[iDC] partial vs. peripheral attention

[john sobol]

Brian Holmes wrote:
 
The machines we use, and that use us, that channel our attention into 
particular patterns, were not invented and were not produced by means 
of peripheral attention.
 
No, they weren’t. Other useful patterns, however, were. And are.
 
This is not an argument against improvising or free associating or 
dialoguing spontaneously. But it is an argument against promoting those 
capacities above all others.
 
Read my post. I didn’t promote it above all others. As usual, the mere 
suggestion that alternate epistemologies should be considered on their 
own terms has elicited an extreme and unwarranted defensive reaction.
 
I really find it childish in the worst sense of the word, sorry. If 
everyone goes on saying oh yeah, sure, to such arguments, in the end 
we'll live in the paradise of the totally manipulable population, and 
the few who do reflect on what they are doing will control the many, 
even more easily than they do now.
 
Well here I disagree. I think that currently in our world the few who 
control the printed word control the many who do not, and they do so 
via economic, legal, military, scientific and other systems that 
leverage the organizing power of literate communication (forms, 
copyright, contracts, ledgers, bylaws, bills, deeds, treaties, degrees, 
patents, etc.). Now, I am not saying that literacy is not valuable and 
useful, especially since I am one of those who enjoy its many benefits, 
but I am saying – and have been saying on this list for a long time – 
that there are opportunities to build bridges between oralists and 
digitalists that MAY enable each to strengthen their economic and 
social positions relative to the dominant literate hegemony of WIPO, 
WTO, shareholder value, newspeak, etc. by leveraging and integrating 
related skillsets and value systems. So if I’m cautiously optimistic 
about the possible evolution of networked youth culture it is in fact 
specifically in the modest hope that if such bridges are built it may 
help slow the suicidal industrial tendencies of literate society by 
integrating ‘diffuse awareness’ in the economic value chain. It’s not 
something that I expect to happen quickly, if at all, but what exactly 
are you offering as an alternative?
 
Cheers,
John
 
On 2-Jan-07, at 8:39 AM, Brian Holmes wrote:

>
>
> john sobol wrote:
>
>> What matters is that there is a generation of kids out there for whom 
>> reading long texts is weird, for whom writing long texts is weird, 
>> for whom literate-style one-way communication that eliminates 
>> peripheral streams is downright freaky.
>
> Yeah, and there's a generation of kids out there who can be very 
> easily manipulated, who have not come up with any significant cultural 
> resistance to the gradual decline of their societies into fascism! A 
> generation of kids who haven't managed to create any politically 
> powerful musical resistance either!
>
> Improvising is great, I think in several directions at once, let my 
> mind float, watch while I listen and sing while I walk. But the whole 
> thing of trying to promote this human capacity of improvising and 
> dialoguing in the moment against another one, reading and writing with 
> a little time for reflection and self-criticism, is imho just foolish, 
> especially on the basis of an argument that "the kids do it," which in 
> case you haven't noticed is the great argument of PR people and 
> venture capitalists looking for a new easy buck. The world isn't run 
> by the kids, and neither is the media system. The machines we use, and 
> that use us, that channel our attention into particular patterns, were 
> not invented and were not produced by means of peripheral attention. 
> This is not an argument against improvising or free associating or 
> dialoguing spontaneously. But it is an argument against promoting 
> those capacities above all others. I really find it childish in the 
> worst sense of the word, sorry. If everyone goes on saying oh yeah, 
> sure, to such arguments, in the end we'll live in the paradise of the 
> totally manipulable population, and the few who do reflect on what 
> they are doing will control the many, even more easily than they do 
> now. Which doesn't mean stop playing music!
>
> Happy New Year, Brian
>
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