One compelling thread in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s essay The Reenchanted World (also in Weekendavisen as Verden, der forsvandt / Tallenes tale) is the idea—voiced explicitly by James Bridle—that we need to understand the technologies that shape our lives. Not just use them. Understand them. Bridle calls it technological literacy, and recounts how learning to code and building solar-powered tools helped lift them out of climate paralysis. It gave them agency—“a feeling of competence in the face of very complex systems.” This recalls Douglas Rushkoff’s famous warning: “Program or be programmed.” In a world governed by algorithms and abstract systems, those who don’t understand how computation works risk becoming passive objects of its influence. Knausgaard seems to agree—but can’t quite follow through. He describes himself as technologically illiterate and overwhelmed. The entire essay is a kind of lyrical circling around this alienation, filled with metaphors of lost connection and pseudo-experience. He travels, reads, talks, observes—but never crosses the line into technical engagement. While Bridle builds tools and teaches code, Knausgaard remains on the other side, writing about not understanding. The result is a moving and beautifully written meditation on technological disempowerment—but also a quiet reminder that understanding begins with participation.
https://rushkoff.com/books/program-or-be-programmed/
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08/15/2025 18:17:01
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- One compelling thread in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s essay The Reenchanted World (also in Weekendavisen as Verden, der forsvandt / Tallenes tale) is the idea—voiced explicitly by James Bridle—that we need to understand the technologies that shape our lives. Not just use them. Understand them. Bridle calls it technological literacy, and recounts how learning to code and building solar-powered tools helped lift them out of climate paralysis. It gave them agency—“a feeling of competence in the face of very complex systems.” This recalls Douglas Rushkoff’s famous warning: “Program or be programmed.” In a world governed by algorithms and abstract systems, those who don’t understand how computation works risk becoming passive objects of its influence. Knausgaard seems to agree—but can’t quite follow through. He describes himself as technologically illiterate and overwhelmed. The entire essay is a kind of lyrical circling around this alienation, filled with metaphors of lost connection and pseudo-experience. He travels, reads, talks, observes—but never crosses the line into technical engagement. While Bridle builds tools and teaches code, Knausgaard remains on the other side, writing about not understanding. The result is a moving and beautifully written meditation on technological disempowerment—but also a quiet reminder that understanding begins with participation.
https://rushkoff.com/books/program-or-be-programmed/ (08/15/2025 18:17:01)
- Just finished reading Karl Ove Knausgaard’s two-part essay on computers and technology—first published in Harper’s as The Reenchanted World, now also translated in Weekendavisen (Verden, der forsvandt and Tallenes tale). I must admit I was expecting insight into how Knausgaard sees the role of computers, information technology, and artificial intelligence in our lives today. What I got instead was a long meditation on not knowing anything about computers, interspersed with memories of his youth in 1980s Norway, a gardening anecdote, a brain surgery observation, and an ayahuasca trip in Greece.
Yes, the writing is evocative. Yes, the mood of alienation is palpable. But the structure wanders so much that it ends up mirroring the very problem he’s describing: being overwhelmed, adrift, disconnected. I kept wishing he’d go deeper into the actual functioning and logic of digital systems, or offer a more coherent critique of how computation and abstraction have restructured our reality. Instead, it becomes an essay about not being able to write an essay on the topic—ironically highlighting the loss of “an outside” to technology while never quite grappling with the inside of it. A missed opportunity, though with beautiful detours. https://harpers.org/archive/2025/06/the-reenchanted-world-karl-ove-knausgaard-digital-age/ (08/15/2025 18:06:51)
- When Mark Zuckerberg’s wealthy Palo Alto neighbors — doctors, lawyers, business leaders — complain about his buying 11 houses for a private compound, media present it as “inequality.” This is an elite-on-elite dispute, yet both neighbors and media use their symbolic-capital power to frame it as moral outrage, steering attention away from the far more urgent inequalities affecting the truly disadvantaged. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/us/mark-zuckerberg-palo-alto.html (08/11/2025 15:42:47)
- Macron was right about Europe’s need for strategic autonomy—but France can’t afford the rearmament it requires. Denmark can. As The Economist writes about Macron and Danish PM Mette Frederiksen: “The difference between them was stark. One had the right idea; the other has found a way to put it into practice.” I’m grateful to live in a small, fairly mono-cultural country where we feel like one big family—committed to making the household budget add up. https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/07/24/macron-was-right-about-strategic-autonomy (07/26/2025 16:28:54)
- A recent government investigation, mentioned in the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen, has revealed significant ethnic and gender bias and discrimination in the grading practices of Danish high schools. Some schools systematically award higher grades to certain groups of students—grades that don’t match their exam results. This undermines trust in the meritocratic principles of the education system and raises urgent questions about fairness and equal opportunity. https://www.weekendavisen.dk/samfund/meritokratisk-fallit (07/25/2025 19:31:48)
- Went for a 6.5 km run (38 minutes) on a rainy morning here in South Møn. Wind, sea, and soaked shoes – but also the kind of peace and raw beauty you only find in places like this. A perfect way to start the day. 🌧️🌾🌊 (07/22/2025 11:15:11)
- Back on beautiful Møn. Jeanne and I have been coming here for years—first with our two boys, now often just the two of us. Many of our friends have summer houses here. Møn is a small island in the southeastern part of Denmark, known for its rolling hills, chalk cliffs, and wide-open views. The landscape never disappoints—even the typical Danish summer rain feels right at home up here. (07/22/2025 11:12:41)
- Spent a beautiful summer day at Rokkedyssegaard in North Zealand picking fresh raspberries and strawberries 🍓☀️ The first photo shows the day’s harvest—baskets full of sun-ripened berries and a few bottles of homemade juice. The second photo is a guide to the many delicious berry varieties available for self-picking. A perfect way to slow down and taste the season. Highly recommended if you’re in Denmark! (07/20/2025 09:53:36)
- Two new Economist articles in Science & Tech highlight Danish research. 🌍🧬
🇩🇰 University of Copenhagen recovered 24-million-year-old proteins, pushing palaeontology into new territory.
🇩🇰 Aarhus University’s 2003 study is cited for debunking myths about vaccines and autism.
Proud to see Danish science making a global impact. 🔬📚
Links: economist.com/science-and-technology (07/15/2025 08:59:54)
- What does Clara Schumann, Liszt, and Chopin sound like on a @bluthner.piano from 1859? The answer: like hearing the music through the composers’ own ears. @pashchenkeyboard let the works come alive on this historical instrument—reminding us how fun and revealing it is to play music on the very kind of piano it was originally written for. @hindsgavl_festival (07/07/2025 23:10:13)