I chose not to live like I'm being watched because I don't care. When I think about it, I don't really care if I'm being watched as long as I don't know. I'll keep living the same way I have and in the end if it all turns out to be one giant conspiracy or if it turns out my life was a TV show for eveyones entertainment well then, you're welcome. The way I see it I can still say I enjoyed all the moments you saw in the same degree and I still learned the same things about myself. Even if I am just a remake of another Claire Miller out of a vile in the back of some chemical shop, I'm having a good time of it all.
In other news, the application of the small is the way we grow. In being forced to write smaller we are forced to think bigger. We act bigger by portraying ourselves on online profiles and plurk pages. Maybe one doesnt see a problem with acting publicly as if one is being watched because one likes the attention. Is it you don't care, or that you care more than anything? The human being wants to preserve itself. We want others to watch and see and talk and be interested in what we have to say because that makes us interesting.
The Filth is the grime our desire for attention leaves caked to our minds and bodies and drips from our actions.
We are watched, therefore we are.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Ribofunkalicious
First let me just say that I have SO many thoughts about Ribofunk. This is going to be a scattered blog but I would rather spew now and cover everything then wait to organize my thoughts and leave something out.
First of all, on finishing the work, which I thought was brilliant, I could not help but see some form of "God" in the Urb. I was raised Catholic and maybe it's 13 years of Catholic education that has burned that into my psyche and the way in which I read things but I couldn't help but correlate an omnipresent being of divine power and almost humble intentions to the idea of a Catholic God.God is supposed to be everywhere and a part of everything and is this not what we see in the Urb? It took over at such a rate, waiting until it had the power to take the characters completely by surprise until it struck, leaving them unable to defy it or even think about whether or not they wanted it. So it seems our society, or at least the one I grew up in, treats religion. Thrown at you at such a speed you have no choice but to live it and accept it and it becomes a part of you and you, it. Pay close attention to "have no choice"...not like you want something else but are forbidden to have it, but rather you actually have no choice, you have no clue of what it is to live without...
Next let me draw on the one quote that has been haunting me throughout this quarter thus far: "Curiosity killed the cat". In ribofunk we see this strain of the human race to constantly fix what has gone wrong. We see it in "Big Eater" "Blankie" "Up the Lazy River" and ultimately in "Distributed Mind", these being the first that came to mind. Humans have reached a state of technology where virtually anything is possible and in that possibility we see the danger of such unlimited power. In "Up the Lazy River" we see a man swallowed by his own river. The river and the silicrobes were acting in ways they weren't programmed to. This is a classic case of technology taking over and becoming smarter than those who discovered and forged it. Then we are finally released into a world where technology has been all we know and have known b/c it has completely taken over: the Urb.
It is then through our curiosity and our drive to progress that we force ourselves into our own destruction. Only when we are swallowed by a river or our friends sent back to their planets or our loved ones turned to ghosts do we beg the question have we gone too far? By then it's too late and we are left wanting to find a new technology that will reverse what we've done.
Only when we are personally subjected to the wrath of our curiosity and invention do we have call into question the beauty and eloquence of Philip Sydney's quote.
So then where is the line? Was it Mendel manipulating the peas? But they're only peas...but they're only rats (I draw attention to the nude mouse)...but they're only sheep, but they're only monkeys, but they're only the old and the dying, but they're only jews, or blondes, or Cubans. Of course now i bring myself back to the idea of competition and my blog about the Post Modern Fable.
We have blown past the line. I don't know where it was but I can say with confidence that we will never find it. It has been covered by the dust of our progress.
Then isn't our progress an off-shoot of our creativity? We spoke of living as an art-form. Living our lives to be art. To me this means living in a full awareness of oneself. Knowing what one desires and enjoys and is capable of. But in knowing what we are capable of we know what we are incapable of and our want of progress and our curiosity coupled with our creativity drives us forward into the unknown. So then it can be argued that our destruction, this utter loss of control we see in Ribofunk is the offspring of out creativity and the art form that science has become.
