[iDC] Net autonomy

[Alfredo Cramerotti]

On 22/03/2006, at 23.14, Trebor Scholz wrote:

> The word ³autonomous² (having its own laws) is not the most fitting
> term. It has connotations of a certain self-sufficiency and isolation.
> I question the long-term sustainability of these initiatives.


I refer here to a little book by Alfonso Berardinelli [1], in which  
he analyses quite cleverly the concept of Autonomy.
Autonomy has its own fascination given by the notion of the Self,  
that subjective identity that manages to create its own rules of life  
and behaviour without absorbing someone else's, and it is referred as  
a sort of 'solid' concept - as opposed as Liberty, that often is felt  
as too vague. But laws and rules according to which we live are not  
completely our own invention, or conscious choice. They are not  
generated by our autonomous will. Conversely, they are often (if not  
always) generated by certain automatisms, and we, instead of  
autonomous, feel like robots ('automi' in Italian).

The Self, in its voracity for the lost Autonomy, becomes blind to the  
Autonomy of the Other. Autonomy devours reality, it negates it.  
Sounds bad? Think again: The auto-defensive Attention to my Autonomy  
makes me aware and curious about the Other's Autonomy. And in this  
curiosity and attentiveness I can discover in my identity something  
which I didn't know, another Self that I cannot govern and that could  
belong to someone else who isn't me. I could acquire, so to speak, a  
dynamic idea of myself, rather than a static one.

Since Identity and Autonomy can become a prison, we need to escape.  
And to do that, we need something or someone which attracts us out of  
ourselves. Attraction. Attention. Other. Love, maybe. Someone has  
said the fundament of Love is Attention. Attention is an Art. In the  
end, is better be autonomous also from ourselves.

Berardinelli gives a lot of thoughts about the individual, and the  
necessity to take responsibility of one own' action. Stupidity in the  
end is the unable-ness to foresee our actions' consequences. Maybe we  
should elaborate an idea of life - and happiness - which certainly is  
more personal, but also less 'on the market'. In every action -  
individual or collective - the responsibility is and must remain of  
the individual. Here comes into play the notion of Attention, which,  
to me, represents the key for Autonomy.
Autonomy not necessarily as the self-governing practice, rather as  
the Self that pay Attention to every single step it takes, and  
attempt to comprehend what's beyond the second step.


[1] Alfonso Berardinelli, 'L'abc del mondo contemporaneo', minimum  
fax, 2004

best,
Alfredo

A. Cramerotti +45 26930501 / +49 1738210267

http://mediageographies.blogspot.com
www.annualgeneralmeeting.net
www.alfredocramerotti.net


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