Comments on: Summer Reading: William Gibson's Spook Country http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/ Christopher Lydon in conversation on arts, ideas and politics Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:09:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: rahbuhbuh http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91654 rahbuhbuh Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:12:24 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91654 context: i have not listened to the interview yet, only read the comments, finished the book earlier today. --- Flow beckons us to search out new vantages as if we're blind to an oncoming truck of futuredom: "What if our orthodox, conventional conception of “time” isn’t entirely accurate?" we have produced an educational and publications market where analysis of our western notion of time versus other shapes (typically eastern cyclical) is gobbled up. we have also visualized time travel, put "space time continuum" into PG blockbusters and children's vocabulary. "Einstein's Dreams" details full chapter vignettes of non-linear time in plain-spoken english, and it is a bestseller. Ditto for the notion of "consciousness" and where it resides. we dip into isms and abstractions with ease. if the future collapses into the past, we'll know it and not be bothered by it. the west is thirstily open to new ideas, and often funds them in sponsorship while adopting the technology as toy/keepsake. context: i have not listened to the interview yet, only read the comments, finished the book earlier today.

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Flow beckons us to search out new vantages as if we’re blind to an oncoming truck of futuredom: “What if our orthodox, conventional conception of “time” isn’t entirely accurate?”

we have produced an educational and publications market where analysis of our western notion of time versus other shapes (typically eastern cyclical) is gobbled up. we have also visualized time travel, put “space time continuum” into PG blockbusters and children’s vocabulary. “Einstein’s Dreams” details full chapter vignettes of non-linear time in plain-spoken english, and it is a bestseller. Ditto for the notion of “consciousness” and where it resides. we dip into isms and abstractions with ease. if the future collapses into the past, we’ll know it and not be bothered by it.

the west is thirstily open to new ideas, and often funds them in sponsorship while adopting the technology as toy/keepsake.

]]> By: rahbuhbuh http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91653 rahbuhbuh Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:32:48 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91653 pure coincidence that I picked this up in a Texas airport over the weekend, and now will rush to finish in order to listen to an interview. pure coincidence that I picked this up in a Texas airport over the weekend, and now will rush to finish in order to listen to an interview.

]]> By: galoot http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91652 galoot Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:00:06 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91652 Hi Zeke and Potter, thanks for the info and reading suggestion. I will definitely look out for the Menand book, I am really enjoying finding out more about that period. Maybe something about them facing a new century. James's outrage at the US actions in the Phillipines sounds very familiar. Hi Zeke and Potter, thanks for the info and reading suggestion. I will definitely look out for the Menand book, I am really enjoying finding out more about that period. Maybe something about them facing a new century. James’s outrage at the US actions in the Phillipines sounds very familiar.

]]> By: Potter http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91651 Potter Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:39:52 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91651 The calligrapher Lydonista was (or is) Ozymandias. We have not heard from him, not that I know anyway. Nice to hear from you Galoot. I was (am) Potterwithasorethumb- shortened to Potter. And I still have my beautiful nametag too. The calligrapher Lydonista was (or is) Ozymandias. We have not heard from him, not that I know anyway.

Nice to hear from you Galoot. I was (am) Potterwithasorethumb- shortened to Potter. And I still have my beautiful nametag too.

]]> By: Zeke http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91650 Zeke Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:39:21 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91650 Galoot: Not to change subjects, but if William James is your new hero, be sure to check out a book by Louis Menand called The Metaphysical Club. It deals with not only James, but also his contemporaries, Charles Sanders Pearce, Oliver Wendell Holmes and John Dewey. I'm too tied up in Richardson's Emerson biography to get to the new one, but I am looking forward to it. Galoot: Not to change subjects, but if William James is your new hero, be sure to check out a book by Louis Menand called The Metaphysical Club. It deals with not only James, but also his contemporaries, Charles Sanders Pearce, Oliver Wendell Holmes and John Dewey. I’m too tied up in Richardson’s Emerson biography to get to the new one, but I am looking forward to it.

]]> By: galoot http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91649 galoot Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:14:25 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91649 Great interview - a fresh dose of Open Source does wonders in the fading days of summer 2007. I am thankful to ROS for the wisdom of two Williams at the moment, Gibson and the amazing William James. I took the Richardson biography on vacation with me, and am just finishing it. He is my new hero, and I couldn't help but think of his New Hampshire farmhouse, with its many doors to the outside, when you mentioned yours, Chris. The book has been the first thing to make me homesick for the US, and more specifically New England, since leaving Boston in 2002. I especially enjoyed Gibson's discussion of technological changes that were not digital. I was reminded of a documentary I saw recently on the late Ingmar Bergman. He was speaking with a Swedish journalist on his island, and the initial segment showed him silently assembing an old film projector like the one he had as a boy. It was very simple, with a gas lamp and a crank handle to advance the frames. You could see that he had been enchanted by this new medium, and the enthusiasm lasted his entire life. I guess it is not all about bits and bytes... I also liked the "where are the grownups" thread. I had the additional frisson of listening to it on the same day that Gonzales resigned. The triumph of Comey? PS. A complete aside, but today in the attic I came across the gorgeous nametags (Galoot, and I'm with Galoot) that the calligrapher Lydonista made for a gathering in Cambridge some years ago. Is he still here? Great interview – a fresh dose of Open Source does wonders in the fading days of summer 2007. I am thankful to ROS for the wisdom of two Williams at the moment, Gibson and the amazing William James. I took the Richardson biography on vacation with me, and am just finishing it. He is my new hero, and I couldn’t help but think of his New Hampshire farmhouse, with its many doors to the outside, when you mentioned yours, Chris. The book has been the first thing to make me homesick for the US, and more specifically New England, since leaving Boston in 2002.

