Category: Readings

Dreams or Nightmares?

When I read the first two of Steve Dietz dreams I must admit I did not like them at all. They were;

1. The dream of Symbiosis

2. The Dream of Emergence

Basically, both are based around idea of increased power in the brain by combining it with technology. Maybe I’m one of those paranoid old people that thinks technology is ruining our brains but I think of all that might be lost if we combined the two. Would we loose creativity? Would we loose an appreciation of the simple things in life? And perhaps by increasing all this brain power we are putting too much emphasis on intelligence and not enough on what I think is more important human characteristics; kindness, humility, giving?

Of course I agree with the later principles he mentions; like a connectedness to the world in order to achieve world peace, but we currently have the ability to talk to and connect with people all over the world. That doesn’t mean that we are any closer to achieving a peaceful world.

Perhaps technology is not the solution.

Full Circle

I found a link!
In this weeks reading by Bruno Latour rejects the idea that the ANT is sewage, a train or a subway. He rejects the idea that it is concrete.

An actor-network may lack all the characteristics of a
technical network -it may be local, it may have no compulsory paths, no strategically positioned nodes. Tom Hughes's 'networks of power' (1983), to give a historical example, are actor-networks at the beginning of the story and only some of their stabilized elements end up to be networks in the engineer's sense, that is the electrical grid. Even at this later stage the engineering definition of networks are still a partial projection of an actor-network.

In week One of this course, Adrian described the network was as an ocean. It was changing, it was loose, it was personal, it was individual.

It was speculative.

Bro

This weeks reading Six Degrees talked about the world “viewed as an enormous network of social acquaintances”.

In New Zealand they have a phone company called 2 Degree’s based on the idea that in NZ you are never more that seperated by two mutual acquaintances. I’d been told New Zealand is kind of like a big country town. Like Adelaide and Williamstown.

This will perhaps not be my most in depth critical thinking blog ever but it does spark a little story.

So a little background first.

I went to England in 2012 and met a girl from New Zealand, Danica.

Upon starting uni at RMIT I met another girl named Helena, also from NZ. No connection to Danica.

I went to NZ in July of this year and went to dinner with Danica. It was a BYO – you get lots of Indian food and a bottle of wine each. She brought her friend Sophie who she had met by chance at college. They were living on the same floor.

It did not take long to work out Sophie was from Auckland and went to school with my friend Helena.

This is a pretty simple social network to grasp but I found it amazing that a connection I made in North Yorkshire, England could connect me to somebody in Melbourne, Australia whilst sitting in an Indian restaurant in Dunedin New Zealand.

So basically, the world is small and New Zealand is smaller.

Due to the fear of criticising  our Trans Tasman friends here is a FOTC clip.

Design Fiction as Pedagogic Practice

This weeks reading by Matthew Ward were based on the idea of design fiction; a new term for me. The main point I picked up was the importance of creating context surrounding future ideas.

The world is not a static place. Rather our world is a constant adapating place. Fiction thus allows the freedom to create a world in which our idea lives and thrives.

I couldn’t help but think of movies. I am almost always critical of action films which I have narrowed down to their lack of substance and storyline. Too many action sequences and not enough narrative. I understand their are hardcore “Fast and the Furious” fans, but I certainly am not one of them. However I do like action films that have an engaging story. In this case the ‘glitz and glam’ of action films with their guns and gadgets is made plausible, interesting and meaningful due to the work of fiction. The gizmo’s only become relevant to me when I become deeply involved in the story or character or the “world” created by the director. Therefore in regards to action films fiction is more important than design.

In terms of my own blog I would like to pick up on a few of Ward’s points about the freedom of design fiction and its use in pedagogic practise. I found his writing quite liberating. “By suspending the rules of reality, DF allows for meandering play and unfettered exploration.” The idea that I could not only create something but also the sphere around it with zero creative limitations was exciting. Ward likens design fiction to a sandpit – “a safe ground of play and opportunity”. This subject intimidated me a little. Partly because we had to publish our writing in a totally public forum but partly because of the control we have to individualise and control the entire medium we are writing for. I am a new blogger, I am a self-conscious blogger and this total freedom is unnerving.