REMIX + EXPLANATION
032607
Even though I don't believe in epiphanies as life-changing, I can see how they might affect personal perspectives...
But what do they actually mean to the individual, lost in his own sea of existence? Life isn't about the instances where we discover particular insight into the nature of things...it's something unforgiving and inexorable, where our unavoidable mortality invalidates any importance we might glean through experience...maybe existing becomes something separate from the true self, a composite of epiphanies and regrets and memories...
It just seems as though we put up facades, and these facades are what interact in the "real world." It's not simply a matter of being civil in your public life, it's about the image you project at all times, intentionally or otherwise. Are we afraid of the consequences of letting go, of pushing our vulnerable inner selves outward? I see myself just taking part in some slow dance and it makes me sick. The person I project isn't the person I am, but who's to know...
How does this affect communication? The world suddenly transforms into a mess of images and symbols that touch and repel in a constant state of paranoid mimesis...as though we're in a rush to communicate everything, even though there is a certain falseness to it all...
Anyway, I have to start thinking of possible project ideas. A few good ones are flitting about the wiki. Maybe I'll just latch on to one of them...
032107
It's always encouraging to find an interesting blog...
Everyone must watch this video...and its sequel...
And this is one of the most moving short stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading...
030207
Someone I ran into recently got me interested in the Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings that abound online. For the past couple days, I've done nothing but download and listen. This always tends to happen with new bands I discover, but with Zeppelin, it's been a five year show...
I'll say this before I go any further...The only LZ CDs I've ever purchased were gifts for other people. They were the first band I downloaded en masse, and the first to really affect me deeply. They redefined what music meant to me, helped me re-capture my love for the arts in general...pushed me back onto that classic/prog rock path...
Well by now I've cooled to them somewhat, so to start listening again, to "fresh" sounds and improvisations (for instance, there's this beautiful 41 minute edition of "Dazed and Confused" that everyone has to hear at least once. I'll try to make it available)...quite the experience...
moops I don't think psu.edu takes kindly to hostin dem mp3 things with copyright attached...
I've been a fan since I can remember, and I've had a crush on Jimmy Page since I was about nine. They have always been and always will be one of my favorite bands...I think the day I completed my collection of all of their albums (vinyl) with the original artwork was the happiest I've been since birth...and I fully support downloading them. Also, I'll respond to your comment on my page soon, but I have to go to class and then head home for a night...so, Sunday, probably. ~ Ceridwen
Anyone else feel that the new/modern LZ is The Mars Volta? Just throwing it out there. Toolbox
re: my tattoo. You've got the first bit. The rest of it is a jumble somewhat related to Aleister Crowley, mysticism, and a rash of fan speculation as to the meaning of Page's symbol. My favorites are a) a representation of Saturn, the Roman god of harvest, later associated with Cronus (god of time) b) a symbol signifying a bridge between life and death reached through either tantra or a near-death experience. I tend to think c) both. Also, you may have noticed a slight modification of the "S", which we changed to look more like the symbol for infinity. ~ Ceridwen
But what I've been dancing with is the whole idea of outside recordings as "illegal." I download media constantly, but for one reason only-enrichment. As a human being, I should be allowed to appreciate anything I might find awe-inspiring, sublime, life-changing...and to try and keep that from me or anyone else should be seen as the sin of the ages - the only real degradation of that pure aesthetic sense. Capitalist standards can't be brought to terms with such objects of "true" substance. Art should be untouched by profit margins and sales figures, and yet...Generally, I would abstain from throwing my vote in one direction over another, as I abhor the notion of a "cause worth fighting for." But in this case, it seems I would have no choice. And this is what I find so disconcerting, that I would defend this "right" willingly, that I would be ready to fight for something so seemingly intangible and ephemeral...for this and nothing else...
I suppose, on some level, I despise art for shaking my egoistic philosophies...but maybe that's what I need, to be broken again...It's been a long time since I confronted my own systems of control...mainly because they've kept me safe, distant and impartial...
