent and sustained critique to ensure the equitable democratization of epistemic processes.