Lego Hellboy
Metaphysics has always struck me as a prolonged form of latent insanity. If we knew the truth, we’d see it; everything else is systems and approximations. The inscrutability of the universe is quite enough for us to think about; to want to actually understand it is to be less than human, since to be human is to realize it can’t be understood.
I’m handed faith like a sealed package on a strange-looking platter and am expected to accept it without opening it. I’m handed science, like a knife on a plate, to cut the folios of a book whose pages are blank. I’m handed doubt, like dust inside a box—but why give me a box if all it contains is dust?
—Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet (via ontheborderland) (via orphelinesauvage) (via theorygeek) (via notational)
The End of a Semester
Today is the last day of my Time Studio, the class that inspired the creation of this blog. It is strange for me now, to look back over my posts and realize how much more I could have filled these pages with. A blog is a fantastic tool whether it is used as a journal, a soap box, a or simply a place to share ideas.
One thing that has been a bit disappointing is the tendency within the blogsphere to get lazy and simply repost content created by others. I myself have given into this temptation when I wanted to post but could not generate enough enthusiasm to produce my own content. Now I am all for the sharing of content, please do not misunderstand, but I think that in order for a blog to be something worthy of our highly valued attention it is important to strike a balance between sharing and creating. When all we do is share borrowed material, it is like adding noise to an empty room, building layers of echoes, but unable to really understand a word anyone is saying.
What do I mean by my last statement? Think of it this way; technology is a tool that we can use to facilitate communication. While it is amazingly helpful when used in the correct context, it becomes not only useless, but also detrimental to actual sharing of ideas when it isn’t employed effectively. Maybe a little word picture will help to illustrate what I mean.
In the wintertime, when it is cold outside, we wear gloves or mittens to keep our hands warm. By doing so, we retain the mobility of our fingers and it preserves our dexterity. However, if I were to continue wearing my gloves when I returned to the great indoors, they wouldn’t help me to use my hands effectively, in fact they might hinder me. Imagine trying to play the piano, or type on a keyboard. Also, if I decided to apply these gloves toward a purpose they weren’t intended for, say wearing them like a hat, they would be very useless (and goofy looking).
In much the same way technology, in this case blogs, can help us to communicate ideas over great distances, with people we might never have had the opportunity to meet in person. This capability is fantastic, and I continue to be in awe of the connections that I, in my short time, have made via the Internet. Yet allowing this technology to spill into areas it doesn’t belong creates problems instead of solutions. When personal relationships are filtered through technology (such as facebook) a disconnect can build from this decontextualization, and (wrapping back to my original point) when the tech is applied for the purpose of bombarding the landscape of communications with excessive information, it tends to have the opposite effect desired. Rather than reaching more people, more people are forced to tune it out.
When the filtration of unwanted content starts to take up the majority of my time on the Internet, I start to get tired of it and seriously consider drastic measures, such as looking for the info in the analogue world of paper based technology. Is reading a book instead of a blog a bad thing? Probably not, but I doubt that this is the result that the many bloggers want, as they work industriously to see and be seen.
This is why I see it as so important to include self-generated content in a blog. For one it necessarily reduces the amount of material being generated hopefully resulting in higher quality content and less sheer volume of useless information floating around; and second, it will likely give an author greater pause for thought when it comes to how he targets his audience.
Though I have heard quite often in my first year of art school that “More is more.” I disagree. In America, the land of mass production, we tend to think that the more people are buying into your product, whether it be automobiles or ideas, the better it is. Such an idea is probably economically driven, but even in that context might be counter-intuitive. In my limited study of the field of marketing, I have learned that it is more important for the right people to get the right product. This, I believe, holds true for ideas as well as canned soup.
Am I suggesting outside regulation? NO, NO, NO! The internet is still a new toy, and we still have a lot to learn about it. I am confident that as society matures into our technology we will begin to correct for and adapt to the way we use these communication tools. A good step in that direction would be for each and every blogger who reads this to think a little more about what kind and how much content they are pouring into the mix.
I for one have decided that I want to self-generate as much content as I share. This is the best way I know how to keep that balance and avoid becoming
just another spammer.
Share design: Travel Fast
Help me get my t-shirt design printed! Bop over to threadless and throw in your vote!
A Response to Clay Shirky’s Comments on Filter Failure
As Clay Shirky discussed the concept of filter failure versus information overload in the the preceding post, I was struck once again by a common theme that keeps popping up in the media conversation going on in our culture. Shirky identified a problematic attitude that is making itself apparent in every level of human activity today, and it is frightening to consider the consequences.
As Shirky explains, the difference between “information overload” and “filter failure” is one of human perception. Information overload implies that there is too much information being made available and that it is not possible for us physically to keep up. Filter failure, a phenomenon that Shirky believes is the real explanation for our difficulty adapting to new technology, says that it is not a question of over stimulation, but rather a tendency to grow apathetic in our control of information intake, and then to be annoyed when we are forced to adjust and adapt to newer methods of information delivery.
The issue with this improper information overload diagnosis, and the reality of filter failure, is not really a question of technology at all, it is a combination of inertia and human rationalization. We do not want to work any more than we have to, this is a characteristic common to humans. If given the option we choose leisure over labor, so sometimes as can be the case with new information delivery systems, we would just as soon leave our tried and true filtering systems in place than adjust them as needed. When we find ourselves bombarded with unwanted information, we blame the technology instead of the real culprit, ourselves.
This attitude of victimization by environment does not stop in this area of life, but rather is spreading and creating some serious social and economic problems, especially in this country. I believe that the phrase “Well I deserve…” is a result of this attitude and will hamstring the citizens of the western world if we don’t learn to adapt rather than demand.
The most amazing musical puppet performance EVER!!!
drawing is insanely insane, with a bit of insanity mixed in.
