Dear Lawrence
i enjoy our interaction a lot : ) It doesn't matter if you will remember it or not next year. I will. And even if I don;t, it will have changed me in a way & so the memory of it will be there in some other way, even if i cannot recall it. The reason why i enjoy it is because i feel free w/ you to think & interested enough about what you think to express what it is that i think. Why? You are older that me, a man, native English speaker, live in a different country - what is that we share after all? How come i feel challenged but not threatened by you - fine emotions that are hard to accomplish amongst best friends who grew up together even? If you have a theory, please share it. (i guess your theory is = we share nothing & that's why?)
My theory= we share ethos.
Could ethos be described as "principles and aims/aspirations expressed through politics"? "Coming from a similar place" sounds much more exact. Of course ethos is more than what is allowed & what is not. BUT what is allowed is dictated by one's ethos, no? I think you are right - it is a sign of the ethical to pay attention to others, since the only way for ethos to be expressed (recognised) is through interaction w/ others. Others, who we meet in space & time, others who we have access to. virtual space is some kind of geography & this is indeed a metaphor.
As all language is. As all concepts are.
It is a tendency of digitisation to abstract from the
physical - perhaps yes. But still, this can happen in so many different ways. Abstraction does not mean denial. For example, I know several couples who met through the web & later in person, that now live happily together (marriage, kids, the whole packet). I love your Thessaloniki story. and the Berlin story as well. Sounds you are travelling quite a bit. So do I. Seems that our digital activity has not discouraged us from physically moving - perhaps it has inspired us even.
Yes, the gaps in Aristotle is partly what I mean re his arrogance. He does not deal with thought. He just thinks. Brilliantly, sure, but he also makes it easy for himself as well, by not dealing w/ any counter-arguments, by jumping into conclusions, by driving through the forest straight where he is aiming at, without really looking at what comes up on the way. Have him talk w/ Wittgenstein for a sec - imagine them two in a living room, enjoying a glass of porto. Wittgenstein would walk out first I think. And i bet Aristotle wouldn't be really bothered.
"I share in all sorts of ways. I go online when I need to… I really don't follow you. Being online is habitual for me. No more"
"Politics arises
because we all have different ethics and behaviours" - that is very interesting. I would say that about diplomacy maybe : politics arises because we all have different behaviours. We have different behaviours because we have different ethics probably, which we negotiate though some form of diplomacy. Yet, to be able to do so (do politics, diplomacy, dialogue) we must have some ethos shared. Cause we might disagree & i might want to talk about it, while you might want to shoot me. This is not politics, nor diplomacy of course. Our ethos would be so different then that we wouldn't be able to apply our politics. I must think more about this - i found what you say very interesting.
demanding your data in order to let you download a brochure is their policy no? what is the difference of policy and politics you think?