virus: Arts & Science
b. darroch (blaked@passport.ca)
Sun, 26 May 96 14:39 EDT
>Return-Path: <owner-virus@maxwell.lucifer.com>
>Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:41:59 +0000
>From: Ken Pantheists <kenpan@cortex.axionet.com>
>To: virus@lucifer.com
>Subject: virus: Arts & Science
>Sender: owner-virus@lucifer.com
>Reply-To: virus@lucifer.com
>
>Reed Konsler wrote:
>
>> Me, I'm a teacher by training. A storyteller; a mystic; an identifier of
>> pattern. I also happen to be a chemist.
>
>Looks like we have similar career streams. I taught college for six years and
>have (not) been completing my MFA at the same time.
>
>> But the world is a chaotic place. If you fight hard enough, I believe,
you can
>> find the position and the lever from which to move the whole Earth.
>>
>> "Fortune favors the prepared mind" ---Pastuer
>>
>
>Amen Brother!
>
>
>> But it's a competition; a merciless one. There are many memes and limited
>> ideological space. There are limited resources and infinite dreams to be
made
>> into reality.
>>
>
>Hallelujah!
>
>
>
>> This forum was created because a group of people wanted the transmit the
ideas
>> of Darwin, Dawkins, and Dennett (among others)
>
>I *should* get off my duff and read these people closely. I hope my posts have
>not been too off topic. I am going from the point of view that you are
discussing
>"Memes" and adherent to that issue are issues of representation and discourse-
>i.e art and culture.
>
>
>> and to infect people with those
>> ideas. And here we are, struggling with (and against) each other to define a
>> common ground from which we can, as an alliance, strike out against some
of the
>> most successful meme-complexes in the history of culture.
>>
>> Not an easy task.
>>
>> But what an adventure!
>
>
>Absolutely! But isn't the conflict with (and against) each other
invigorating? Is
>that not the key to battling successful meme complexes?
>
>Wouldn't that be a sensible place to shoot for?
>
>A meme complex becomes a cultural truth when poeple think of it as "the one
place
>to stand; from which to strike at other memes."
>
>I'm approaching this from a teacher's stand point now, but I'm sure
everyone will
>agree. The most 'dangerous' meme to put out there is the one that doesn't
answer
>anything.
>
>Students often come up to me with a question about the "right way to perform"
>something- the answer that gets the best work out of them is "how the hell
should
>I know? You're in the scene."
>
>The best place from which to strike at strong memes is to ask people to
trust the
>chaos. To accept that two, three, a million or 8 billion truths are all
'right'.
>
>
>
>> Culture is a conflict of ideas, and the most successful will win out over
their
>> compeditors. That's selection. It's isn't good, it isn't right, and it
isn't
>> directed by some overarching force.
>
>
>Culture is a heteroglot. Diversity is the key to survival.
>
>I agree with you that there is conflict within the heteroglot, but one strong
>idea rarely (and shouldn't) come out on top.
>
>I heard something on te CBC, some lecturer talking about the emergence of a
>global culture because of internet. I balked at it a bit. I agreed with his
idea
>that more of the world is sharing common experiences- that there is a definate
>internet culture emerging. But internet is the medium only.
>
>If anything we are taking a step backwards in terms of cultural hegemony. I
just
>visited the white aryan page yesterday. Where the hell am I going to meet a
white
>aryan in the real world? Where am I going to talk to one long enough to
>understand all of their beliefs? Noewhere but in cyberspace.
>
>I'm starting to ramble- but my point is that this is one technology that
levels
>the playing field and introduces a real means to develop critical thought,
>tolerance, and gender/race/orientation/age/class non-biased experience. A
truly
>fragmenting thing.
>
>Too bad it only comes in a box- for now. ;)
>
>To use your metaphor of patterns in chaos. The most constructive meme to
put out
>there (It is by no means a new one.) is a de-constructive meme. Only after we
>have allowed ourselves to fragment into ever increasingly smaller circles that
>define ourselves can we reevaluate ourselves, take a giant step back (from the
>picture) and appreciate the pattern.
>
>We have a few major steps to take before we have a Global Culture.
>
>Big talk.
>
>But it is happening.
>
>Look at the European Community. Now, I am no newshound so I shouldn't go
>preaching about stuff I don't have a firm grasp of- but I find it ever so
>interesting that all these countries are becoming one entity in the
interest of
>developing a "currency" (metaphor alert- conjugate that one!)
>
>I have family in one of the smallest counties in England. They don't even know
>what pasta is. You should have seen what the Chunnel did to their insulated
>little idea of themselves as the "island nation". Made me smile and shake my
>head.
>
>
>