07 June 2005
Reflection on the group process
Being thrust into a group of left over students who haven't managed to buddy up yet, can be good or bad. Part of me feels like I am left with the losers who are not quite with it - a bit on the slow side. I feel like I will have to be the one who motivates and directs the group to get any work done. In turn the other group members do the bare minimum working on my suggestions without researching externally beyond their area. Sometimes I feel like I have to do their work for them, to ensure all the relevant parts are covered adequately. I try to be enthusiastic, but if the loafers are not into it, then I feel I have to carry them.
This last group project started the same way. We all didn't know each other, and ended up joining together due to necessity. After the first meeting I came to re-evaluate my prior notions of left overs being losers. Just because we may not be super extrovertedly social, it doesn't mean we are slack. It may even mean that as introverts we have invested more time into the complexities of knowledge, rather than into egobound self projection. It turned out that our group were all very enthusiastic and keen to make our project the best. As it turned out we all got A+ for our presentation on a virtual community of short film makers (AMOQ).
This is how I wish to excel. Through my academic acheivements, not through social hob nobbing.
But here again I wind up confronted with the paradox! You have to be social to network effectively to allow greater projects to unfold. A solitary person rarely makes great leaps of progress alone. It takes teams to see big developments work, and social networking is a huge factor in this. Network network network. This is something I still have a lot to learn about.
This last group project started the same way. We all didn't know each other, and ended up joining together due to necessity. After the first meeting I came to re-evaluate my prior notions of left overs being losers. Just because we may not be super extrovertedly social, it doesn't mean we are slack. It may even mean that as introverts we have invested more time into the complexities of knowledge, rather than into egobound self projection. It turned out that our group were all very enthusiastic and keen to make our project the best. As it turned out we all got A+ for our presentation on a virtual community of short film makers (AMOQ).
This is how I wish to excel. Through my academic acheivements, not through social hob nobbing.
But here again I wind up confronted with the paradox! You have to be social to network effectively to allow greater projects to unfold. A solitary person rarely makes great leaps of progress alone. It takes teams to see big developments work, and social networking is a huge factor in this. Network network network. This is something I still have a lot to learn about.
06 June 2005
Virtual NeighboUrs
I thought I might introduce myself to my next door neighbours in the bloggosphere. I hit Blogger's "next blog" feature and landed on the Smith family of Kanzas. A happy little conservative family displays cute photos of their little ones in the kiddy swimming pool. I introduced myself as their nextdoor neighbour emphasizing the "U" in neighboUr, to proclaim my non-American herritage.
I thought that since my most recent posts were about internet pornography, that I better warn the Smith family that my site may not be suitable for young children. Upon further reflection on my peice on "Tribal Harems" with its references to nuclear families as toxic and unhealthy, I decided it would be best that my site not be viewed by married couples either. In fact the whole Smith family better stay the hell away from here.
Darn. I was only trying to be friendly.
I went back later to revisit the Smiths only to find - They had moved! My nextdoor neighbours were not my neighbours at all! That whole Next Blog thing is simply a randon blog generator. I am no closer to the Smith family than I am to Miss Angie and her pink internet porn site.
The lesson here is that your networks are based on people with similar interests, and not from age old euphamisms such as neighbour. What a funny segmented place this community is shaping up to be.
I wonder if they mind that I invaded their family photo album? Well they put it out there. They can always delete me. I guess you gotta be ready for anything in this big bad bloggosphere. I'm ready. Come on post something ya bastards!
I thought that since my most recent posts were about internet pornography, that I better warn the Smith family that my site may not be suitable for young children. Upon further reflection on my peice on "Tribal Harems" with its references to nuclear families as toxic and unhealthy, I decided it would be best that my site not be viewed by married couples either. In fact the whole Smith family better stay the hell away from here.
Darn. I was only trying to be friendly.
I went back later to revisit the Smiths only to find - They had moved! My nextdoor neighbours were not my neighbours at all! That whole Next Blog thing is simply a randon blog generator. I am no closer to the Smith family than I am to Miss Angie and her pink internet porn site.
The lesson here is that your networks are based on people with similar interests, and not from age old euphamisms such as neighbour. What a funny segmented place this community is shaping up to be.
I wonder if they mind that I invaded their family photo album? Well they put it out there. They can always delete me. I guess you gotta be ready for anything in this big bad bloggosphere. I'm ready. Come on post something ya bastards!
05 June 2005
Roots of a new tomorrow
I said "Mickey Mouse" in one of my posts. Is that an infringement of copy right? I linked Mickey's name to the Mickey Mouse homepage, and this was not an infringement of copyright. If I cut and past Mickey onto my site then it is a copywrong - and I get in trouble. Mr Potato Head is here too but I made a reference note saying his home is really at Mr Potato Head.com, and he was just popping in for a visit. I am pretty sure this is still an infringement of copyright. I didn't mutate him enough. Now where's my microwave...
