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'brought to you by electrons and love' The Anarchives Volume 4 Issue 1 The Anarchives Published By The Anarchives TAO Communications The Anarchives http://www.tao.ca Send your e-mail address to get on the list Spread The Word Pass This On... --/\-- The / / \ \ Media ---|--/----\--|--- Revolution? \/ \/ /\______/\ jesse@tao.ca -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ Editor's Note The Anarchives has been as sporadic as ever, so in an effort to get the energy flowing I'll be sending reports from the McLuhan seminars as Anarchives. There is a separate list for the seminars, but I suggest subscribing only if you're interested in potential discussion. Details are included below. We'll also finally be doing a mailing soon, so don't worry the long wait is almost over. Love to all and hope to see you soon. This summer will be HOT!!! jah -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ McLuhan Monday Night Seminars Structure, Process, and Methodology The McLuhan Monday Night Seminars are an open and free forum for the exchange of ideas and the generation of knowledge. The seminars take place every Monday evening beginning around 7:30pm, the location changes with the nomadism inherent in the project, and participation is open to the public at large. Traditionally the seminars have been held in Toronto Canada. No prior experience or background is expected, as analysis of the environment and our surrounding ground is a process of generalization that arises from the combined perspectives of a diverse and multi-disciplinary group. The seminars rarely have 'keynote' speakers, and when they do, the speakers interact with the participants as equals, using the same language. The medium is the message and the audience are the content. All participants are speakers, and all the speakers listen. The discourse generated by the seminars stems from the linguistic and cultural foundations of each individual. Great effort and consideration is made by the group to include everyone and use language that is universally accessible and comprehensible. The participants in the seminars recognize a moderator to act in the interests of the group and protect the rights of each individual to speak and be heard. The diversity of the group generates a multi-disciplinary and co-operative approach to innovation and the generation of knowledge. Each seminar has as a focus: an archetype, paradox, or problem, connected to the emergence and development of the new media environment that is explored or probed by the group. The seminar topics are examined in relation to cultural, economic, political, technological, theological, philosophical, linguistic and psychological effects, characteristics, patterns, and events. The analysis is non-linear, dynamic, and often spontaneous. Individuals with specialized perspectives contribute, and as the session progresses, a consensus emerges through proximity of mind. Convergence of ideas produces original and unique concepts that belong to the group as a whole, and all the individuals within. Direct participation in the seminars is rewarded with a unique and empowering experience. The energy and momentum derived from the group is self-perpetuating. Many participants describe the event as extreme mental stimulation. Individually and collectively the seminars are a project and process of the open mind. The diversity of perspectives and the convergence of ideas dissolves barriers and constructs that prevent the free flow of information and the receptivity and flexibility of the human mind. The seminars move to resolve the fear of the unknown, and enable clear and balanced thought in an age of chaos. Virtual participation in the seminars are and will be available in a number of formats. An email list exists for open discussion and distribution of reports originating or connected to the seminars. All traffic on the list is simultaneously archived on a web site, and with time the material available on the web will increase in both quantity and quality. The seminars themselves have access to video-conferencing facilities, and opportunities for other geographic locations to participate does exist, although the costs for the connection at present must be paid by the party calling to the seminars. With time both the accessibility, visibility, and mobility of the seminars will increase. To subscribe to the McLuhan Monday Night Seminars List, send an email to majordomo@tao.ca with the command in the body 'subscribe seminars' (no quotes). For further information including requests to make presentations or performances for the seminars, please contact Jesse Hirsh, jesse@tao.ca, (416)978-7026. -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ -=~ The Media Revolution? - Monday November 18th 1996 What is the 'media revolution'? Is it revolution or evolution? How are transformations in media affecting the way we live, the way we grow, the way we think? How can we engage this change? The media revolution as a concept or metaphor is running rampant in our media, our culture, and in our society. Images of utopia, the frontier, and even genesis dominate the landscape of contemporary thought and action. The word 'revolution' is being used by many and diverse elements in our culture, each group ascribing their own meaning to the concept. From WIRED magazine with advertisers IBM, AT&T, Intel, and Microsoft, to existing governments and eager to be elected politicians, the word revolution is a catchphrase that bridges the millennium. While some may argue about intents and purpose, a universal consensus has been reached that great change is underway, and humanity must deal with the moment. In beginning an examination of the 'media revolution', the two examples of retrieval and reversal, two elements of the tetradic analysis developed by Eric McLuhan with his father the late Marshall McLuhan. Tetradic analysis consists of approaching a subject and examining what it enhances, obsolesces, reverses and retrieves. What is the relationship between what has been termed 'the media revolution' and the two elements reversal and retrieval? With the increased digitization of information and the continued open and universal connection of hosts, servers, hubs, and networks, the ability to retrieve is considerably enhanced. Seemingly everything and anything is available from the connected world of information. The promise of a future of connected intelligence is the promise of infinite retrievability of both time and space. As ludicrous as this may seem it is in fact what we see when we peer into the tunnel that is