Tools and Fools (was Re: <nettime> Ken's Taking No Prisoners)

[Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@yahoo.com>]

Thanx for the posting - interesting review.

However it seems to lack proper insight into what tools really are.

Creator's ideology gets projected into the tool, and then the Big
Disappointment comes, because the tool really doesn't give a fuck.

To put in more formal terms, creator C assesses the reality R, estimates how it
diverges from his/her desired reality Rd, and then designs tool T which is
supposed to nudge R towards Rd. Tool, being a function devoid of any ideology,
will readily whore itself to anyone that cares to use it, often moving R
directly opposite of Rd.

So what is the root problem here? C was either not clever enough to properly
assess R (which is nearly impossible anyway, due to complexities involved) or C
was using ideology as an afterthought justification for something he/she would
do anyway for cash, blowjob or whatever.

Where does it leave Cs of the world? I think turning the stones of imagination
and seeing which snake will crawl out is Good Stuff. Maybe it will end in total
destruction of life, maybe it will make everyone so happy that we'll just drool
for the rest of our lives, but one thing is sure - it will not be the boring
shit that non-technology activism was churning out for the last few millenia -
revolutions, ideologies, assorted kleptocracies, rebels, anarchists - who
cares? They didn't create a single new thing since the invention of
masturbation. It was all tools and toolmakers.






end
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