Music is another funny one. Some-one makes a song, and no-one can copy it without permission. Does that mean singing the song is illegal too? Is doing a cover illegal? I think not, since there are so many covers bands at pubs. So if reproducing a song with your voice and instruments is legal, then how on earth did some-one get the rights to "Happy Birthday to you?!" According tho the documentary "The Corporation", no-one is freely allowed to use Happy Birthday in their productions because it is copy righted! (And makes about $1million per year in royalties.)
It seems Sal Humphreys (2005) was right to be concerned about "the commodification of traditional or folk cultures, where corporations seek to own creative work previously held collectively by a culture." It is true that this copyright law freezes into categories, that which was once freely flowing amongst people. I personally feel that the tightening of copy right laws really stifles creativity and progress. Especially in this fluid age of information accessability, and exchange.
I am not a deeply political person, but I see that it is obvious that capitalism is the reason that copyright exists. Not just capitalism but greed (under the guise of justice). Every-one wants a fair go, and if other rock stars became millionaires, then the next genreation feels like they are entitled to their fortunes too.
The Modern era of individual gain is drawing to a close, however. Our global sea is getting smaller and the fish are getting bigger and more numerous. All the smaller fish are dying out. We cannot sustain this growth of individual ownership for much longer. We need to redistribute the wealth and encourage sharing of ideas to help the small fish prosper. Increasing the diversity in the sea will surely create a richer environment for every-one.
When Modernism could take its unidirectional road of individual progress no further, along came Postmodernism. Postmodernism started dipping into the past for new inspiration. Today we are in an era of recycling, of materials, of ideas, of music and art. Visually I see a spiral graph of progress, always elevating, yet dipping back to skim the best of what has gone before. Tieing things down under copyright law, so they cannot be revisited or reused not only prevents a communal, sharing mentality, but it also hinders the growth of humanity.
It is a tough system that we find ourselves in, because the changes needed to allow for a communitarian way of life, means a complete overthrow of the existing system. So dramatic would this be that, it might just see the overthrow of the United States as the super power of Earth. (That's why they've been raiding other countries for their own stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.) I mean if people stayed motivated long enough to continue offering free services (like opensource code, music, art, medical services and just help in general), then we would find ourselves in an environment where megacorporations would fail because people would no longer need their services.
Imagine if we could share sustainable power supply by collectively buiding huge wind mills, or solar panels. We could drop out of the power grid. People in Biron and Mullumbimby are doing this all the time. It means progress will be slowed down for a few generations, but if enough people can sacrifice their greed, then it could work.
Like I said before - It is a major change to see this type of communal living overthrow capitalism. The funny thing is that change is becoming more rapid all the time. With the all-pervasive internet unable to be stopped by any authority we may see a revolution sooner than we think. Especially if the creative commons explodes into a thriving community of content providers, then we might just see the first tiny roots of the communalWWW sinking into the earth of a new tomorrow.
Music is another funny one. Some-one makes a song, and no-one can copy it without permission. Does that mean singing the song is illegal too? Is doing a cover illegal? I think not, since there are so many covers bands at pubs. So if reproducing a song with your voice and instruments is legal, then how on earth did some-one get the rights to "Happy Birthday to you?!" According tho the documentary "The Corporation", no-one is freely allowed to use Happy Birthday in their productions because it is copy righted! (And makes about $1million per year in royalties.)
It seems Sal Humphreys (2005) was right to be concerned about "the commodification of traditional or folk cultures, where corporations seek to own creative work previously held collectively by a culture." It is true that this copyright law freezes into categories, that which was once freely flowing amongst people. I personally feel that the tightening of copy right laws really stifles creativity and progress. Especially in this fluid age of information accessability, and exchange.
I am not a deeply political person, but I see that it is obvious that capitalism is the reason that copyright exists. Not just capitalism but greed (under the guise of justice). Every-one wants a fair go, and if other rock stars became millionaires, then the next genreation feels like they are entitled to their fortunes too.
The Modern era of individual gain is drawing to a close, however. Our global sea is getting smaller and the fish are getting bigger and more numerous. All the smaller fish are dying out. We cannot sustain this growth of individual ownership for much longer. We need to redistribute the wealth and encourage sharing of ideas to help the small fish prosper. Increasing the diversity in the sea will surely create a richer environment for every-one.