To pull the topic back...I feel particularly happy depriving these money-grubbing record companies of my few remaining dollars...but I'd much rather run across something that moves me for years. I'd go so far as to say that art is all that keeps me afloat in this world of shadows and empty forms...It validates my existence in some way...
I love recommending bands/movies/tv shows whenever I get the chance, so in this case I'd say there are only a handful of bands/artists I'd place up next to LZ: Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Fairport Convention, the Dead (live)...that's a start, so get to it...
NOTE: Continuing with the collaborative fiction idea-I'll start posting my incomplete pieces on Echan's site as soon as I know we have at least a couple more people who seem interested. I'm not sure how it'll go if only 2-3 of us actually do anything. But who knows, that may be enough...
030107
So I've been juggling with this "collaborative fiction" idea, trying to parse my thoughts into something cohesive...I'm also a little hesitant to put anything I write up for review, as I hate most of it (surprising, I know). We could possibly extend Echan's poetry blog to include this new branch of "wiki as art." Hell, maybe even take some of that poetry and remix it a little... graffiti with a purpose?
I think that's a great idea, moops! Collaborative fiction... is that where you would start a piece and others would be able to add to it? That sounds a lot like what I've done in fiction workshop classes as an exercise to help with creative logjams (to quote mobius). This sounds like a great way to use the wiki, I'd love to get in on it.~Echan
In response to your response to my response (I think??? I'm lost...): I think, actually, in the spirit of effecting this collaboration the wiki promises, we should just set up a page, toss up a paragraph or two, and then run with it. Like an experiment in the issues VulpesLogos and I were discussing about a month ago. On the wiki there is a lack of proprietary ability (despite our individual blogs, which someone mentioned being slightly 'counter-purpose', although I regrettably forget who(m?))...so perhaps we could see what the class, effectively functioning as a single author, can generate. Twists and turns and different styles all colliding into one (hopefully) coherent piece. Meh? ~ Ceridwen
Also, I posted a link in Provisional Idiot's blog about the RSS feed PBWiki runs for all their public wikis. My comment is a little buried, so here it is once more: http://biotelemetrica.pbwiki.com/rss2.php?private=1. Personally, I think it's quite useful, keeps me focused on wikis that are constantly on the move...I use Sage for Firefox and I'm sure there a multitude of free readers out there...
022707
"belief is the death of intelligence"
The idea of premise lock and "reality tunnels" are almost interchangeable, in that all truths are merely subjective interpretations, a melding of knowledge and perception given false value when blanketed by reality. So, in effect, we are nothing more than ghosts in the machine that is existence, without anything but our minds to carry us from one moment to another...
I think this idea can only be approached once you destroy any ideas of self that might still hold firm. What I mean is that you could read that first quote and see nothing in it...or you could be completely changed, based entirely on your state of mind...
I find the college atmosphere to be particularly detrimental to actually learning anything...but if I had to fight for it, I'd say the best thing it could offer a student is the possibility for real progress as an individual. Our lives should be spent evolving our systems of control, slowly paring away at the fat...
I guess I'm jumping around a bit, but in essence, I believe that life is about exploring new venues, always. It isn't necessarily about finding a niche or graduating from one level in society only to be mired in another...
Compelling stuff...
I think at some point I might start a separate category of posts on here, taking a cue from Huxley and documenting my thoughts and experiences while under the influence of some questionable material. It might be enlightening...
And if it goes anywhere, I might try incorporating my notes into a larger project...
022207
I'm thinking on setting up my own version of the "fake novel" here on the wiki. Fiction as an entity seems vaguely autonomous, devoid of any connection to external constructs established by the original authors, be it style, intent, or scholarly provenance. What I mean is that most literary work is read out of context, in that the reader is separated from the writer, from the original mind at work. Therefore, it seems likely that given the right parameters, a story constructed entirely of wiki contributed material, from its inception through its drafts, would be an interesting experiment to follow. It could be a sort of meta-fiction, one that proves that the sum is, at the very least, separate and different from the parts. As if we created art for nothing beyond the creation...
