Apply this tech to a story about anti-social behavior - Asimov style.
-- Mobile and Free
Location:E 7th St,Oakland,United States
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Future story
Sciene has advanced to where they can get digital readings from the cortex. The can monitor the activity along the columns and diagnos the response. Then, with gene theropy, introduce new sequences and inhibit others to correct not only behavior, but emotional satisfaction in the behavior. In essence programing them to approve of the operation post facto.
Apply this tech to a story about anti-social behavior - Asimov style.
-- Mobile and Free
Apply this tech to a story about anti-social behavior - Asimov style.
-- Mobile and Free
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Future of protests is in the hybrid
Another type of protest. Protest as meet-and-greet. Face to face leads becomes website to website, inbox to inbox, and then back into the streets. What happens when it gets back into the streets. It's lazerfeld gone crazy.
This is also a sign of the decentralization of media. Organizers no longer need the attention of centralized media to spread their message. The growth of the diversified network (new kind of mass media?) carries digital word-of-mouth extending it beyond geographical boundaries.
What about cultural boundaries? The benefit of unified media content was that cultural likeness was more pervasive and allowed easy communication between fellows using the same sample sets of reference points. Now, the media channels are decentralized, but the culture is more fractured which, ultimately, makes communication more difficult. Many people may agree that government is the problem, but half of them think it is a problem inherent in the institution, the other half just want to find better people to run it. They may be unified in their disgust, but they are also separated by their predispositions toward solutions.
"One irony for Obama is that the Tea Party movement is using his own organizing techniques against him: Meetup.com announcements, Twitter tweets, viral videos, e-mail trees and all the other innovations falling under the politically potent umbrella known as social networking. Indeed, in the online age, the whole purpose of physical gatherings has changed. Real crowds draw virtual crowds, and vice versa, as David DeGerolamo, a Tea Party organizer from North Carolina, explained during a seminar in Nashville. Recounting how he built a statewide operation from scattered local groups, DeGerolamo said he started with a rally. "I went around and contacted as many of these groups as I could find and invited them to Asheville for what we called the first N.C. Freedom Convention." That was last May. When everyone was gathered, DeGerolamo coaxed the groups — notoriously prickly about their independence — to join under the banner of a single website, NCFreedom.us. Next, he convened a town-hall meeting "for one reason — to get YouTube videos," DeGerolamo said. "YouTube is one of our best allies in terms of becoming a communications network." Today, DeGerolamo's group sends out more than 6,000 e-mails a week, stages informal protest parades called Rolling Tea Parties and posts dozens of videos of the movement in action."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1964903,00.html?xid=huffpo-direct#ixzz0fuRlFgdW
This is also a sign of the decentralization of media. Organizers no longer need the attention of centralized media to spread their message. The growth of the diversified network (new kind of mass media?) carries digital word-of-mouth extending it beyond geographical boundaries.
What about cultural boundaries? The benefit of unified media content was that cultural likeness was more pervasive and allowed easy communication between fellows using the same sample sets of reference points. Now, the media channels are decentralized, but the culture is more fractured which, ultimately, makes communication more difficult. Many people may agree that government is the problem, but half of them think it is a problem inherent in the institution, the other half just want to find better people to run it. They may be unified in their disgust, but they are also separated by their predispositions toward solutions.