When Modernism could take its unidirectional road of individual progress no further, along came Postmodernism. Postmodernism started dipping into the past for new inspiration. Today we are in an era of recycling, of materials, of ideas, of music and art. Visually I see a spiral graph of progress, always elevating, yet dipping back to skim the best of what has gone before. Tieing things down under copyright law, so they cannot be revisited or reused not only prevents a communal, sharing mentality, but it also hinders the growth of humanity.
It is a tough system that we find ourselves in, because the changes needed to allow for a communitarian way of life, means a complete overthrow of the existing system. So dramatic would this be that, it might just see the overthrow of the United States as the super power of Earth. (That's why they've been raiding other countries for their own stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.) I mean if people stayed motivated long enough to continue offering free services (like opensource code, music, art, medical services and just help in general), then we would find ourselves in an environment where megacorporations would fail because people would no longer need their services.
Imagine if we could share sustainable power supply by collectively buiding huge wind mills, or solar panels. We could drop out of the power grid. People in Biron and Mullumbimby are doing this all the time. It means progress will be slowed down for a few generations, but if enough people can sacrifice their greed, then it could work.
Like I said before - It is a major change to see this type of communal living overthrow capitalism. The funny thing is that change is becoming more rapid all the time. With the all-pervasive internet unable to be stopped by any authority we may see a revolution sooner than we think. Especially if the creative commons explodes into a thriving community of content providers, then we might just see the first tiny roots of the communalWWW sinking into the earth of a new tomorrow.
Linkosphere - (Contempory Art Shananickans)
Links are the currency of the bloggosphere. I wonder what would happen when we linked all the words to make a mockery of syntax. I will summarize these below...
The Jewelry Kings are performing arts publishers, who print secrets such as "I once planned to kill my mother."
Stevie Wonder wrote about his secret vaccination in a chain letter. When he started speaking in tongues, we all knew it must have been the tequila. His eyes rolled around and around in their sockets.
Leo the lion rolled about in the Melbourne rainfall, because he had drunk too much vodka!
The Jewelry Kings are performing arts publishers, who print secrets such as "I once planned to kill my mother."
Stevie Wonder wrote about his secret vaccination in a chain letter. When he started speaking in tongues, we all knew it must have been the tequila. His eyes rolled around and around in their sockets.
Leo the lion rolled about in the Melbourne rainfall, because he had drunk too much vodka!
Consumption Junction Empty
Consumption Junction.com appears to have been taken off line. I don't know why. Maybe their sick and twisted content has provoked others to sabotage their site. I'm sure they will be back with avengence soon enough...
04 June 2005
Holidays Ahoy Australia!
Destination Woomera!
(Flyer would be folded into a narrower leaflet)
References for pics
http://www.gdwg.org.uk/images/image9.gif hands
http://www.birdhso.org/prisons.html beds
www.chez.com/poseb/ chap1/ch1ru_ph05.htm Surveylance
http://www.networkfest.com/images/article/a011103_01-01.jpg dog
http://www.silver-image.com/images/boat.jpg boat
http://www.schillmania.com/photos/35mm/image/collection/around_calgary/IMGP4054.jpg wire
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200306/r5203_12120.jpg wire
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1760000/images/_1761425_patrol_afp300.jpg Dog and man
http://www.unisa.edu.au/unisanews/2004/August/images/baxtergate.jpg Baxter Gate
http://www.rassa.org.au/australiabaxter&woomera.JPG Map of Australia
http://www.reportage.uts.edu.au/stories/2001/images/freerefugees.jpg Banner
http://www.rsf.org/rsf/img_protest/journ_arrest_aust.jpg Escort
http://www.krlweb.co.uk/lw/images/SOCIAL/IMMIGRANT.JPG Eyes
Holidays Ahoy Australia!
In response to the boat people being locked up in detention centres, I decided to make this promotional flyer. It is aimed at other asylum seekers who might be considering coming to Australia. It shows how friendly our asylums are with friendly guard dogs, barred windows, and decorative barbed wire trimmings.
All this is free - for refugees!
When We Are All Boat People activists use tatical media to create a spectacle for media publicity, they usually do it with imagery. My use of imagery above is in step with the mostly visual strategy of this group. I have also used a culture jamming technique to change to banner to "Free for refugees", instead of "Free the refugees."
My satirical piece may not draw the same sort of media attention though, because it sits here unviewed in my blog. If, however, I could hack into travel agents, or any official Australian tourism sites and post this flyer, THEN I might get some more publicity! Where are my hacker friends when I need them? (I give you all permission to use this flyer, Kim Davies)
All this is free - for refugees!
When We Are All Boat People activists use tatical media to create a spectacle for media publicity, they usually do it with imagery. My use of imagery above is in step with the mostly visual strategy of this group. I have also used a culture jamming technique to change to banner to "Free for refugees", instead of "Free the refugees."
