Newmedia on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:04:07 +0200 (CEST) |
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Re: <nettime> Galloway: 10 Theses on the Digital |
Hello: > What is the digital exactly? At last, someone is asking the right question . . . !! > The digital means the one dividing into two. Actually, that would be BINARY -- named after binary arithmetic, with only two values. The widely used term "bit" is actually a contraction of "binary digit." Yes, in the early days of computing, those involved somewhat arbitrarily decided to contrast "analog" with "digital" computing but, if they had cared much about the words they were using, *digital* would probably not have been their choice. What they were getting at was closer to "discrete" as opposed to "continuous." If you look up the original meaning of the word "digit," what you will find is FINGER (or toe)! > Its heart lies in metaphysics, and adjacent philosophical > systems, most importantly dialectics. Not really. There is plenty to discuss in the metaphysics of continuousness vs. discreteness that has little to do with any common meaning of "dialectics." It feels like this whole investigation is heading off in an odd direction. > By comparison, the analogue means the two coming > together as one. Huh? Analog simply means continuous (i.e. not discrete) and has no implication of "two" or of "coming together." This is getting pretty strange now. > It is found in theories of immanence: either the immanence of the > total plane of being, or the immanence of the individual person > or object. Either immanence in its infinity, or immanence in its > finitude. Okay, I get it. This isn't about "digital" at all -- is it? So, I wonder what his "10 Theses" are all about? Blackness? Superfolds? No demands? One would hope that a little Leibniz sneaks its way into this discussion, if that's not asking for too much. Mark Stahlman Brooklyn NY # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org