"One irony for Obama is that the Tea Party movement is using his own organizing techniques against him: Meetup.com announcements, Twitter tweets, viral videos, e-mail trees and all the other innovations falling under the politically potent umbrella known as social networking. Indeed, in the online age, the whole purpose of physical gatherings has changed. Real crowds draw virtual crowds, and vice versa, as David DeGerolamo, a Tea Party organizer from North Carolina, explained during a seminar in Nashville. Recounting how he built a statewide operation from scattered local groups, DeGerolamo said he started with a rally. "I went around and contacted as many of these groups as I could find and invited them to Asheville for what we called the first N.C. Freedom Convention." That was last May. When everyone was gathered, DeGerolamo coaxed the groups — notoriously prickly about their independence — to join under the banner of a single website, NCFreedom.us. Next, he convened a town-hall meeting "for one reason — to get YouTube videos," DeGerolamo said. "YouTube is one of our best allies in terms of becoming a communications network." Today, DeGerolamo's group sends out more than 6,000 e-mails a week, stages informal protest parades called Rolling Tea Parties and posts dozens of videos of the movement in action."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1964903,00.html?xid=huffpo-direct#ixzz0fuRlFgdW
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Types of protests
What kind of mass protests exist? What are the reasons people gather to protest?
There is the pitch-fork protest. This involves people massing to take an action. This type of protest presumably includes an expectation of some concluding response. Such as a picket line or vote recount (Ukraine).
There is an awareness/message outreach protest. This is the most common American model used to garner the attention of the mass media. A dance?
Civil/uncivil disobedience is another directive of the mass protest. Some may peacefully take up counter space or block interstate traffic. Others may employ violence to disrupt business. This may have a goal of getting media attention as well.
Boycotts?
Change through action versus change through awareness...through action.
-- Mobile and Free
There is the pitch-fork protest. This involves people massing to take an action. This type of protest presumably includes an expectation of some concluding response. Such as a picket line or vote recount (Ukraine).
There is an awareness/message outreach protest. This is the most common American model used to garner the attention of the mass media. A dance?
Civil/uncivil disobedience is another directive of the mass protest. Some may peacefully take up counter space or block interstate traffic. Others may employ violence to disrupt business. This may have a goal of getting media attention as well.
Boycotts?
Change through action versus change through awareness...through action.
-- Mobile and Free
"Art is the signature of a civilization"
Kate Raudenbush "Art is the signature of a civilization." --Beverly Sills
February 10 at 11:02am · Comment · Like
MrSpaceman LaVigne, Michelle LaVigne and 5 others like this.
Rich Cleland Spelled in the letters of its culture.
February 10 at 11:30am ·
Kate Raudenbush ...or song, or dance, or painting, or sculpture, or theatre, or architecture,
February 10 at 11:35am
Rich Cleland all culture.
February 10 at 11:36am ·
Zoë Knight Culture is an art form.
February 10 at 12:18pm
Rich Cleland I think culture is the medium out of which art is comprised. Which is not to suggest that art is limited to composition from a single culture. An artist draws from a tool set of cultural symbols (including cultural attitudes and memes) and applies her technique (or technical skills or techne) to create a new expression.
The aesthetic quality of the resultant artifact may be appreciated for skill in construction, cultural aptness, or both. In this case, I'm not using "aesthetic" to mean a sense of what has beauty, rather to say what has resonance.
This resonance is the manifestation of the artifact's translation into the cultural library of the viewer. For example, a work of art may provoke unequal resonance among an audience. I think, this disparity arises out of the capacities and dispositions of those individual libraries. Some people get Kabuki, others love Noise Pop. One person is disgusted as the sacred is made profane; which may be what another person appreciates most about it.
However, regardless of whether or not its intent is misconstrued, all art is ultimately communication (though, as is evident here, not all communication is ultimately artful:). An artist assembles a message by choosing words, colors or harmonic registers, etc. which necessarily reside (or resonate) in her own cultural library.
It is possible that, through the synthesis of these aspects, some artifacts are so profound that they open the way to infectious, new cultural avenues with definitions of their own, but even the most iconoclastic owes something to the cultural antecedents it seeks to flout.
Therefore, I may agree that culture is an art form, but, in that case, I would then be reluctant to agree that there were any other forms.
February 10 at 2:21pm ·
Rich Cleland By way of explicating my position further, let me say that it is my personal belief that the basic, underlying message most artists seek to convey through their work is, "I'm not alone in this, am I?"
