Scottish author Irvine Welsh, famed for his novel ‘Trainspotting,’ voiced his concerns about the erosion of language in today’s tech-driven world at the inaugural U.K. festival ‘Voiced: The Festival for Endangered Languages.’
The festival, celebrating endangered languages through readings, performances, and discussions, kicked off with Welsh reading from his new book Men in Love, written in the Edinburgh dialect. He joined a panel on ‘The Art of Language’ with poet Raymond Antrobus and other artists, including a performance in British Sign Language by Pettra St Hilaire and musical contributions from Welsh singer Talulah.
“If language is divorced from culture, it becomes a weapon of imperialism, it becomes a weapon of control, it becomes a weapon of commerce,” Welsh argued.
Irvine Welsh
Welsh expressed a deep concern, not just for endangered languages but for language itself in our technology-driven world. He warned that language is becoming decontextualized and reduced to mere instructions, a trend exacerbated by the internet. “The internet not only decontextualizes knowledge,” he noted but has also shifted away from fostering debate, discussion, and community where “real language and real culture thrive.”
“We have to watch technology, and we have to watch the aims of people who control the technology,” Welsh declared.
Irvine Welsh
Proposing a solution, Welsh suggested a return to more traditional forms of communication and community engagement. “I think people should just get out more,” Welsh quipped, earning laughs, before seriously advising more reading of books and stories to nurture empathy and contextual knowledge.
He highlighted the Netflix series Adolescence as an example of modern media’s impact, noting a decline in empathy and knowledge, particularly among young men who aren’t engaging with literature. “People should be reading books. … These are exercises in empathy,” Welsh remarked.
“… what we’re being sold as multiculturalism isn’t. It’s globalization basically.”
Irvine Welsh
Welsh cautioned about the encroachment of technology into cultural spaces. “We do have to be very judicious in the use of technology,” he warned, urging a return to community values over the simplicity of being governed by algorithms and ‘stimulus-response’ mechanics.
Welsh’s remarks ahead of the event echoed these worries. In press notes, he stated, “Without language, we have no culture, and when we lose language, we lose culture.” He painted a grim picture of a future where humanity becomes “androids of the tech age, slaves to algorithms, ready to obey instructions reduced only to symbols.”
The ‘Voiced’ festival continues to run through Saturday, offering more conversations on the intersection of language, culture, and technology.
Reporting based on the original article; quotes reproduced verbatim.