the 'media revolution'. Reversal is the past that arises through retrieval. Faced with an uncertain yet dramatic future, the closed mind reacts and reverts to childhood, often expressed in a nostalgia for times past. With the infinite although virtual retrieval, we also have access to total reversion. Seemingly all of cultures past are being revived, rewoven, remade: sampled by the culture of the present, itself busy constructing the future. Implosion is the total reversal that results from living in the information age. Faced with a mirror of infinite manifestations what exists as the Self turns inward to confirm identity. The subjectivity of this change is tensioned by the communality and connectivity of its nature. The world is transformed as the planet plugs into itself. We seem caught collectively staring into a narcissistic pool of distorted self-reflection and self-absorbsion, desperately wondering where it all leads. The tension between the future and the present seems to resonate along the metaphor of the 'media revolution'. Yet there remains to be seen what is so revolutionary. What is the nature of this change that drives people to claim 'it's the end of the world as we know it'? The term "media" refers to neither institution nor artefact, but rather to an environment. The environment in which we all live. Media are the methods in which we communicate with ourselves, each other, and the world at large, and as we communicate, we forge the material reality in which we exist. A 'media revolution' would imply a change in our environment characterized by 'a complete or drastic change'. The word revolution is defined in the dictionary in a number of different ways, and each way seemingly refers to a different meaning: 'movement of a body, in an orbit or circle' Does the media have a body? Is the media capable of moving in an orbit? 'apparent movement of the sun and stars around the earth' Has our perspective on the world really reversed that dramatically? 'a turning or spinning motion of a body around a center or axis; rotation'. Are the media revolving around a center, or are they themselves a center? 'overthrow of a government, or social system, with another taking its place' Are changes in media overthrowing our governments? >From these definitions one can induce that the word 'revolution' has been used many times in the past as a false promise for a self-centred ideal. It persists to remain a construct used to distract attention from the real agents, indicators, and characteristics of change. The word 'evolution' is perhaps a more accurate description of the change that we're struggling to come to terms with. The dictionary defines evolution as: 'an unfolding, opening out, or working out' 'process of development, formation, or growth' 'a movement that is part of a series or pattern' 'a setting free; giving off' emission or disengaging' Not only do these definitions more closely resemble the attributes associated with the metaphor of the 'media revolution', but they also address the change collectively and connectively felt by the people themselves. Behind all the excitement of the 'media revolution' lies the Internet. The Internet is the black hole at the center of our universe: it is the negation of time and space. Comparable to gravity, the Internet is an imploding force that draws everything into it. The Internet by definition, does not exist. It is an abstraction that nobody has seen, smelled, or touched. It is a myth used to shift our belief systems and dramatically alter our behaviour. It transforms our linguistic framework by changing the context in which language interacts with mind. It is a redefinition of literacy as the linguistic system itself becomes simultaneously individual and collective. The Internet is the virus from West Virginia that will consume all media until it becomes the information superhighway media monopoly brought to you by AT&T. The Internet is the post-modern gold rush, a mass anxiety to get 'plugged in'. People ask themselves, 'why fight gravity?', and our mother responds: 'If all your friends jumped off a tall building would you?' The dominance of the Internet myth is based on the myth of the future. What we call the future is a means by which we can objectively deal with the present. What we perceive as the present is the past. The future does not really exist. Like the Internet it is also an abstraction of a negation. Have you seen the future? Perhaps you have seen a reflection of the past (maybe in your dreams), that either becomes or resembles a later present, however none us can ever exist in the future. In the past we were, in the present we exist, in the future at some point we are dead. Accept it and transcend it. Living is for the now. The narrative of the media evolution is one of upliftment and enlightenment. It isn't about technology, it's about people. People coming together and expressing themselves freely. We are the Internet, and we are the future. We drive it, we make it, we use it, we are it. With the combined potentials and possibilities associated with retrieval and reversal we are arguably in a renaissance where all of cultures present and past are combining to develop the human mind into a new and open structure. Evolution allows us to choose our identity from the multitudes of creative forces, individual and collective, present and past. Our communities can become empowered and strengthened not because of media or technology, but because of the realization of our mutual and common interests through the voluntary connection of our minds. Suggested URLs: http://www.tao.ca/fire/mms http://www.tao.ca/fire/seminars http://kows.web.net/ http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/mcluhan/ http://www.mcluhan.ca http://www.channel-zero.com http://www.hotwired.com http://www.att.com http://www.ibm.net Jesse Hirsh - jesse@tao.ca - jesse@lglobal.com P.O. Box 108, Station P, Toronto, Canada, M5S 2S8 http://www.tao.ca/~jesse -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQBtAzJ4EpAAAAEDANKD3bcrP+xvDk27ITs5+yrsYkcGBWQeQVjXCyd5stAGWhTg X/PQx7GTH7nEv+fyTyYbIoTvatpAHJG6vrZV2lPGFLhb2S8C1SwfQm2oKC2r+kI1 C6wlYRuMo3m9S78ABQAFEbQaSmVzc2UgSGlyc2ggPGplc3NlQHRhby5jYT4= =hQmY -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -------------------------------------------------------------- To receive the Anarchives via email send a note to Majordomo@tao.ca with the message in the body: subscribe anarchives To get off the list, send to the same address but write: unsubscribe anarchives http://www.tao.ca TAO Communications - P.O. 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