February 10 at 2:25pm ·
Orion Keyser art is so many things, and then there's craft, these things deceptively entertain one another.
February 10 at 3:06pm
Kate Raudenbush Rich, you are quite the elucidator today!
February 10 at 9:14pm
Deborah-Dr Deb- Windham art makes you happy
February 10 at 9:41pm
Rich Cleland I blame it on this Neal Stephenson book i'm reading. He has a tendency to activate my head and get me chatty.
I agree with you Dr. Deb, and sometimes it makes me sad, which makes me happy, too.
February 10 at 9:49pm
February 10 at 11:02am · Comment · Like
MrSpaceman LaVigne, Michelle LaVigne and 5 others like this.
Rich Cleland Spelled in the letters of its culture.
February 10 at 11:30am ·
Kate Raudenbush ...or song, or dance, or painting, or sculpture, or theatre, or architecture,
February 10 at 11:35am
Rich Cleland all culture.
February 10 at 11:36am ·
Zoë Knight Culture is an art form.
February 10 at 12:18pm
Rich Cleland I think culture is the medium out of which art is comprised. Which is not to suggest that art is limited to composition from a single culture. An artist draws from a tool set of cultural symbols (including cultural attitudes and memes) and applies her technique (or technical skills or techne) to create a new expression.
The aesthetic quality of the resultant artifact may be appreciated for skill in construction, cultural aptness, or both. In this case, I'm not using "aesthetic" to mean a sense of what has beauty, rather to say what has resonance.
This resonance is the manifestation of the artifact's translation into the cultural library of the viewer. For example, a work of art may provoke unequal resonance among an audience. I think, this disparity arises out of the capacities and dispositions of those individual libraries. Some people get Kabuki, others love Noise Pop. One person is disgusted as the sacred is made profane; which may be what another person appreciates most about it.
However, regardless of whether or not its intent is misconstrued, all art is ultimately communication (though, as is evident here, not all communication is ultimately artful:). An artist assembles a message by choosing words, colors or harmonic registers, etc. which necessarily reside (or resonate) in her own cultural library.
It is possible that, through the synthesis of these aspects, some artifacts are so profound that they open the way to infectious, new cultural avenues with definitions of their own, but even the most iconoclastic owes something to the cultural antecedents it seeks to flout.
Therefore, I may agree that culture is an art form, but, in that case, I would then be reluctant to agree that there were any other forms.
February 10 at 2:21pm ·
Rich Cleland By way of explicating my position further, let me say that it is my personal belief that the basic, underlying message most artists seek to convey through their work is, "I'm not alone in this, am I?"
February 10 at 2:25pm ·
Orion Keyser art is so many things, and then there's craft, these things deceptively entertain one another.
February 10 at 3:06pm
Kate Raudenbush Rich, you are quite the elucidator today!
February 10 at 9:14pm
Deborah-Dr Deb- Windham art makes you happy
February 10 at 9:41pm
Rich Cleland I blame it on this Neal Stephenson book i'm reading. He has a tendency to activate my head and get me chatty.
I agree with you Dr. Deb, and sometimes it makes me sad, which makes me happy, too.
February 10 at 9:49pm
Cultural Vibrancy
Chalk one up for the global culture collision. The content is very nearly unbearable, but it indicates something about the vibrancy of this particular cultural meme that its adherents not only tolerate, but seek out and venerate new variations on a theme based on the intrinsic qualities of the content rather than artificial structures such as the nationality, race, geography or cultural purity of its producer.
Identities are like languages, the ones with the best built-in structures promoting adaptation and inclusion of the "foreign" are going to win.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/12/beckii-cruel-14-year-old_n_458566.html
Identities are like languages, the ones with the best built-in structures promoting adaptation and inclusion of the "foreign" are going to win.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/12/beckii-cruel-14-year-old_n_458566.html
Friday, February 12, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Diamond Age
"Put them on and be yourself, Mr. alienated, loner, steppenwolf, bemused, distant, meta-izing, technocrat, rationalist fucking shit head."