I'll try to find some links on the idea, since I'm sure it's been brought up before somewhere online. If there's any interest in it, readers should comment at the end of the post. I assume a page or few could be set up where people could work and collaborate on ideas for the short story/novel/whatever. Nothing too serious...
2/28/07 - your idea reminds me of a game I played in one of my English classes freshman year...it was boring as hell, so to pass the time one of us would start writing something fictional on a sheet of notebook paper, and then start passing it around the room with everyone adding to it. The only trouble was that the only person who got to see the final product was the person who had it when class ended. This idea seems like a sgnificantly better formation of that...I'm all for it! Lets start the fiction engine going, gang. I've got the begining of a short story I'm willing to toss out there on a page for mangling and beautifying and remixing. ~ Ceridwen
021507
After working through Ubik for a bit, a certain fascination arose concerning the temporal half-life Runciter and his wife are placed in. In a way, such a premise seems tied to the aberrant desire we harbor to see death devalued. And what does that really mean in the context of the human crush, where meditation precedes simple existence? We can't endure as "lesser" creatures, and we abhor the lotus-eaters, so we move to destroy the relentless influences upon us with the tools at our disposal. I believe we are simply searching for anything to escape the inevitable, and so create smaller, lesser essentialities that somehow attempt to capture a semblance of the original prints. Of course, this sort of fantasy is better realized in some fictional exegesis, as the sheer depth of the issues brought up can generally be glossed over, as SF authors primarily utilize the one-two punch of realization and immediate acceptance. For instance, what does it really mean to teleport, to clone, to genetically engineer? How often do you see the philosophical problems inherent to these theories brought up in shows/books/movies that utilize them? I'm digressing I suppose...And I'm sure someone can bring up some work of art that does, such as Dark Star or Blade Runner or whatever else...The point is that these arguments are rarely broached by the majority...
So to pull this discussion back on track to the "half-life as existence" issue...
The major question here is actually somewhat clear: Can extended mind-states which constitute an individual human consciousness be reduced to intelligible, manageable forms, and in turn be re-worked as the basis for some faux cognizance? When dealing with the mind-body problem, I generally defer to Searle's statements on the issue, but to what extent is his a neo-dualistic point of view? I see that there is no sanctity to human thought, indeed nothing sacred or valuable to human life that should save it from disassembly, yet I cannot see the process as entirely feasible. We walk down dark corridors, lighting our way with the candles we stumble upon, and yet we claim to see the mosaic of paintings that adorn the walls. What remains impartible isn't the mind-body, it's the mind-body complex. To rush to some conclusion, I see this as the main impediment to realizing Philip Dick's vision of sentience upon death...
I'd go into this further but I don't want to lose any more readers than I already have...
013107
With RFID, I think we're pushing for integration a little too quickly and without a whole lot of thought beforehand. For instance, I've seen an idea thrown around on the wiki that these chips should be used on sex offenders and the like. Just stop and think about that: there are people ready to discard basic civil rights and freedoms for some supposed safety. Committing a crime does not bring an individual down to the level of cattle, to be tagged and sent back out like some beast. I feel that RFID should stay entirely supply-side, and that any further experimentation which serves to unite this technology with a living, human element should be immediately curtailed. If not, I see us approaching that slippery slope we love to bring up. And I do feel that in this case, privacy isn't the issue. It's something far more insidious and problematic...
012207
What will it mean to synergize natural human curiosity and the never-ending stream of information that is the online environment...
