Quotes from the reading:
Introduction:
- In the early 1980s, the Texan science-fiction author Bruce Sterling invented the phenomenon of cyberpunk" e.g. Bladerunner, matrix
- "Sterling'sprojectconftonted burgeoning fantasies about the immortality of machines with the simple facticity of a continuously growing list of things that have become defunct. Machines can die. The dead media project
- Nothing endures in the culture of technology; however, we do have the ability to influence how long ideas and concepts retain their radiance and luminescence.
- In the extensive literature on the genealogies of telematics (from antiquity'S metal speaking-tube to the telephone; from Aeneas's water telegraph to the Integrated Service Data Network [ISDN}), or cinema archaeology (from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the immersive IMAX), or the history of computers (from Wilhelm Schickard's mechanical calculating apparatus to the universal Turing machine), one thing above all others is refined and expanded: the idea of inexorable, quasi-natural, technical progress. It is re lated to other basic assumptions, such as the history of political hegemony developing from the strictly hierarchical to strictly democratic organization of systems, the rationale of economic expediency, the absolute necessity for simple technical artefacts to develop into complex technological systems, or the continual perfecting of the illusionizing potential of media. In essence, such genealogies are comforting fables about a bright future, where everything that ever existed is subjugated to the notion of technology as a power to "banish fear" and a "universal driving force."
- Past centuries were there only to polish and perfect the
great archaic ideas. This view is primitive pedagogy that is boring and saps the
energy to work for the changes that are so desperately needed. Now, if we de
liberately alter the emphasis, turn it around, and experiment, the result is
worthwhile: do not seek the old in the new, but find something new in the old.
If we are lucky and find it, we shall have to say goodbye to much that is familiar in a variety of respects.
- Hutton's Theory of the Earth of l778, thousand pages long, and the two-volume edition published in 1795 no longer explained the history of the Earth in terms of the old theological dogma. Hutton asserted that Earth's history could be explained exactly and scientifically from the actual state of the "natural bodies" at a given moment in time, which became known as the doc trine of uniformitarianism. Further, Hutton did not describe the Earth's evolution as a linear and irreversible process but as a dynamic cycle of erosion, deposition, consolidation, and uplifting before erosion starts the cycle anew.
- Hutton's concept of Earth as a cyclic self-renewing machine,S without beginning or end, is in stark contrast to the time reckoning instituted by humans. Gould takes this concept a step further when, for his field, he rejects all ideas of divine plans or visions of progress. In a specific continuation of uniformitarianism, Gould's studies on the long chronology are marked by a contemporary concern for the ongoing loss of diversity.
- Hutton's Theory of the Earth of l778, thousand pages long, and the two-volume edition published in 1795 no longer explained the history of the Earth in terms of the old theological dogma. Hutton asserted that Earth's history could be explained exactly and scientifically from the actual state of the "natural bodies" at a given moment in time, which became known as the doc trine of uniformitarianism. Further, Hutton did not describe the Earth's evolution as a linear and irreversible process but as a dynamic cycle of erosion, deposition, consolidation, and uplifting before erosion starts the cycle anew.
- Hutton's concept of Earth as a cyclic self-renewing machine,S without beginning or end, is in stark contrast to the time reckoning instituted by humans. Gould takes this concept a step further when, for his field, he rejects all ideas of divine plans or visions of progress. In a specific continuation of uniformitarianism, Gould's studies on the long chronology are marked by a contemporary concern for the ongoing loss of diversity.
- The notion of continuous
progress from lower to higher, from simple to complex, must be abandoned, together with all the images, metaphors, and iconography that have been-and
still are-used to describe progress. Now, if we make a horizontal cut across such events when
represented as a tree structure, for example, branching diversity will be far
greater below the cut-that is, in the Earth's more distant past-than above.
In this paleontological perspective, humankind is no longer the hub and pivot
of the world in which we live but, instead, a tiny accident that occurred in one
of evolution's side branches.
