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 JackofSpades
Peace
Registered: 03/01/09
Posts: 2,897
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 Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization 
#10879570 - 08/17/09 11:20 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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I'm reading this:
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html
And the idea is that Media is a form of extension of the human body.
I.e. The car is an extension of the human foot and increases mobility...However, there is a downfall to the extension, what McLuhan calls the amputation. The amputation in the case of the car would be physical exercise, car accidents, and you can probably think of some more obvious ones.
So McLuhan asks 4 questions about all media to understand it. I personally started thinking about the computer and here were some conclusions I came across.
1.) What does it extend?
A.) Human communication (via Internet)
B.) The Human Mind (information via Internet
2.) What does it make obsolete?
A.) Real human interaction
B.) Books/TV/Radio
3.) What is retrieved?
A.) Curiosity in new topics/desire to learn more about new things
4.) What does the technology reverse into if it is over-extended?
A.) I have no clue? Perhaps one longing for more real human connections...Or even a return to nature and a fleet from the hyper-technological society we are creating...I feel both...
This kind of frightens me a little. For instance, rather than tell my Dad something (who is downstairs) I simply e-mailed him a website with information...Human communication becomes rendered obsolete due to the computer....
Any thoughts on this?
I mean, if I didn't have a computer I feel I would be more inclined to seek out stuff to do with friends more often...But I can now easily waste a night by myself online visiting sites like the Shroomery, youtube, hulu, Ovguide, and whatever else...
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  If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.
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JackofSpades
Peace
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Posts: 2,897
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: JackofSpades]
#10879586 - 08/17/09 11:22 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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For example I just pulled this off another thread
"I used to post at the Lycaeum a lot... but there's very little "socialization" on that site, mostly just information sharing. i really became addicted to the shroomery last january when i broke up with my long-time girlfriend... was feeling down and not feeling like doing much for a while, so i sat in my room posting on the shroomery (and i kept on getting shit from my friends - "come on man! get off your freaking computer and come hang out with us!!!"). now i'm well over that breakup, but my addiction to the shroomery held fast. this summer i was without internet, so couldn't post much (except when i went to the library), but hopefully i won't have to take another long hiatus. i'm moving in just over 1 week, so it might be a bit of time before i'll have internet again, but once i get it, you can be sure that i'll be back! "
From this: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3541892
Are we killing our ability to communicate or improving our own internal experience? Both?
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If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.
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the bizzle
the joke that no one spoke
Registered: 04/14/09
Posts: 11,870
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: JackofSpades]
#10879601 - 08/17/09 11:24 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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there is plenty good about the internet, yes, but all things have their good and bad side, like the very fabric of the universe...of course I like to think that everything in some strange way only makes the whole get better and better, even if the breath of the universe has to contract a little before expanding even further...
Evil, it hides you from me...in the silence between us
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MY HAIR IS A BIRD
YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID
   
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JackofSpades
Peace
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: the bizzle]
#10879615 - 08/17/09 11:28 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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yeah I mean of course there is a good and bad side...McLuhan's point with extension and amputation...
I mean, I would have never taken psychedelics had I never watched several George Carlin interviews where he proclaimed the power of LSD to change his mind over youtube...So, I'm not opposed to the internet at all, but I am aware of certain cases where I feel my interests rapidly developing on the computer and then I go out and interact with people and my thoughts/perceptions are totally different...Then again, psychedelics in general open the doors of perception so to speak so they alone could account for my altered perspective..
But like you said, its two-fold, thats a good thing and a bad one...IDK...Thinking is complicated.
Just a side note..but looking at tv, computers, what not---They pacify human beings--rather than act we direct our anger, malcontent, and dissatisfaction into a screen onto a virtual world rather than our physical reality...Just an observation..I was actually thinking about this coming down from acid...TV is for when you have no sense of direction or conditioned behavior to attend to...It is a massive stimulation overload which keeps on pacified and fixated on a screen...
The message of the medium of TV and computers is that we begin to passively accept the world around us...I don't think thats the WHOLE message but its a piece and it has value
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If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.
