Lao Tse on Mon, 27 Jan 97 03:36 MET


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

nettime: Anarchives: The Media Revolution?


        '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. Box 108 Station P
                Toronto Ontario Canada M5S 2S8

--
*  distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission
*  <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism,
*  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
*  more info: majordomo@is.in-berlin.de and "info nettime" in the msg body
*  URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/  contact: nettime-owner@is.in-berlin.de