- The paradigm of technology as an organ was a crutch used in the development of mechanics; similarly, the organic becoming technology is now a poor
prosthesis in the age of electronics and computation. Technology is not human;
in a specific sense, it is deeply inhuman.
- In Gould's view, this difference is demonstrated by two particular
traits, which influence cultural development decisively.
- The first is topological. Humans are nomadic animals; and our migrations lead to productive mixes of different situations and traditions, which often find expression in subsequent periods of rapid development.
- The second trait that has influenced the development of civilization is the culturally acquired ability to collect and store knowledge and experience and to pass these on to others.This ability can also lead to periods where qualitative developments are extremely concentrated: these could not possibly be achieved via the mechanisms of biological evolution.
- The history of the media is not the product of a predictable and necessary advance from primitive to complex apparatus. The current state of art does not necessarily represent the best possible state, in the sense of Gould's excellence. Media are spaces for action for constructed attempts to connect what is separated.
- The body of anarchealogical studies should form a variantology of the media.
- This goal of facilitating heterogeneity as before, or even developing it further with the aid of advanced media systems, was in direct contradiction to the trend toward universalization being demanded by the centers of technological and political power.
- The first is topological. Humans are nomadic animals; and our migrations lead to productive mixes of different situations and traditions, which often find expression in subsequent periods of rapid development.
- The second trait that has influenced the development of civilization is the culturally acquired ability to collect and store knowledge and experience and to pass these on to others.This ability can also lead to periods where qualitative developments are extremely concentrated: these could not possibly be achieved via the mechanisms of biological evolution.
- The history of the media is not the product of a predictable and necessary advance from primitive to complex apparatus. The current state of art does not necessarily represent the best possible state, in the sense of Gould's excellence. Media are spaces for action for constructed attempts to connect what is separated.
- The body of anarchealogical studies should form a variantology of the media.
- This goal of facilitating heterogeneity as before, or even developing it further with the aid of advanced media systems, was in direct contradiction to the trend toward universalization being demanded by the centers of technological and political power.
- Radical experiments, which aim to push the limits of what can be formalized as far as possible in the direction of 'I
the incalculable and, vice versa, to assist the forces of imagination to penetrate the world of algorithms as far as is possible, are potentially invaluable for shedding light on a culture that is strongly influenced by media and for opening up \
new spaces for manoeuvring. A most important arena where the two sides engaged, both theoretically and practically, proved to be a specific area of media
praxis and theory, namely, the handling and design of the interfaces between artifacts and systems and their users. Cutting-edge media theory and praxis became action at the interface between media people and media machines.
- In media, we move in the realm of illusions. Dietmar Kamper, philosopher and sociologist, used to insist in public debates that the verb illudere not only means to feign Ot simulate something, but also includes the sense of risk ing something, perhaps even one's own position or convictions: I think that this is of crucial importance for engaging with media.
- In media, we move in the realm of illusions. Dietmar Kamper, philosopher and sociologist, used to insist in public debates that the verb illudere not only means to feign Ot simulate something, but also includes the sense of risk ing something, perhaps even one's own position or convictions: I think that this is of crucial importance for engaging with media.
- When the spaces for;
action become ever smaller for all that is unwieldy or does not entirely fit in, that;
is unfamiliar and foreign, then we must accempt to confront the possible with its own impossibilities, thus rendering it more inspiring and worth experiencing.
Chapter 5:
- Media machines were designed and built in such a way that their functioning mechanisms remained a mystery to the audience: the projected world must not be recognisable as an artificial construct.
- Above all else, the intention was that the effects should take the onlookers by surprise, captivate them, and prevent them from giving free rein to their imagination and reason.
Chapter 5:
- Media machines were designed and built in such a way that their functioning mechanisms remained a mystery to the audience: the projected world must not be recognisable as an artificial construct.
- Above all else, the intention was that the effects should take the onlookers by surprise, captivate them, and prevent them from giving free rein to their imagination and reason.
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