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Don't Ask, Don't Kick Them Out
Rich Cleland And here's the real problem right here: [McCain says,] "...We have the best trained, best equipped, and most professional force in the history of our country, and the men and women in uniform are performing heroically in two wars. At a time when our Armed Forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy."
This statement exposes to two-pronged disconnect between conservative rhetoric and reality:
1) Unless he's just employing baseless platitudes (likely), the "most professional force in history" should be able to do what the (by logical extension of McCain's argument) less professional army did fifty years ago integrating the services during a time of war (sorry, Korean Police Action).
2) (a.k.a., the most morally disgusting part of the conservative argument) Some of the heroic men and women that John McCain so eagerly annexes into his argument are sacrificing in two wars while simultaneously fighting to hide themselves in plain sight and fearing that a discovery in their personal lives might end their professional career.
They're already 'over there.' They're fighting for you. Fight for them.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/02/gays_military_1
Benjamin Doyle Dont ask dont tell works!
February 5 at 7:56am ·
Rich Cleland For whom? At what cost?
February 5 at 9:01am ·
Kathryn Palmer Because this change in policy would change military operations how? Memo to troops: You can come out of the closet. Oh, shit, they've all gone clubbing--who will fight the war???
February 5 at 9:40am ·
Rich Cleland Well, i'm not saying it would be that easy. I'm not saying it would be easy at all. In fact, i think it will be very hard, but hard is not a valid excuse to not do something that should be done.
I'm also not saying every gay or lesbian needs to be out. I'm saying that, being a discovered homosexual should not be used to drum you out of the service. We lose good personnel that way and maintaining DADT is a powerful institutionalized statement that says, you homosexuals are not full citizens (despite your service to your country) and we will punish you because you are a minority and we can get away with it.
February 5 at 9:51am ·
Kathryn Palmer We agree, Rich. I was just mocking the assumption that it would hurt current military operations.
February 5 at 9:55am ·
Benjamin Doyle Since I have spent all of my adult life in the US Army I can only give my opinion, and my experience. I have served with gay and lesbian soldiers, and have seen both extremes of how a person can carry themselves. I have had the honor of serving with one of the best medic in the army in two comabt tours having recieved a bronze star and purple heart who happens to be gay. He will be the first one one to tell you that Dont ASK Dont tell works for now. He keeps his personal life personal The can of worms this would open is very large. and in my opinion this is not the time.
February 5 at 10:41am ·
Rich Cleland I understand. I was also pointing out that it wont be as easy as some proponents of repeal say it is either. Fortunately we have a good logistical and moral model to follow in the integration of the forces in the 50s. Which, by the way, seems to have turned out ok.
February 5 at 10:53am ·
Rich Cleland In any event, McCain et al. dont get to claim all the heroes in arguing in favor of repressing the civil rights of the minority because some of those heroes are in that minority.
(Ben, I don't know the specifics of your argument for continuing dadt so I'm not saying that this is your opinion on the matter.) I find it extremely typical of people in the conservative movement to despise government invasion into personal lives except when it can be used to enforce their particular moral code.
February 5 at 10:53am ·
Rich Cleland (fb is being weird, sorry for the choppy post).
Ben, I definitely acknowledge your close perspective on this situation. I totally believe that there are gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, and marines who would not push to repeal DADT. Just like there are heterosexuals in the force too who support repeal.
If not now then when? I ask because it's been 15 years since we enacted this temporary fix and "now's not the time" has been the mantra in the past to justify continued suppression of civil rights. I'm not saying that you are using it this way, i'm mentioning it to point out how minorities process that phrase.
February 5 at 11:12am ·
Rich Cleland I think it will be hard to change minds and, again, i'm not suggesting that everyone be "out." But a policy that boots arabic linguists from the service because of they happen to be gay doesn't seem like a good idea right now either. Why isn't it not the right time to be depleting our force of trained arabic linguists or highly-qualified, decorated medics?