So there you have it. The thoughts and continuous spewing of my mind in the aftermath of Ribofunk. Which, as I said before, was brilliant.
First of all, on finishing the work, which I thought was brilliant, I could not help but see some form of "God" in the Urb. I was raised Catholic and maybe it's 13 years of Catholic education that has burned that into my psyche and the way in which I read things but I couldn't help but correlate an omnipresent being of divine power and almost humble intentions to the idea of a Catholic God.God is supposed to be everywhere and a part of everything and is this not what we see in the Urb? It took over at such a rate, waiting until it had the power to take the characters completely by surprise until it struck, leaving them unable to defy it or even think about whether or not they wanted it. So it seems our society, or at least the one I grew up in, treats religion. Thrown at you at such a speed you have no choice but to live it and accept it and it becomes a part of you and you, it. Pay close attention to "have no choice"...not like you want something else but are forbidden to have it, but rather you actually have no choice, you have no clue of what it is to live without...
Next let me draw on the one quote that has been haunting me throughout this quarter thus far: "Curiosity killed the cat". In ribofunk we see this strain of the human race to constantly fix what has gone wrong. We see it in "Big Eater" "Blankie" "Up the Lazy River" and ultimately in "Distributed Mind", these being the first that came to mind. Humans have reached a state of technology where virtually anything is possible and in that possibility we see the danger of such unlimited power. In "Up the Lazy River" we see a man swallowed by his own river. The river and the silicrobes were acting in ways they weren't programmed to. This is a classic case of technology taking over and becoming smarter than those who discovered and forged it. Then we are finally released into a world where technology has been all we know and have known b/c it has completely taken over: the Urb.
It is then through our curiosity and our drive to progress that we force ourselves into our own destruction. Only when we are swallowed by a river or our friends sent back to their planets or our loved ones turned to ghosts do we beg the question have we gone too far? By then it's too late and we are left wanting to find a new technology that will reverse what we've done.
Only when we are personally subjected to the wrath of our curiosity and invention do we have call into question the beauty and eloquence of Philip Sydney's quote.
So then where is the line? Was it Mendel manipulating the peas? But they're only peas...but they're only rats (I draw attention to the nude mouse)...but they're only sheep, but they're only monkeys, but they're only the old and the dying, but they're only jews, or blondes, or Cubans. Of course now i bring myself back to the idea of competition and my blog about the Post Modern Fable.
We have blown past the line. I don't know where it was but I can say with confidence that we will never find it. It has been covered by the dust of our progress.
Then isn't our progress an off-shoot of our creativity? We spoke of living as an art-form. Living our lives to be art. To me this means living in a full awareness of oneself. Knowing what one desires and enjoys and is capable of. But in knowing what we are capable of we know what we are incapable of and our want of progress and our curiosity coupled with our creativity drives us forward into the unknown. So then it can be argued that our destruction, this utter loss of control we see in Ribofunk is the offspring of out creativity and the art form that science has become.
So there you have it. The thoughts and continuous spewing of my mind in the aftermath of Ribofunk. Which, as I said before, was brilliant.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
My very own domesticated domestication
Last year when I was living in the dorms I had to idea who my roommate would be. I was nervous, of course. I'm not very clean and I'm lazy and I could see how someone might be irritated with living with me. (isn't it interesting how i was worried how I would effect the other). Long story short I got a great roommate who never judged me and even encouraged my domestically challenged ways.
Now I live with my brother. He's a year younger than me and we've always been close. It's natural that we would make good roommates because we're so used to being around the other in a domestic setting. we've been trained to domesticate ourselves to the other and to like people because it's all we've known. Would I have different antics had I grown up around a different family with more sisters than brothers or maybe on a farm rather than in the city? Yes. I would.
On the subject of labor and work put into these domestic relationships, my brother and I only get along because we have mastered the art of maintenance in our relationship. We know what the other will think is funny and so we know what jokes to crack. We know what the other likes to eat so we know what to buy and what to leave for the other. We know what annoys the other so we know how to act and when to keep our distance.