My satirical piece may not draw the same sort of media attention though, because it sits here unviewed in my blog. If, however, I could hack into travel agents, or any official Australian tourism sites and post this flyer, THEN I might get some more publicity! Where are my hacker friends when I need them? (I give you all permission to use this flyer, Kim Davies)
Illustration
I thought I might illustrate my article on "Progress platforms the primitive" by using work available via creative commons. I envisaged a computer type porthole where the omnipresent primitive urges like sexual drive could travel through one end, and emerge as computer graphic representations of sex out the other end, onto a platform of sorts. Pretty abstract but I thought I was onto something hot!
Visiting creative commons for images made me realise how much I have become dependant on Google for photos. I very rarely get the "no matches" announcement from google, yet the creative commons page gave it to me frequently. So I adapted my pornographic theme to primitive representations (drawings), televised representations (B&W TV), computer related representations (naked girl sits beside a monitor), and computer graphics representations (abstract blue screen), of sex. The composite picture shown below is the result.
Let us rephrase my earlier declaration from "Hail the Commons" to "Help the Commons!" Their databanks are in serious need of substancial works, particularly images. Once I post this pic I am off to upload some of my pictures. I see this not only as a selfless act of sharing content, but also a chance to be in there as one of the early contibuters. If I submit quality pictures then I can be assured that when people search for something like "sex" they wont get some obscure blue screen imagery like the one shown below.
I am keen. Get in early and get a foot in the door. This is the big break I have been waiting for. I am NOT too late to get involved with THIS area of the internet. The only sacrifice is that I give my work away for free. But who cares about that? As an artist I see it as a chance for free publicity! The real authentic artwork is still with me. It is merely the reproductions that I will be sharing around. How bloody exciting!
Visiting creative commons for images made me realise how much I have become dependant on Google for photos. I very rarely get the "no matches" announcement from google, yet the creative commons page gave it to me frequently. So I adapted my pornographic theme to primitive representations (drawings), televised representations (B&W TV), computer related representations (naked girl sits beside a monitor), and computer graphics representations (abstract blue screen), of sex. The composite picture shown below is the result.
Let us rephrase my earlier declaration from "Hail the Commons" to "Help the Commons!" Their databanks are in serious need of substancial works, particularly images. Once I post this pic I am off to upload some of my pictures. I see this not only as a selfless act of sharing content, but also a chance to be in there as one of the early contibuters. If I submit quality pictures then I can be assured that when people search for something like "sex" they wont get some obscure blue screen imagery like the one shown below.
I am keen. Get in early and get a foot in the door. This is the big break I have been waiting for. I am NOT too late to get involved with THIS area of the internet. The only sacrifice is that I give my work away for free. But who cares about that? As an artist I see it as a chance for free publicity! The real authentic artwork is still with me. It is merely the reproductions that I will be sharing around. How bloody exciting!
Progress Platforms the Primitive
Marshall McLuhan advocates that technologies are first and foremost extensions of our human selves which extend our human capacities. He also states that "the medium is the message."
I try to grapple with these concepts and have come to interpret them to mean the following.
If we think about TV then we think that it is a one to many form of message delivery. The medium is structured this way. Any information sent via television, is sent from a small group to the masses. Regardless of the content of the message, the end result is that the masses are receiving information from a limited source. If television watchers could remember this fact then they would remember that the content is not neccessarily a majority consensus, but just information as projected from a small few.
The message here is that our government is ruling over us as a mass and our individual agency to change things is quite limited.
If we instead take the internet for example, then we have a many to many structure for information exchange. People have more agency as to which information to view. This sort of information is actually from individuals and is diverse in its stucture and content.
In this medium, the message is that we live in a democracy where if we are given a chance to excercise our voice, then we do have something to say. Also what individuals have to say is actually of interest to other people. The people form groups of likeminded collectives who can engage in discussion topics of their choice. We have become a postmodern society of minority groups who can exist as a substructure to the overriding government system.
I guess I interpret "the medium is the message" to mean that a certain age of technology, represents how the people are being governed. This may not be what McLuhan meant, but it still makes sense this way to me.
I was thinking then, that if this age of computers is meant to be the "age of leisure" then what is the message that is coming through this medium? Here I am more referring to the content of the internet. What is it that people are doing online, in this new millenium of Y2K?
They say that THE oldest profession on earth is prostitution (apparently). Here in this new age of leisure, so many hours of the day are filled up with people watching porn! I know us academics think that the internet is so much more than this, but my friends show me otherwise. The fact is, there is so much porn on the internet that people are filling hours of their new-age, leisure time by immersing themselves in this virtual world of flesh.