February 5 at 11:12am ·
Rich Cleland I also believe that people will not overcome their prejudgments about minorities if the institutions of government reinforce them. When the government says that a group of people is subhuman deserving of diminished rights, the larger citizenry is inclined to agree. So I guess what i'm saying is that this needs to happen for our society to develop. If that means we have to ask one more hard thing from the men and women serving in the military, then that's just one of the many hard things we ask of them (you), but it's no different than asking them to engage in the experiment of integration so that our society could begin to heal our racial divide.
February 5 at 11:12am ·
Rich Cleland case in point.
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/02/09/Dan_Choi_Back_in_Active_Duty/
11 minutes ago ·
This statement exposes to two-pronged disconnect between conservative rhetoric and reality:
1) Unless he's just employing baseless platitudes (likely), the "most professional force in history" should be able to do what the (by logical extension of McCain's argument) less professional army did fifty years ago integrating the services during a time of war (sorry, Korean Police Action).
2) (a.k.a., the most morally disgusting part of the conservative argument) Some of the heroic men and women that John McCain so eagerly annexes into his argument are sacrificing in two wars while simultaneously fighting to hide themselves in plain sight and fearing that a discovery in their personal lives might end their professional career.
They're already 'over there.' They're fighting for you. Fight for them.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/02/gays_military_1
Benjamin Doyle Dont ask dont tell works!
February 5 at 7:56am ·
Rich Cleland For whom? At what cost?
February 5 at 9:01am ·
Kathryn Palmer Because this change in policy would change military operations how? Memo to troops: You can come out of the closet. Oh, shit, they've all gone clubbing--who will fight the war???
February 5 at 9:40am ·
Rich Cleland Well, i'm not saying it would be that easy. I'm not saying it would be easy at all. In fact, i think it will be very hard, but hard is not a valid excuse to not do something that should be done.
I'm also not saying every gay or lesbian needs to be out. I'm saying that, being a discovered homosexual should not be used to drum you out of the service. We lose good personnel that way and maintaining DADT is a powerful institutionalized statement that says, you homosexuals are not full citizens (despite your service to your country) and we will punish you because you are a minority and we can get away with it.
February 5 at 9:51am ·
Kathryn Palmer We agree, Rich. I was just mocking the assumption that it would hurt current military operations.
February 5 at 9:55am ·
Benjamin Doyle Since I have spent all of my adult life in the US Army I can only give my opinion, and my experience. I have served with gay and lesbian soldiers, and have seen both extremes of how a person can carry themselves. I have had the honor of serving with one of the best medic in the army in two comabt tours having recieved a bronze star and purple heart who happens to be gay. He will be the first one one to tell you that Dont ASK Dont tell works for now. He keeps his personal life personal The can of worms this would open is very large. and in my opinion this is not the time.
February 5 at 10:41am ·
Rich Cleland I understand. I was also pointing out that it wont be as easy as some proponents of repeal say it is either. Fortunately we have a good logistical and moral model to follow in the integration of the forces in the 50s. Which, by the way, seems to have turned out ok.
February 5 at 10:53am ·
Rich Cleland In any event, McCain et al. dont get to claim all the heroes in arguing in favor of repressing the civil rights of the minority because some of those heroes are in that minority.
(Ben, I don't know the specifics of your argument for continuing dadt so I'm not saying that this is your opinion on the matter.) I find it extremely typical of people in the conservative movement to despise government invasion into personal lives except when it can be used to enforce their particular moral code.
February 5 at 10:53am ·
Rich Cleland (fb is being weird, sorry for the choppy post).
Ben, I definitely acknowledge your close perspective on this situation. I totally believe that there are gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, and marines who would not push to repeal DADT. Just like there are heterosexuals in the force too who support repeal.
