[-empyre-] A hostile climate for [mis/dis]information

[Christina McPhee <christina112@earthlink.net>]

Ben et al,

re: my most recent post, I missed this one from Ben, which fully addresses
my queries about the subjective presence...in fact, as a human social
computer...which is  an expression of human subjectivity and creativity.
Apologies for having not been as careful in sifting through my mail this
morning.

I would like to draw attention in particular to one of Ben's observations
about the question of truth telling in this 'social computer'. In light of
current presentations of what constitutes 'truth' in the mass media in the
US, this remark is particularly cogent.

christina

> 
> Absolutely! I don't want to become the spokesman for criticalartware,
> but I think we try to make our collective politics pretty clear -- if
> you look at our "ReadMe,"  I think our own particular politics come
> through. That being said, we stay fairly agnostic on a lot of
> technological politics to avoid coloring the discourse too heavily. I
> think in the current context, it's rather radical to tell [new
> media/artware] artists that what they're doing has precedent, history
> and existing discussion. A lot of artists are under the delusion that
> what they're doing is so groundbreaking and fundamentally different
> that we have to come up with new language to even talk about it, which
> gets us fighting mad.
> 
> jonCates is fond of the Lenin quote, "Everything is connected" (or the
> longer "Everything is connected to everything else"), and I think that
> describes perhaps the most radical political aspect of liken itself
> (and perhaps criticalartware as a whole). That may not sound very
> radical in those terms, but the implications that total and automatic
> interconnection has are astounding.
> 
> As an example, anyone who has spent any time in the United States can
> easily see how reality is warped in the news media (particularly TV
> news). Important stories go undiscussed in favor of sensationalist
> moments in less-important stories, certain questionable ways of
> [thinking/reasoning] are now codified as ideal, claims are made about
> being "unbiased" or "balanced" while clear opinions are taken and
> stated implicitly, and short-term memory always wins out over long-term
> memory of the larger context. If these organizations were subject to
> total and automatic interconnection, they would not be able to so
> easily bend the truth to fit an entertainment format. Incorrect or
> incomplete information is hard to get away with in a scenario like
> that.
> 
> Imagine I post a message to liken that says "Dan Sandin never published
> his plans for the Image Processor." False statements of this nature are
> often made by the press and individuals, and they're sometimes honest
> oversights due to insufficient research or outright mistakes. However,
> in liken, you can easily click on Dan Sandin, click on the link to the
> Image Processor, and go straight to his distribution philosophy (and
> maybe even the plans themselves) to see that he did indeed
> publish/distribute the plans. Seeing that, you can comment on the
> original message.
> 
> liken provides a hostile climate for [mis/dis]information, while
> simultaneously providing a fertile climate for informed
> [debate/discourse/expression], and that is truly radical.
> 
> - ben
> 
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> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
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-- 
Slipstream transmedias : soundart performance cinema installation
architectures network theory


<www.christinamcphee.net>
<www.naxsmash.net>
<www.naxsmash.net/inscapes>


Lecturer, Department of Architecture, c/o Hargrave Studio, California
Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California