Re: [-empyre-] Re DARPA URBAN CHALLENGE



Timothy Murray wrote:
It's no coincidence that our institution, Cornell University, sponsors a racing team now in the semi-finals of the DARPA URBAN CHALLENGE.

Tim, your reflections are very interesting and, alas, not too surprising, given the way things have been going in the States (which, of course, is our political problem, and not that of a majority of people on this list). I am also very curious to know more about this notion of "ethical calculability," what is meant by that, which Catherine will undoubtedly tell. My paper on the Research Triangle is here, if there's any interest in such sad stories:


http://brianholmes.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/disconnecting-the-dots-of-the-research-triangle/

Now, I myself must admit to being a little distracted because of some pretty intense late-night writing and whatnot, but there is also something mysterious for me in what you say:

I remember well visiting Kevin's facilities in Illinois and being excited by the artworks that he was streaming onto the flatscreens hanging on the walls of his new Information Science building. I'm sorry to learn that his project of "distracted gaming" has given way to more identifiable projects of corporate/academic adhesion.

Did I miss something? What did you (or we) learn about Kevin's program? Do you just mean that the "distracted" aspect of certain art practices or games lends itself to colonization by other agendas? Rather than a celebration of distraction per se (which has, indeed, been one of the theoretical fantasy-objects out there on the market of ideas), what I had understood in Kevin's post was more of a kind of utopian desire:


"In my experiences of rich spatial engagement, in which reflexivity is
more than a tactic, openness to sensory discovery has been key."

At the same time as I'm probably one of the more excessively critical theorists around these days, I'm not entirely willing to give up this sort of non-instrumental and non-instrumentalized openness... But I am also not sure exactly what's being talked about.

best, Brian




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