What is the message? Despite these elaborate technological extensions of ourselves, we are still bound by biological procreative drive. No mater how much we intellectualize ourselves to rise above our inherited, primative needs, these urges will always consume a considerable part of our lives. There is a demand for porn, and hence a great supply. The privacy of anonymity allows a greater audience to consume pornography than traditional media outlets allow.
My message is then, that the primitive has become exalted through progress. The plethora of porn existing online is merely an extension of our biological human selves. The medium is not to blame, it is just an outlet. The message is not pornography, it is just how we are built. The medium has provided an interconnected platform for our primitive selves to play.
I try to grapple with these concepts and have come to interpret them to mean the following.
If we think about TV then we think that it is a one to many form of message delivery. The medium is structured this way. Any information sent via television, is sent from a small group to the masses. Regardless of the content of the message, the end result is that the masses are receiving information from a limited source. If television watchers could remember this fact then they would remember that the content is not neccessarily a majority consensus, but just information as projected from a small few.
The message here is that our government is ruling over us as a mass and our individual agency to change things is quite limited.
If we instead take the internet for example, then we have a many to many structure for information exchange. People have more agency as to which information to view. This sort of information is actually from individuals and is diverse in its stucture and content.
In this medium, the message is that we live in a democracy where if we are given a chance to excercise our voice, then we do have something to say. Also what individuals have to say is actually of interest to other people. The people form groups of likeminded collectives who can engage in discussion topics of their choice. We have become a postmodern society of minority groups who can exist as a substructure to the overriding government system.
I guess I interpret "the medium is the message" to mean that a certain age of technology, represents how the people are being governed. This may not be what McLuhan meant, but it still makes sense this way to me.
I was thinking then, that if this age of computers is meant to be the "age of leisure" then what is the message that is coming through this medium? Here I am more referring to the content of the internet. What is it that people are doing online, in this new millenium of Y2K?
They say that THE oldest profession on earth is prostitution (apparently). Here in this new age of leisure, so many hours of the day are filled up with people watching porn! I know us academics think that the internet is so much more than this, but my friends show me otherwise. The fact is, there is so much porn on the internet that people are filling hours of their new-age, leisure time by immersing themselves in this virtual world of flesh.
What is the message? Despite these elaborate technological extensions of ourselves, we are still bound by biological procreative drive. No mater how much we intellectualize ourselves to rise above our inherited, primative needs, these urges will always consume a considerable part of our lives. There is a demand for porn, and hence a great supply. The privacy of anonymity allows a greater audience to consume pornography than traditional media outlets allow.
My message is then, that the primitive has become exalted through progress. The plethora of porn existing online is merely an extension of our biological human selves. The medium is not to blame, it is just an outlet. The message is not pornography, it is just how we are built. The medium has provided an interconnected platform for our primitive selves to play.
Recycling Idea
Recycling is an activity that will help save the planet from the non-sustainable path of destruction that it is now on. There have been claims, however, that the recycling process can actually be more costly than using virgin materials:
...transportation costs may eliminate the economic viability and environmental benefit of the recycling program. (WasteNet, 2005).
Yesterday I saw a truck full of cardboard drive past and I wondered how much extra pollution was being generated by its active existence. Sure it was doing environmental good by aiding the recycling process, yet it was also harming the environment with its noxious carbon monoxide gases. If we could recycle without the need for an independant recyling truck, then we would be one step closer to cleaning up the earth.
Delivery drivers are the ones who bring the pristine, commercially attractive boxes to us in the first place. Would it be so hard if they were to then collect the old boxes upon their next trip? Why can't every delivery sevice provide a collection sevice at the same time? That way household or even business-place recyclables could be transported daily without special trucks being employed. There could even be cash incentives to hand over you waste paper. If people put a dollar value onto their waste, they may be less likely to dispose of it so readily.
...transportation costs may eliminate the economic viability and environmental benefit of the recycling program. (WasteNet, 2005).
Yesterday I saw a truck full of cardboard drive past and I wondered how much extra pollution was being generated by its active existence. Sure it was doing environmental good by aiding the recycling process, yet it was also harming the environment with its noxious carbon monoxide gases. If we could recycle without the need for an independant recyling truck, then we would be one step closer to cleaning up the earth.
Delivery drivers are the ones who bring the pristine, commercially attractive boxes to us in the first place. Would it be so hard if they were to then collect the old boxes upon their next trip? Why can't every delivery sevice provide a collection sevice at the same time? That way household or even business-place recyclables could be transported daily without special trucks being employed. There could even be cash incentives to hand over you waste paper. If people put a dollar value onto their waste, they may be less likely to dispose of it so readily.