The labor that goes into our relationship is all we've known. By breaking that domesticity we break our habit and make the other or ourselves uncomfortable...
Now I live with my brother. He's a year younger than me and we've always been close. It's natural that we would make good roommates because we're so used to being around the other in a domestic setting. we've been trained to domesticate ourselves to the other and to like people because it's all we've known. Would I have different antics had I grown up around a different family with more sisters than brothers or maybe on a farm rather than in the city? Yes. I would.
On the subject of labor and work put into these domestic relationships, my brother and I only get along because we have mastered the art of maintenance in our relationship. We know what the other will think is funny and so we know what jokes to crack. We know what the other likes to eat so we know what to buy and what to leave for the other. We know what annoys the other so we know how to act and when to keep our distance.
The labor that goes into our relationship is all we've known. By breaking that domesticity we break our habit and make the other or ourselves uncomfortable...
Thursday, February 5, 2009
On the value of being human
Today we talked about what it meant to be human. In Life Extreme Ronnel talks about how dogs can identify each other and how she wanted to be a part of that. Maybe it's the way we feel connected with other humans. There was talk of having a mother. More talk of bananas and monkeys and sign language but ultimately we didn't reach any hard facts about what it was to be human. And I'm pressed to think there are few hard facts to be reached on the subject.
What I find much more interesting is what human beings are tending to do with said humanity. We seem to cherish it, if we didn't why would we go to such great lengths to identify it's boundaries. But if we do cherish it so, why do we also have this burning desire to change, alter, and in effect kill it?
With all this talk of futuristic possibilities and inevitable progressions like nanobots injecting entire new languages into our brains and reconfiguring the atom and genetically altering the human being, it seems we have very little value for the original human being. I have to ask, who cares what makes us human? We obviously don't; we're doing everything in our power to get away from it. We call it progress and in a sense it is, but if technology does take the reins and biology takes a back seat, we are faced with the possibility of losing the human race forever.
Yet is it not human to want to be better? So then are we not being better and more true humans by altering ourselves to be better?
My point, though sloppily presented, is that we do not know what makes us human. I do not know, and to be honest, it does not matter to me. I feel good or tired or hungry, that's all i know. What should be examined is how humans treat what is perceived to be their defining characteristics. Why do we claim to cherish humanity if we only seek to alter it?
What I find much more interesting is what human beings are tending to do with said humanity. We seem to cherish it, if we didn't why would we go to such great lengths to identify it's boundaries. But if we do cherish it so, why do we also have this burning desire to change, alter, and in effect kill it?
With all this talk of futuristic possibilities and inevitable progressions like nanobots injecting entire new languages into our brains and reconfiguring the atom and genetically altering the human being, it seems we have very little value for the original human being. I have to ask, who cares what makes us human? We obviously don't; we're doing everything in our power to get away from it. We call it progress and in a sense it is, but if technology does take the reins and biology takes a back seat, we are faced with the possibility of losing the human race forever.
Yet is it not human to want to be better? So then are we not being better and more true humans by altering ourselves to be better?
My point, though sloppily presented, is that we do not know what makes us human. I do not know, and to be honest, it does not matter to me. I feel good or tired or hungry, that's all i know. What should be examined is how humans treat what is perceived to be their defining characteristics. Why do we claim to cherish humanity if we only seek to alter it?
How do we live with others?
I know this is past due but I think it's interesting to think about. I feel that we compete with others. We do not wish to live harmoniously. Though we like to think we do, innately I think human beings want to be better than each other. We live to support ourselves and the people we love. We would steal from another if it meant we could feed our family. We would kill if it meant we would stay alive. I think it is folly to mask the human beings natural desire to compete. Yes, I think it's natural. We want to be the healthiest and the smartest and the wealthiest and the nicest and the most powerful. I don't think it's a bad thing so much as a form of natural selection, survival of the fittest. Plants compete for light, they outgrown each other. Animals compete for food and for companions. We are energy and that energy in itself competes as we read in "The Post-Modern Fable". Humans capacity for competition stems from that feeling of necessity to outgrow and outlive the competing life forms.
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