Last two readings for last week (particularly Hayles's Materiality of Informatics) got me thinking about our relationships with our bodies, or what will become of our bodies in the post-human era. Will the body like on as a concept, as embodiment, can thinking of minds as being attached to bodies, or being representative of one, ever be an old way of thinking?
I really like the example of Foucault's work with bodies. Criticizing Foucault for his universality, and comparing his to newer ideas about "thinking about bodies," rather than one body with variations, or more importantly (and newer) to think about embodiment. (As were my fun explorations with the class on SL today) It is very comforting to my technophobia to read an article that explores the irreplaceable aspects of humanity that are embodied. All that can't be explain, programed or "formalized in a heuristic program" (Hayles 201). Heuristics and muscle memory, are comforting, but are they enough? Will they be charming the way vinyl is?
When discussing "habitus" (a new concept for me) Bourdieu picks apart pieces of Cartesian philosophy, reminding us that (in Hayles terms on 203) "embodiment emphasizes the importance of context to human cognition." This got me thinking about improvisation (something briefly touched upon in the article), computers can sort of improvise (random numbers corresponding to tonal notes could create a reasonable sounding jazz solo), but they have no ability to do so in a situational manner. A jazz pianist could sense a bored crowd and break into a upbeat boogie-woogie number, sending musical cues to his band that was prepared to do a slow minor-keyed number.
Audio-tape serves as a fitting example of what we can expect in an era of ubiquitous computers, and how embodiment can endure. Also the exploration of Burroughs's "The Ticket That Exploded," gave me a new respect for a writer that I never considered quite so prophetic and exploratory. If audio tape created an age where it's difficult to "think silence" for more than ten seconds, imagine an age where other senses become irresistible. If encryption with recorded sound affects our tranquility so, imagine what programs like SL are going to do to our minds eye. Our dreams....
I have actually made the same analogy Burroughs does, between language and viral infection before. As language changes shape again, in a more anthropomorphic form what could the consequences be? This really got me thinking about the differences between voice chatting and typing on second life. The differences in expression we subtler those between text and audio tape in, but the element of the visual avatar made the differences seem vaster than on old programs with voice chat capabilities and no avatars (ie: ICQ).
Reingold's "Smart Mobs" gave me increased optimism about the possibilities of social networking. The concept of mobile ad hoc social networks, specifically was thought-provoking. Weighing the pros and cons of having your friends being able to track your coordinates, can easily be tipped with "well you can always take it off..." As any of us who has ever tried to "commit myspace suicide" will tell you, it's not that easy. We grow strangely attached to these representations of ourselves and tend to think of them as extensions of the bodies. Imagine now trying to pull the plug on yourself. Also, paradoxically, the idea of being part of a swarm is reduces us to primal instincts through unfathomable technology.
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Representations of ourselves and our attachment to that embodiment; the nature of the body and mind (with the necessary link to Descartes), improvisation, problem solving -is it a problem if the audience is bored at a jazz concert, or is it? perhaps they don't understand the real nature of the piece. All of those innate characteristics of humans that one day could become nostalgic, as vinyl records. The question is, do you believe in this new kind of embodiment, do you see it as happening? Who will control it? Yourself? The human-machine that has been born?
Borges quotes De Quincey saying that it as important to discover a problem as it is solving it. You are asking a lot of questions, and that's good enough for me.
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