Edited by JackofSpades (08/17/09 11:38 PM)
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skatealex2
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Registered: 07/04/08
Posts: 18,699
Last seen: 6 months, 10 days
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: JackofSpades]
#10879784 - 08/17/09 11:59 PM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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TV is almost a conspiracy if you ask me. I watch some shows I am into- but it's a trip how so many America seems to be glued to a television half the day- whether it is sports, news, or shows............
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DivineTantrika
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: JackofSpades]
#10879925 - 08/18/09 12:30 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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What a great way to look at the internet!!
The internet is a tool in my opinion, and like a hammer, it can be used for constructive activities and destructive activities.
In my personal experience, the internet opened doors in my life that I had to walk through in the physical world. My mind might have been closed to the lifestyle I am enjoying now, had I never gotten online.
But then again, I have seen the internet inspire people to stare endlessly at a screen playing some fucktard game or another, rendering them a waste of human space...
I just try to find a balance myself. THe amount of information at my fingertips is awe-inspiring. How blessed I am that information folks once went through EXTREME conditions to obtain is available in my own home!!
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"I would rather be a bridge between people, then rushing water carrying debris."
~Me
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DivineTantrika
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: JackofSpades]
#10879938 - 08/18/09 12:34 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
JackofSpades said: looking at tv, computers, what not---They pacify human beings--rather than act we direct our anger, malcontent, and dissatisfaction into a screen onto a virtual world rather than our physical reality...Just an observation..I was actually thinking about this coming down from acid...TV is for when you have no sense of direction or conditioned behavior to attend to...It is a massive stimulation overload which keeps on pacified and fixated on a screen...
The message of the medium of TV and computers is that we begin to passively accept the world around us...I don't think thats the WHOLE message but its a piece and it has value
The technological deHUMANization, which causes a loss of individual, and community identity.
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"I would rather be a bridge between people, then rushing water carrying debris."
~Me
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 Arden
לנשום
Registered: 09/01/08
Posts: 7,666
Loc: Α & Ω 
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: skatealex2]
#10879972 - 08/18/09 12:41 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Excellent post, man! And I think you have hit the nail on the head in most places. Appropriate and ironic to this topic, I've added my own. Tell me what you think.
1.) What does it extend?
The Internet extends our communicative nature, potential, and desire. With the potential access to information it provides, it extends our ability to make rational and informed (however socially based) decisions; in a way that is faster, more accurate, and harmonious with the current ideas of other individuals and cultures that were previously unable to contribute.
2.) What does it make obsolete?
Slower and physically sensitive forms of communication, like books and mail. Most importantly, it shapes our daily behavior and our independence. Time that would normally be spent accumulating the information in a social environment, with activities like planning meetings, walking in town, talking to strangers, is slowly replaced by do-it-yourself instantaneous data flow.
3.) What is retrieved?
A familiarity with, or an at least and exposure to, the extreme diversity that exists in the world--from the cultural level to the biological level. A more efficient, updated, and timely view of natural and personal phenomena, aided by self help information and the spiritual, scientific, and literary creations of other individuals who are sharing their advice and solution to unique problems.
4.) What does the technology reverse into if it is over-extended?
A cage.
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the bizzle
the joke that no one spoke
Registered: 04/14/09
Posts: 11,870
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: Arden]
#10879987 - 08/18/09 12:44 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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--------------------
MY HAIR IS A BIRD
YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID
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Arden
לנשום
Registered: 09/01/08
Posts: 7,666
Loc: Α & Ω
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Re: Medium Is The Message...The Internet As Socialization [Re: Arden]
#10879994 - 08/18/09 12:45 AM (14 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
But then again, I have seen the internet inspire people to stare endlessly at a screen playing some fucktard game or another, rendering them a waste of human space...
A good point, hinting at its less-productive and darker side. But while I would agree that it has the ability to both trap and influence the minds and personalities of people, being that it is essentially a tool and thus an extension of our intention, it merely allows people to express themselves through behavior that would similarly be lazy in the absence of the Internet.
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