Psyberspace

I learnt about Cadmus from reading McLuhan – was he onto it! Here is a snippet from a small potent piece about the Greek god of the alphabet (and hence, eventually, the Internet!). This is from a site, Mots pluriels “a refereed electronic and international journal open to literary-minded scholars wishing to share their points of view on important contemporary world issues.” I can’t find the context or the author of this item.

The alphabet is a magic technology. These dragon’s teeth/letters contain the magic of fertility and trans-substantiation. Teeth/letters grow magically into soldiers. The alphabet, as we see again when we reread the story of Moses in the court of Pharaoh, unleashes a new power in its users to convert one thing into another. The secret lies in the alphabet’s magic ability of abstraction. This can become that because more information can be held more compactly and meaningfully in the head, and manipulated mentally. Pictographic writing is either literal – this is this – or else it is iconic: this stands for that (and only that). The alphabet endows its user with a mental plasticity that is impossible for pictography. Letters signal hidden connections and correspondences, tracing the roots of meaning that lie beneath the surface of language. To illiterates or to cultures still using pictography, the alphabet fulfills Clarke’s Law: it must seem like a form of sorcery for the powers, the grammar and glamour, it grants to those who commandeer it.

Another snippet – variation – on the Cadmus story, DRAGONSTEETH

When Jason sows the dragon’s teeth, each tooth transforms into a fierce warrior. But Jason, by magic, kills all of them and claims the golden fleece.
The myth goes on from there, but our concern is with the sgnificance of the dragon’s teeth. The dragonteeth-become-warriors represent the letters of the alphabet (also credited to the legendary Cadmus). Why warriors? Because the invention of writing made possible extending communication to aid long-distance strategy in warfare. A strategic leader would send a long-distance runner to a tactical leader in the field. The illiterate runner might be able to remember many details (illiterates often compensate thus), but within serious limits. An illiterate messenger bearing a long, written scroll could transmit extensive military orders to a field commander. Thus was the city-state extended to the empire — BY THE ALPHABET!

This is from John Hays – and is the thesis I have understood as coming from Harold Innis.

John Suler –Internet Psychology: The Basic Psychological Features of E-Mail Communication

E-mail is not just electronic mail sent via the internet. E-mail communication creates a psychological space in which pairs of people — or groups of people — interact. It creates a context and boundary in which human relationships can unfold.

Well put.

An item by “beppu” – Some interesting ideas, free software as a metaphor for human freedom. Noting the importance of GPL in our everyday lives – he claims it is at the root of the Internet, may be true? There is something not quite right about the style though and the angle, I can see why they did not print it. However I like the direction he is pointing to. There could be a lot more education about the GPL, its importance. For example download sites and Linux mags could do more to mention the licence.

I just found a Jungian site I have not seen before! Headline Muse.com Some interesting stuff, such as this: Film Commentary: “Wake Up Neo”: The Matrix of C.G. Jung Tom Flynn. Or this: Terrorisn is the Alchemy of the Soul by Gene C. Toews.

Eric Norlin writes in the TDCRC Mailing list:

One of the key characteristics of digital identity is the fact that it acts as an enabler. Real world identity is inalienable at birth. It is not given to you, per se. Virtual identity does not require an authentication to partake — log on to a network and begin (assuming it’s a public network). But digital identity enables — as a bridge between the real and virtual worlds, it allows an individual entity (be they person, device, computer or organization) to interact in a privileged domain.

(Found via Doc)

You should define an acronym whenever you use it, or at least once per post.
How to do it
The first time you use an acronym, mark it up with an tag, like this: The first time you use an acronym, mark it up with an <acronym> tag, like this:

<acronym title="cascading style sheets">CSS</acronym>

This item is hot on daypop and no wonder. Mark has created profiles of users who would benefit. Lovely, see Bill’s story for instance.

Janis Ian writes what is sort of well known and obvious, but great to hear from someone like her.

It’s absurd for us, as artists, to sanction – or countenance – the shutting down of something like this. It’s sheer stupidity to rejoice at the Napster decision. Short-sighted, and ignorant.

Free exposure is practically a thing of the past for entertainers. Getting your record played at radio costs more money than most of us dream of ever earning. Free downloading gives a chance to every do-it-yourselfer out there.

Every act that can’t get signed to a major, for whatever reason, can reach literally millions of new listeners, enticing them to buy the CD and come to the concerts. Where else can a new act, or one that doesn’t have a label deal, get that kind of exposure? As artists, we have the ear of the masses. We have the trust of the masses. By speaking out in our concerts and in the press, we can do a great deal to damp this hysteria, and put the blame for the sad state of our industry right back where it belongs – in the laps of record companies, radio programmers, and our own apparent inability to organize ourselves in order to better our own lives – and those of our fans. If we don’t take the reins, no one will.

I wish some NZ would do the same, perhaps they have?

PETER MEYERS writes in the NYT, A Dispute Over Wireless Networks

Many Wi-Fi networks, intentionally or otherwise, allow passers-by to use the networks without any password. And there are tools that amplify the Wi-Fi radio signal, enabling it to be delivered over an even larger area, like a park.

Many broadband providers fear that every user of a free wireless network is one less paying customer. “Our goal is just to protect our customer base,” said Mr. Rosenblum, adding that Time Warner Cable currently had no plans to extend this enforcement campaign to other areas that it serves.

Maybe it is a fantasy and I just dont get the science, but I have a sense that companies are trying to bottle air and sell it, and stop anyone from breathing who does not pay up. Maybe there are some gadgets involved and some regulations required, but that is about it.

It is probably like music. Once there was a lot of cost in copying and distributing music. Now that is free but the old companies will not accept that. They want to make it scarce by technological and legal means. Now that is perverse use of tools (though probably familiar law.)

NoLogo Worthwhile site.
  
  
   
   

In a BBC News item Write here, right now Mark Ward writes, quoting Matt Jones:

The warchalks are intended to let people know about the open nodes that many people are happy for others to share.

Jones said he did not think there was much danger that it would be taken over by anyone malicious to post notice of corporate networks that are not doing enough to protect themselves.

“If someone is chalking it up they are doing something quite beneficial to the network operators by saying I have spotted this. Then they can decide to secure it or instigate a free wireless type scenario.”

This is an item that makes the whole thing easier to grasp if it is all a bit new – as it was for me. I’d love this – hope there are these hotspots wherever I go!