If not now then when? I ask because it's been 15 years since we enacted this temporary fix and "now's not the time" has been the mantra in the past to justify continued suppression of civil rights. I'm not saying that you are using it this way, i'm mentioning it to point out how minorities process that phrase.
February 5 at 11:12am ·
Rich Cleland I think it will be hard to change minds and, again, i'm not suggesting that everyone be "out." But a policy that boots arabic linguists from the service because of they happen to be gay doesn't seem like a good idea right now either. Why isn't it not the right time to be depleting our force of trained arabic linguists or highly-qualified, decorated medics?
February 5 at 11:12am ·
Rich Cleland I also believe that people will not overcome their prejudgments about minorities if the institutions of government reinforce them. When the government says that a group of people is subhuman deserving of diminished rights, the larger citizenry is inclined to agree. So I guess what i'm saying is that this needs to happen for our society to develop. If that means we have to ask one more hard thing from the men and women serving in the military, then that's just one of the many hard things we ask of them (you), but it's no different than asking them to engage in the experiment of integration so that our society could begin to heal our racial divide.
February 5 at 11:12am ·
Rich Cleland case in point.
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/02/09/Dan_Choi_Back_in_Active_Duty/
11 minutes ago ·
Friday, February 5, 2010
Middle Child
Gen x is the proverbial middle child. Babyboomers are the annointed first born and everything after is the baby.
-- Mobile and Free
-- Mobile and Free
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Modern Malaise
Abhiyan Humane truly sad..
Nadia Smith Is it really sad? "Sad" in a sentimental sense, perhaps, but not in an evolutionary sense, no?
7 hours ago
Nadia Smith Not everything is worth preserving. I think it is OK if some things die out or get lost.
7 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane yes, but sometimes it is our indifference
7 hours ago
Nadia Smith Well, our indifference is mostly a result of information overload. It's not possible to know and care about everything. Modern life is so overwhelming sometimes. Indifference is perfectly justified, in my opinion.
7 hours ago
Rich Cleland I think it's important to draw a distinction between a loss of the information and the loss of experiential connection. The language of Bo is gone. Who cares. If there was only one person left who spoke it, it was already dead from a practical sense anyway.
The lamentable part is the loss of the last person who had a real connection with all the people who came before her and learned that language. It is the end of something that perpetuated for centuries. It might justifiably deserve a single link and expression on facebook among the thousands of doppleganger posts and (urbane)dictionary.com ego tripping.
In my opinion, if I felt jaded into indifference by the information overload of modern life, I might try to reset my priorities to skip the information altogether and appreciate the richness of the connections. Stuff like this isn't the poison, it's the antidote.
6 hours ago ·
Nadia Smith RIch, that's a nice way to put it. I agree with you. My point is just that the link Abhiyan posted is not necessarily sad. I can note it, and I can appreciate the connection and significance of the loss of a language/culture, but I can do all that without having to feel an emotion. In that sense I used the word "indifference". It is simply not possible to *feel* for everything, and short of cheapening the human experience, it it of utmost importance to be able to prioritize.
5 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane I agree with Rich, that is exactly what i meat by "sad", loss of history (oral and ritual), her social artifacts (ex; cooking), etc...
5 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane what we need is better information filtering systems....
5 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane rather efficient and are sensitive...
5 hours ago
Porismita Borah Absolutely agree with Rich. Thanks Abhiyan for sharing.. Prof. Abbi does some great work and is in JNU. I remember meeting her in Delhi.
5 hours ago
Rich Cleland Well, presumably setting aside the fact that Abhiyan may dispense his emotional capital where he wishes on his own page and/or the use of "sad" as a shorthand, categorical marker connoting a type of undesirable occurrence, I think I still might respectfully disagree.
I understand your point. There is a lot of information out there and attaching emotional significance to everything may not be healthy, proper, or even possible. Though, I'm not suggesting that we should rend our clothing or stab out our eyes.