The Tribe
02 June 2005
Tribal harems
I have tears in my eyes and my heart is high. I have just been moved by my identification with this text by Ethan Watters:
Having delayed marriage into our late twenties and thirties we lived with a remarkable amount of personal autonomy to make up our lives as we went along. This did not feel like some sort of multiple choice freedom, but rather the type of freedom that could descend on us like a cyclone—erasing landmarks and spinning us around until we were dizzy with the complexity and sheer number of options that swirled around us. We didn’t talk about it much because freedom is a hard thing to identify in one’s own life. Given that freedom is, for the most part, an absence of restraints, we rarely stopped to count the things we were not bound by. I decided that was exactly what I needed to do.
This was from his book Urban Tribes. It hits me so hard because THIS is exactly the life I lead. I have a life full of freedom. I have no restraints. When I stop and think about how unbounded or untrapped I am, I fill up with such emotion that I cry!
At 30 years old I feel like the whole world exists before me. I have a degree in dentistry so I can work where ever I want, whenever I want, and get cashed up to do what ever I want. I have no dependants who drain from me. I have no business to commit to. I have no oppressive boyfriend who demands anything from me. I have absolute freedom! I feel extremely privileged to have been born into an ordinary Australian family, and allowed to make my own choices throughout my life. I chose to re-educate myself about life via an arts degree at QUT. I am here learning about other people in my age group who are in similar circumstances, and being moved to tears in the process. It's moments like these that make me remember why I do the things I do.
My social network is also extremely similar to the tribes that Ethan describes. It has always been my intent not to marry, and it seems my friends are of the same mindset. The reason for avoidance is freedom. I personally believe that life is about changes, and experiences and enjoyment. Everything changes with time; friends; home; jobs; interests. It makes no sense to me to resist change by dogmaticly abiding to the rules set down on one special day - the wedding day. Why on earth would I declare something (like my attraction to another human being) that is going to last until my death? I would not declare anything about myself that is going to stay fixed until my death. We live in fluid times where change is increasing. (Blame the black hole at the centre of our galaxy for that.) The dynamics of interaction that comes from a social group or groups even, allow for so much more growth and understanding than can be gained from locking into the headspace of one human being, forever. It makes sense to share the love.
When you think about all the problems in the world they mainly stem from greed. Every-one is competing to have the most wealth, and with this wealth they protect their immediate interests - their family. This leaves others who are less able to acquire wealth, to struggle - family or not. If we instead viewed humanity as our tribe, then we would all be aiming to feed the others amongst us so our global family members would not suffer. We need to redefine family.
The fact that nuclear families are breaking down is a blessing really. They are not healthy. They prohibit growth and experience. They often end traumaticly with divorce and pain. Single parents are left to hunt for another partner, in a (traditional) society that views them as damaged goods. To have 3 kids from 3 marriages is somehow seen to be distasteful, or even to be a failure.
It doesn't have to be this way! By treating our tribes as our family, we can share the burden of child rearing with a group. Having 3 different fathers could be a blessing, when all 3 of them are part of your circle of friends, and none of them are at war with each other over "lost property". I personally want to sample the gene pool and take samples from the best. Why double dip really? That's just greedy. When society changes its perception about single parents then we can see a warmer integration of people into collectives where parenthood will be seen as a group activity. Becoming a single parent is not a failure, but rather a step up to another level of interaction and a chance for greater growth.
The internet aids this assimilation by offering groups where people with similar interests can form communities. Particularly glocal communities where people can form offline friendships too. Communities or tribes are not just a fad, they are the future. As religious identification pales by the wayside, so too will the laws of marriage in future generations. We may not be becoming any less spiritual, but perhaps just not so indoctrined to primitive ways of living.
Having delayed marriage into our late twenties and thirties we lived with a remarkable amount of personal autonomy to make up our lives as we went along. This did not feel like some sort of multiple choice freedom, but rather the type of freedom that could descend on us like a cyclone—erasing landmarks and spinning us around until we were dizzy with the complexity and sheer number of options that swirled around us. We didn’t talk about it much because freedom is a hard thing to identify in one’s own life. Given that freedom is, for the most part, an absence of restraints, we rarely stopped to count the things we were not bound by. I decided that was exactly what I needed to do.
This was from his book Urban Tribes. It hits me so hard because THIS is exactly the life I lead. I have a life full of freedom. I have no restraints. When I stop and think about how unbounded or untrapped I am, I fill up with such emotion that I cry!
At 30 years old I feel like the whole world exists before me. I have a degree in dentistry so I can work where ever I want, whenever I want, and get cashed up to do what ever I want. I have no dependants who drain from me. I have no business to commit to. I have no oppressive boyfriend who demands anything from me. I have absolute freedom! I feel extremely privileged to have been born into an ordinary Australian family, and allowed to make my own choices throughout my life. I chose to re-educate myself about life via an arts degree at QUT. I am here learning about other people in my age group who are in similar circumstances, and being moved to tears in the process. It's moments like these that make me remember why I do the things I do.
