In 2010 when Facebook was still a new phenomenon, Stiegler presciently asked:īut what does this term mean here, ‘friends’? To what type of relationship does it refer, and how do digital relational technologies implemented by social networks affect the relation known as ‘friendship’? At the present moment, Facebook has already absorbed nearly a third of sentient life as friends.

This question of social networks has become evermore pressing as Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms collectively known as ‘social media’ rapaciously enveloped the totality of our collective existence. In contrast to most other intellectuals, Stiegler engaged these networks both on the plane of philosophy and that of running code. One connection that is all too easy to overlook is Stiegler’s engagement with what is at stake in the development of digital social networks. As the eulogies for Bernard Stiegler commence, we must take care to not let his magisterial philosophical opus overshadow both the overtly technical and political aspects of his legacy a life dedicated to the philosophy of technology that ran parallel to the invention, introduction, and eventual domination of planetary life by the internet.

There are always more beginnings, further back in time, parallel links, connections, tips, rumours, and readings. ‘Even building a castle in the air requires a good architect.’ In contrast, Stiegler’s work quickly focused on alternative architectures and the development of new concepts: Another social network is possible. As demonstrated by tracing Facebook’s lineage to a reading of the concept of mimesis from Girard by Thiel, already then the toxic influence of Facebook on the mental condition of young users was known.

This theoretical and technical work was done at the Institut de la Recherche et l’Innovation, the World Wide Web Consortium and the Unlike Us network in the period 2011-2014. In this tribute to Bernard Stiegler, we highlight an obscure yet important episode in his work: Stiegler’s contribution to the debate on the future of social media.

Due to academic publishing blues, the Bernard Stiegler memorial anthology for which this contribution was written is now supposedly coming out in late 2023 with Bloomsbury. (This essay draft was written in late 2021.

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