Hey Interwebs,

So during this weeks symposium/lecture we once again like the past many weeks answered the questions provided for us by another class:

• Can technology progress independently of art and culture?
• What is the untapped potential of hypertext?  Will we ever be satisfied with it?
• Have internet users lost a sense of privacy?  Is blogging a form of narcissism?

These questions sparked a large amount of debate, especially between Adrian and Betty who seemed to “agree to disagree” as they explained to us. The first question was already borderline “philosophical”, it brought us the idea of what differentiated art and culture with technology? Was there a culture out there that doesn’t have technology? The Ancient Egyptians had highly sophisticated forms of medicine, economy and art which allowed them to thrive for a long period of time. Whilst the Greeks were beyond their years when it came to mathematical and scientific discovery. These cultures definitely lived alongside not only art but technology, without it neither they or us would have the theories and knowledge we have today.

Then there comes the discussion of tools and technology. Is a tool a piece of technology? Are they the same thing? Well it depends, Betty said that she firmly believed that they were not the same thing, a tool can be used to create art, such as a paint brush, pen or pencil however that does not make it a technology and therefore technology and art are independent. (Wow this is getting so complicated…)

Anyways, the next question revolved around the idea of the potential of hypertext, now I’m still a little iffy about what EXACTLY hypertext, it’s kinda like I know but I don’t know the specifics of it? But it was argued that some guy called Ted Nelson (whom I just did a reading on) was a little annoyed because the link between two texts were only a one way street rather then a communication line. Therefore is one text is deleted then the whole link itself is… as oppose to?? I mean, even if it were a two way street if one side of the link was destroyed then what would happen to the link itself? Either way the link would disappear, would it not? Or maybe I’ve just missed something along the way (probably…).

Moving on… After this week I’ll have my mid-semester break! Can you believe it? Already halfway through the semester!!