Radicant Aesthetics

M. Bourriaud writes that our contemporary life experience is more ephemeral than that of our ancestors.  We experience the world in a more vicarious way, allowing the identities of those around us and our own to shift and become displaced.  The signs that surround us and guide us through our lives are no longer as stable as they were once perceived to be.  Is this because of what Daniel Pink referred to as the "Information Age?"  Collectively do we understand the world differently or better than we did before the popularization of the Internet?  The current Tino Seghal show at the Guggenheim strikes at the heart of this issue by requiring personal interaction with strangers who guide the viewers physically and mentally through the space, discussing notions of progress.  These forced interactions are creating a new shared contemporary dialogue about interpersonal relations, progress and technology.  Are we losing our ability to communicate with one another directly, in person?  Will body language and facial expressions be lost to emoticons?  Have these entities been stolen from us by new technology or are we surrendering them freely for the sake of what we think is progress?