But I think your response may support my statement about the malaise of modernity. You tell me you've intellectually processed the information with cross-references to the connections and significance, filed under language/culture.
Sure you *can* file it away without the emotional context of the event, but then it just becomes one more factoid under a mountain of factoids. Information overload is what happens when you save facts simply from habit or some disconnected rational sense that you are supposed to note things like this.
The emotional context is the reason to save the information in the first place. When you add this layer to fact collecting, it's no longer a burden to maintain. It establishes your place in relation to the data and enriches your own context. And information outside of your emotional connection can be eschewed to reference libraries and google searches.
Modernity doesn't need to be a burden. One beautiful thing doesn't need to be diminished by 999 other beautiful things.
4 hours ago ·
Nadia Smith Is it really sad? "Sad" in a sentimental sense, perhaps, but not in an evolutionary sense, no?
7 hours ago
Nadia Smith Not everything is worth preserving. I think it is OK if some things die out or get lost.
7 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane yes, but sometimes it is our indifference
7 hours ago
Nadia Smith Well, our indifference is mostly a result of information overload. It's not possible to know and care about everything. Modern life is so overwhelming sometimes
7 hours ago
Rich Cleland I think it's important to draw a distinction between a loss of the information and the loss of experiential connection. The language of Bo is gone. Who cares. If there was only one person left who spoke it, it was already dead from a practical sense anyway.
The lamentable part is the loss of the last person who had a real connection with all the people who came before her and learned that language. It is the end of something that perpetuated for centuries. It might justifiably deserve a single link and expression on facebook among the thousands of doppleganger posts and (urbane)dictionary.com ego tripping.
In my opinion, if I felt jaded into indifference by the information overload of modern life, I might try to reset my priorities to skip the information altogether and appreciate the richness of the connections. Stuff like this isn't the poison, it's the antidote.
6 hours ago ·
Nadia Smith RIch, that's a nice way to put it. I agree with you. My point is just that the link Abhiyan posted is not necessarily sad. I can note it, and I can appreciate the connection and significance of the loss of a language/culture, but I can do all that without having to feel an emotion. In that sense I used the word "indifference". It is simply not possible to *feel* for everything, and short of cheapening the human experience, it it of utmost importance to be able to prioritize.
5 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane I agree with Rich, that is exactly what i meat by "sad", loss of history (oral and ritual), her social artifacts (ex; cooking), etc...
5 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane what we need is better information filtering systems....
5 hours ago
Abhiyan Humane rather efficient and are sensitive...
5 hours ago
Porismita Borah Absolutely agree with Rich. Thanks Abhiyan for sharing.. Prof. Abbi does some great work and is in JNU. I remember meeting her in Delhi.
5 hours ago
Rich Cleland Well, presumably setting aside the fact that Abhiyan may dispense his emotional capital where he wishes on his own page and/or the use of "sad" as a shorthand, categorical marker connoting a type of undesirable occurrence, I think I still might respectfully disagree.
I understand your point. There is a lot of information out there and attaching emotional significance to everything may not be healthy, proper, or even possible. Though, I'm not suggesting that we should rend our clothing or stab out our eyes.
But I think your response may support my statement about the malaise of modernity. You tell me you've intellectually processed the information with cross-references to the connections and significance, filed under language/culture.
Sure you *can* file it away without the emotional context of the event, but then it just becomes one more factoid under a mountain of factoids. Information overload is what happens when you save facts simply from habit or some disconnected rational sense that you are supposed to note things like this.
The emotional context is the reason to save the information in the first place. When you add this layer to fact collecting, it's no longer a burden to maintain. It establishes your place in relation to the data and enriches your own context. And information outside of your emotional connection can be eschewed to reference libraries and google searches.
Modernity doesn't need to be a burden. One beautiful thing doesn't need to be diminished by 999 other beautiful things.
4 hours ago ·
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