My social network is also extremely similar to the tribes that Ethan describes. It has always been my intent not to marry, and it seems my friends are of the same mindset. The reason for avoidance is freedom. I personally believe that life is about changes, and experiences and enjoyment. Everything changes with time; friends; home; jobs; interests. It makes no sense to me to resist change by dogmaticly abiding to the rules set down on one special day - the wedding day. Why on earth would I declare something (like my attraction to another human being) that is going to last until my death? I would not declare anything about myself that is going to stay fixed until my death. We live in fluid times where change is increasing. (Blame the black hole at the centre of our galaxy for that.) The dynamics of interaction that comes from a social group or groups even, allow for so much more growth and understanding than can be gained from locking into the headspace of one human being, forever. It makes sense to share the love.
When you think about all the problems in the world they mainly stem from greed. Every-one is competing to have the most wealth, and with this wealth they protect their immediate interests - their family. This leaves others who are less able to acquire wealth, to struggle - family or not. If we instead viewed humanity as our tribe, then we would all be aiming to feed the others amongst us so our global family members would not suffer. We need to redefine family.
The fact that nuclear families are breaking down is a blessing really. They are not healthy. They prohibit growth and experience. They often end traumaticly with divorce and pain. Single parents are left to hunt for another partner, in a (traditional) society that views them as damaged goods. To have 3 kids from 3 marriages is somehow seen to be distasteful, or even to be a failure.
It doesn't have to be this way! By treating our tribes as our family, we can share the burden of child rearing with a group. Having 3 different fathers could be a blessing, when all 3 of them are part of your circle of friends, and none of them are at war with each other over "lost property". I personally want to sample the gene pool and take samples from the best. Why double dip really? That's just greedy. When society changes its perception about single parents then we can see a warmer integration of people into collectives where parenthood will be seen as a group activity. Becoming a single parent is not a failure, but rather a step up to another level of interaction and a chance for greater growth.
The internet aids this assimilation by offering groups where people with similar interests can form communities. Particularly glocal communities where people can form offline friendships too. Communities or tribes are not just a fad, they are the future. As religious identification pales by the wayside, so too will the laws of marriage in future generations. We may not be becoming any less spiritual, but perhaps just not so indoctrined to primitive ways of living.
F*ck the fax!
I'm sorry but I just can't take ME out of the equation. In an academic paper maybe, but this blog is not just a recital of information that I learned in the classes. It is my perception that I value in this forum space. Blogs are quite unique in their unstructured freedom to vent your possition in any way you chose. They are subjective.
One of the most astounding realisations I came across when studying visual art at QUT was that the artist is just as important as the art work. I always thought good art could stand alone and speak for itself, but I am told otherwise. I have discovered that I, as artist, as journalist, as blogger, play a huge role in moulding and presenting the information. Alas, I cannot give you the fax. Scientists give facts, and even then these can still be manipulated to present certain truths, i.e. statistically.
Now with ethnographic research playing a larger role in understanding how society relates with technological tools such as the internet, we see that poeple need be be understood from within. The cold hard platform of scientific observation is too limited in its appreciation for the complexity of human interactions. So too is it that my understanding of these lectures on virtual cultures cannot be simplifed to a list of key concepts. I mean I could list these off but - it fails to show my understanding. So instead of regurgitating facts, I am going to rely on my previous entries as a demonstration of my understanding. More entries will follow... as I get stimulated.
One of the most astounding realisations I came across when studying visual art at QUT was that the artist is just as important as the art work. I always thought good art could stand alone and speak for itself, but I am told otherwise. I have discovered that I, as artist, as journalist, as blogger, play a huge role in moulding and presenting the information. Alas, I cannot give you the fax. Scientists give facts, and even then these can still be manipulated to present certain truths, i.e. statistically.
Now with ethnographic research playing a larger role in understanding how society relates with technological tools such as the internet, we see that poeple need be be understood from within. The cold hard platform of scientific observation is too limited in its appreciation for the complexity of human interactions. So too is it that my understanding of these lectures on virtual cultures cannot be simplifed to a list of key concepts. I mean I could list these off but - it fails to show my understanding. So instead of regurgitating facts, I am going to rely on my previous entries as a demonstration of my understanding. More entries will follow... as I get stimulated.
