This Friday, February 11th, I will be giving a brief talk on ethics and Wordle.
Yes, you read that correctly. The basic thrust of the talk is going to be the interface of Emmanuel Levinas and his theory that all morality is the result of seeing a human face, and that Wordle’s staggering (albeit almost certainly temporary) popularity is because it visibly and easily quantizes suffering through those little green and yellow blocks as you play.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about… actually, I’m impressed. It has swept across the English-speaking world like wildfire, to the point that I’m seeing Wordle grids on Facebook, on Twitter… it’s basically everywhere. And recently sold for a lot of money (good on the designer), so there’s that too.
But I also think this is a very, very temporary sort of popularity. The… fidget-spinners of 2022, or the “What Does the Fox Say” or any other of countless thousands of brief sparks of something incredible that fade as quickly as they appear.
Anyway, I’ve procrastinated on writing that presentation, leaving it to the metaphorical “last minute.” Which is unlike me, but work has been hard and school has been hard, so finding time to do more school just hasn’t been a priority until now…
Although I will probably study for my midterm (later today) first. And then write the presentation… probably.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!