As is often the case discussions on different lists echo one another. CRUMB
is also teasing out the analogue/digital.
Usually I find myself in agreement with Alan but on this one I differ.
Quantum mechanics suggests that everything is digital, not just down to the
smallest particle but even in terms of the status of that smallest thing,
which can be in two states at the same time. This might not be a traditional
linear digital model (where things can only be in one state or another at a
single time) but nevertheless it is a condition of the binary and discrete.
There is a smallest particle and a shortest period of time. Zeno's paradox
has been shown to be false. Things are not infinitely divisible and the
analogue is an illusion. We have always been digital.
Best
Simon
On 16/03/2011 02:47, "Alan Sondheim" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> The description is interesting; I tend to think that all thinking life is
> analogic and if AI reaches a sufficient degree of complexity, it will
> somehow parallel that, which is one reason I'm interested in phenomenology
> and its relation to abjection, the impure and improper life (to reverse
> Kristeva). At least the moment, we're heavily embodied; I think a better
> description might be DIGITAL-WRITING-AND-LIFE for example. This is what
> I'm on about _now,_ typing into an ASCII terminal window, for example, and
> watching the interplay of thought and delay (as text feeds back slightly
> later, a result of network lag), thought catching itself up with produc-
> tion. I wonder that inner speech is so little discussed here; that is an
> occurrence that is usually taken for granted, but gets tripped up in lag.
> Lag is the soma and somatic of the net in a sense, what creates hallucin-
> atory feedback, and what might represent body. Originally like everyone
> else, I thought it would disappear; now, with net neutrality under attack,
> it's likely to grow worse.
>
> Here, typing, I see my speech and thought in print in an active environ-
> ment; as I pointed out years ago, there are others here with me, on the
> server, within the spreading network; my typing isn't local - you might
> say the terminal in this sense is the first cloud - I store elsewhere than
> my machine, and it seems to be all alive, unthinking, trembling, like that
> very old post of Andy Hawks I republished, about I feel the wires. -
>
> Alan
>
>
> On Mon, 14 Mar 2011, Sue Thomas wrote:
>
>>
>> WRITING AND THE DIGITAL LIFE explores the impact of digital technologies
>> upon writing and lived experience within an interdisciplinary context. We
>> talk about the relationship of writing and reading in the context of many
>> subjects including 'new and old' media; craft, art, process and practice;
>> social networks; cooperation and collaboration; narrative and memory; human
>> computer interaction; imagination; nature; mind; body, and spirit.
>> Contributions related to research, writing and teaching in the arts,
>> sciences, and humanities are all welcome. The list is managed by Sue Thomas,
>> Professor of New Media at De Montfort University, England.
>>
>> The address of this page is
>> http://jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _________________
>>
>> Professor Sue Thomas
>>
>> Faculty of Humanities/Institute of Creative Technologies
>> Clephan 1.01d
>> De Montfort University
>>
>> The Gateway
>>
>> Leicester
>>
>> LE1 9BH, UK
>>
>> e: [log in to unmask]
>>
>> t: @suethomas
>>
>> w: Nature and Cyberspace: stories, memes and metaphors
>> http://www.thewildsurmise.com
>>
>>
>>
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>
> ==
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> ==
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Simon Biggs
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