It appears that the destructive elements of society are slowly being massaged out of the machine. It goes beyond the initial anomie felt by the individual or the dehumanization inherent to a reality made coherent by externalities. I should preface by defining society as a mass of symbols and forms given false weight through our unflinching adherence to the juggernaut itself. It moves as its own being, and we move as organs within. Still, we believe in our parasitic superiority to the creation, which is where the real folly lies. When society dictates policy is when we need to rise above it, but who would stand behind such ideals and work against the mass? There is no question that visionaries have filtered through the cracks of an outwardly sound system, laying vent to a slew of ideas and perspectives. I suspect it is our need for safety that keeps us from following these prophets to some new Canaan. And so we continue to slog down this uneven path we dare not leave, a high cage placed about us by our own institutions. Within the last century, rapid urbanization has coupled with rampant population growth, leading to the large-scale negation of both the community and the individual. Now we exist hand-to-mouth, proponents of material largess, closed off yet forced against each other, riding our cattle train wherever it may lead us...
To be sure, I find this a repulsive state of affairs. Yet who am I to say what has worth and what doesn't? The new digital era is upon us, and it was made through our folly, rather than in spite of. This process of self-realization cannot be seen as cancerous, merely a new form of evolution. We are nearing a level of existence unforeseen, where the aggregate is merged with the self, yet kept distinct, separate, to maintain some semblance of essence...
I feel as though our generation is on the verge of something immense, something we cannot touch or understand fully, something for our children to have as their own. I suppose it could be seen as the technological/biological singularity where individuals become unitized, where information-gathering becomes more about incorporation than discussion. Everything from art to philosophy to politics will be a part of a more general whole, where all is left open for the taking. The self becomes suffused with knowledge, where a constant dissemination of sensory input becomes the norm. In a way, wiki itself is a precursor of the main progression, the aegis of the enabler made enlightener. Life according to wiki moves in ripples, where contributions are touched and retouched, spreading slowly from the appreciative to the disinterested and back again. What lies in wait is a roiling, undying sea, one fueled by the discontent of past storms weathered by the digi-natural amalgam. The standard must change, so that all will become responsive and open...indeed, there may be a time not far from now where the exception becomes the benchmark, where ignorance seems implausible while cognizance and awareness meld into the new prevailing archetype...
As an aside, it will be rather interesting to see what sort of luddite subcultures arise under this new world order, an inevitable response to the burgeoning development of mankind...
ON THE PROPOSAL
I feel as though there is a similar bent to the statements made in the proposal as the one I made above, albeit on a smaller scale. We have come to an impasse, one which we can choose to embrace and assimilate or stand aside. This is the movement of our era, where technophiles become commonplace, where education becomes more about saturation and less about the call-and-response. If Penn State took the leap forward by becoming entirely wireless, I believe that we would inadvertently become the first soldiers in the revolution. And that would be something of mention at least...
In any case, what matters here is that the attempt is being made. Educators are taking notice while students have already begun the motions. It seems almost fitting that the transformation might progress from the university side. The first steps are always the most crucial. We'll have to wait and see...
011807
I have to think about what I'll be posting in the future, since I hate the direction personal blogs tend to move toward...Just empty information masquerading as content...
But this could be more than a blog. Something MUCH more...
Then again, maybe not...
If I'm online, I'm probably roaming through Wikipedia aimlessly. So this wiki nonsense is nothing new...Still, it will be interesting to see what we generate with the 3-a-week entry schedule...
Here, I'll try and set up the clinch, somehow tie this to the class discussion by voicing one of my own well-informed opinions. I expect my statement may indirectly influence many people, what with its italicized font pattern and authoritative tone...Information of any kind should be free and open to all. The policing of artistic/cultural/societal contributions for profit and control serves to create a new human condition, one which destroys and depreciates in the same breath...Take a moment to let that settle in. I'll be dropping such gems from time to time, so be ready...
To wit, the answer is always moops...
Li: I'm a tumbler
Wa: Take stock
Re: Find your own value
Comments (1)
Anonymous said
at 2:50 am on Jan 24, 2007
the velvet underground, thievery corporation, and led zeppelin - excellent choices.
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