Thoughts (x-posted to civilenergetics)

[avad]

I've been thinking about my own seemingly shortening attention-span, and that of those around me...yes, projecting outward to the masses, is it a result of the changing media? SO strange to try to visualize this possibility into the future.
I relish reading books as a more and more necessary brain exercise/comfort these days...of having my mind lead slowly and steadily on a more linear track...whereas the very freedom and nonlinearity that the web allows me and that I love, the speed, the hyperlinks and google searches..the interactivity,the connections, messages sent and received, sent and received...drains me often, renders me Less able to 'flesh-out' a thought in paragraph form. My communication has become very dependent on links and images. Socially, I feel a (growing?or lessening?)ineptitude, wishing I could just POINT at things,books at home, pictures off the web,artpieces I've made...grunt, raise my eyebrows and squeal or something. Rip a chunk of mind off and shake it at someone.."THIS!! What about THIS!!?What do you make of it!?" Crumple various concepts physically together in a ball and throw it at the person and run.
E-mail allows me that. Real interaction finds me smiling nervously and going to the veggie dip.hmmm.
Walk this forward a few years. Will the handheld computer/cellphone become a normal part of our face-to-face communication...augmenting our discussions with imagery and links? Will we become less verbally coherent? Will conversation created 'from scratch' be relegated to more of a hobby/luxury status as we exchange recombinations of readily available floating data and imagery packets?

Comments

[vidgal.livejournal.com]

Will we be standing face to face, eyes downcast, communicating to each other on our cell phones?

It feels close, just around the bend maybe.

Cells

[avad.livejournal.com]

Hehe. This thought amused me (darkly) last night:
"The cell phone is the part of the cell body that enables it to communicate with other cells." (imagined as a text-book caption explaining our species in the future under the microscope of another);)

[ouchmyelbow.livejournal.com]

sometimes i see ADD as almost an evolution of personal taste, like get bored of things so quick bc they dont satisfy, not for immediate gratification, but more like refining until you find something absorbing

searching

[avad.livejournal.com]

Hmmm,Yes, I can definitely see it as a type of 'filtering', a sped up personal 'Search' mode which might enable us to achieve our more specific and individual cell-function as opposed to 'succeeding'and remaining in a societally imposed function. Tricky transition in our reward-based society, though.
Another danger I envision, may be when a processing threshold is reached in certain individuals where novelty alone becomes the only stimulating factor, and information itself is not registered/contemplated at all in conventional formats. This may widen the gap between the rule-makers and the 'masses' in a precarious way.

Re: searching

[ouchmyelbow.livejournal.com]

yea technology has ways of bringing content to new mediums, like video games were just distraction and now they have narratives and themes and pack alot of 'meaning' (certain games) into games, suggest possibilities for new ways to conveying information (thru simulation rather than reading) , as with any new developement, these trends have their chance of liberation and also of control. come to southampton friday night or calverton sunday night! same deal as that evening at the parrish that time.

[sibyllam.livejournal.com]

Mind-to-Mind direct contact. First it'll start with more and more voice-recognition computers. Then we'll start plugging them directly to our brains. That will become faster and better and wireless. Then we'll start connecting our minds to each other. No privacy but also no way to lie or cheat each other. But that will lead to widespread mental and emotional disorder. We will stop having emotions simply to avoid having people confront us over them. Until eventually we stop feeling altogether. Then WE will BE the computers.


Or maybe not. : )

[avad.livejournal.com]

Hehe. I can imagine it. I tend to think we are experiencing a strange loop of sorts anyway, perceiving a world we have created. I anticipate that we will become more and more cell-like and cooperative, eventually evolving into a more integrated superorganism which we may or may not be able to perceive (does an individual cell within our bodies perceive the entity we relate to as our 'self'?).hee. Have you heard of the crazy life-cycle of slime mold?