What are the effects of the dependence of academia on the printed word?
Mutable texts:
What does it mean that a paper can be updated? Investigate the effects
of updating on blogs. Does the mutability of an idea over time change
how we think about the idea? Compare this to cognitive, psychological,
and philisophical changes from oral to literate culture. Memory
Zeno's arrow:
Investigate the importance of the transition state. What is the
significance of the phase transition in science? What can we gain from
representing data in motion? What limitations are internalized when
researchers limit themselves to snapshot windows of data?
Visibility:
Why is human rationality so wrapped up in sight? Doubting Thomas is a
well-known folk personality.
Media is the message:
What was McLuhan talking about? How do media properties shape our
thinking? If they do shape our thinking, why can't we invent a medium
that would engender the type of society we would like to see? What
would that look like?
Limits of paradigms:
How do the limitations of our medium manifest into our epistimology?
What if we design a limitless paradigm? One that would be designed to
give people the tools to check it for false limits and rapidly
assimilate new ideas.
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