Fix the Fax
My entries from now on are designed to be factual for the sake of being intellectual and intellegent regarding virtual cultures. Rather than go back and mock up my dates so that it looks like I knew what was going on the whole time, I would rather leave the chronology of my entries alone. They show how my understanding has matured over time. They are playful and fun and after assessment is finished, I will still be able to enjoy their freshness.
So the next lot of entries are going to be a bit dry, I feel. There will be no more entries on my day to day musings because I have to demonstrate that I know the fax. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep Boooooooooooop bup bup bup bup beep bop. Prrrrr Prrrr.....
So the next lot of entries are going to be a bit dry, I feel. There will be no more entries on my day to day musings because I have to demonstrate that I know the fax. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep Boooooooooooop bup bup bup bup beep bop. Prrrrr Prrrr.....
01 June 2005
Future Fantasy
Weakest link
I realise this blog is for assessment purposes and the contents of my entries should relate to virtual cultures but...
I had just left the final lecture on virtual cultures where every-one is stressing about their blogs. I myself feel a bit uncertain of my blog as an assessible item because I have tried to keep my content focused on interesting personal observations, that somehow relate to the lecture content. Today's entry relates to the lecture in that, I was leaving the lecture when I saw the news headline:
"Do shock tactics really prevent car accidents?" A photo of fire and destruction on the road illustrating this point. "Hell yes," I thought as I wondered about being a wheelchair bound vegetable for the rest of my life. As I walked back to the car, I noticed crumpled car panels and wondered about the nature of collisions. I got to thinking that matter is more space than it is solid. The nucleus of an atom is magnitudes smaller than its surrounding electron cloud. If things are made of more space than matter then why do we have car crashes?
At first I blamed the ionic bonds that hold molecules together. Then I realised even if the bonds could let go for a second, then there are still all the nuclei that have to collide against one another. I started thinking it was the thickness of matter that made it impermiable. What if it was a thin foil that wanted to pass through another thin foil? I reckon that could work, provided all the electrons could be neutalised for a second.
I caught myself pondering this idea of transpermiability of matter and wondered why I was even thinking about it at all. Why are we humans still so attached to material concerns when it is obvious that the next millenium is going to be about higher levels of interaction which rely less on physical interaction and more on electrical computer mediated communications. Ideas are what are flourishing across the web of shared consciousness. Ideas exist beyond matter, even though they are still connected to biological brain tissue somewhere. Instead of trying to reshape the atom, the forces of discovery have pushed technological progress into the internet realm. Here virtual things can permiate other things without collisions or traumatic accidents. It's time to give up cars and transport, particularly for menial tasks such as going to work. Instead work needs to be brought into the cyber world where ideas can abound in all directions, at the speed of light. We need not end up vegetables by traveling in faster cars, when we can instead become screenbound potatoes, with big overdeveloped brains!
That is our future. Welcome the new generation of potatoeheads!
I had just left the final lecture on virtual cultures where every-one is stressing about their blogs. I myself feel a bit uncertain of my blog as an assessible item because I have tried to keep my content focused on interesting personal observations, that somehow relate to the lecture content. Today's entry relates to the lecture in that, I was leaving the lecture when I saw the news headline:
"Do shock tactics really prevent car accidents?" A photo of fire and destruction on the road illustrating this point. "Hell yes," I thought as I wondered about being a wheelchair bound vegetable for the rest of my life. As I walked back to the car, I noticed crumpled car panels and wondered about the nature of collisions. I got to thinking that matter is more space than it is solid. The nucleus of an atom is magnitudes smaller than its surrounding electron cloud. If things are made of more space than matter then why do we have car crashes?
At first I blamed the ionic bonds that hold molecules together. Then I realised even if the bonds could let go for a second, then there are still all the nuclei that have to collide against one another. I started thinking it was the thickness of matter that made it impermiable. What if it was a thin foil that wanted to pass through another thin foil? I reckon that could work, provided all the electrons could be neutalised for a second.
I caught myself pondering this idea of transpermiability of matter and wondered why I was even thinking about it at all. Why are we humans still so attached to material concerns when it is obvious that the next millenium is going to be about higher levels of interaction which rely less on physical interaction and more on electrical computer mediated communications. Ideas are what are flourishing across the web of shared consciousness. Ideas exist beyond matter, even though they are still connected to biological brain tissue somewhere. Instead of trying to reshape the atom, the forces of discovery have pushed technological progress into the internet realm. Here virtual things can permiate other things without collisions or traumatic accidents. It's time to give up cars and transport, particularly for menial tasks such as going to work. Instead work needs to be brought into the cyber world where ideas can abound in all directions, at the speed of light. We need not end up vegetables by traveling in faster cars, when we can instead become screenbound potatoes, with big overdeveloped brains!
That is our future. Welcome the new generation of potatoeheads!