I especially enjoyed Gibson’s discussion of technological changes that were not digital. I was reminded of a documentary I saw recently on the late Ingmar Bergman. He was speaking with a Swedish journalist on his island, and the initial segment showed him silently assembing an old film projector like the one he had as a boy. It was very simple, with a gas lamp and a crank handle to advance the frames. You could see that he had been enchanted by this new medium, and the enthusiasm lasted his entire life. I guess it is not all about bits and bytes…

I also liked the “where are the grownups” thread. I had the additional frisson of listening to it on the same day that Gonzales resigned. The triumph of Comey?

PS. A complete aside, but today in the attic I came across the gorgeous nametags (Galoot, and I’m with Galoot) that the calligrapher Lydonista made for a gathering in Cambridge some years ago. Is he still here?

]]> By: RR Anderson http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91648 RR Anderson Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:26:58 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91648 Thanks for the fresh content Team ROS ! Thanks for the fresh content Team ROS !

]]> By: peggysue http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91647 peggysue Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:33:40 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91647 One reason, and maybe it is a contradiction, that I was anxious to learn how to use a computer was my love of living away from the cities and the marketplaces. I thought, and have not entierly given up the idea, that maybe through the computer I could do work and earn a living from a remote location. As an artist who lacks ambition I have not quite figured it out so I am still stuck in town due to my need to make a living. The industrial revolution brought the country folk into town. The computer revolution was suppose to let us go back to (what is left) of the countryside. Where I live only the wealthy can afford rural property and they buy it for leisure. This was a farming & fishing economy. The fish are gone and the farms are at risk. It has become a service economy. I live on the outskirts of a small town on a small island and some people may consider that I already live rural and remote but the low-income housing apartments on the edge of town were not exactly what I had in mind. One reason, and maybe it is a contradiction, that I was anxious to learn how to use a computer was my love of living away from the cities and the marketplaces. I thought, and have not entierly given up the idea, that maybe through the computer I could do work and earn a living from a remote location. As an artist who lacks ambition I have not quite figured it out so I am still stuck in town due to my need to make a living. The industrial revolution brought the country folk into town. The computer revolution was suppose to let us go back to (what is left) of the countryside. Where I live only the wealthy can afford rural property and they buy it for leisure. This was a farming & fishing economy. The fish are gone and the farms are at risk. It has become a service economy. I live on the outskirts of a small town on a small island and some people may consider that I already live rural and remote but the low-income housing apartments on the edge of town were not exactly what I had in mind.

]]> By: Potter http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91646 Potter Sun, 26 Aug 2007 11:20:12 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91646 I would not be writing this, we would not be having this conversation or any other here without it. I's a contradiction to complain about technology while availing ourselves of it.... the interviews from Greece included. It may save us all as it changes us. By the way I am looking around for some non-genetically modifed corn on the cob. Wish me luck. It's all "sugar-enhanced" now here in central Massachusetts. The local farmer says everyone loves it and that I won't find "old-fashioned" corn so easily anymore. Well I don't like the new corn. It's too too sweet. Maybe palates are getting used to sweet and more sweet. So give them more. I'm betting my normal corn will soon be sold as "heirloom corn" just like we have "heirloom tomatoes" for those of us with memories of such things. These are the "old-fashioned" tomatoes that don't withstand travel, that are juicy and don't have leathery skins, that are grown nearby and in season. As per Hurley's link above- I <i>remember</i> the old corn, and the old tomatoes just as I remember a quieter world of less traffic, no cell towers, more wildness and green, more farms, cows and sheep in fields now subdivided tightly packed with mushrooming McMansions. - from the "burbs" I would not be writing this, we would not be having this conversation or any other here without it. I’s a contradiction to complain about technology while availing ourselves of it…. the interviews from Greece included. It may save us all as it changes us.

By the way I am looking around for some non-genetically modifed corn on the cob. Wish me luck. It’s all “sugar-enhanced” now here in central Massachusetts. The local farmer says everyone loves it and that I won’t find “old-fashioned” corn so easily anymore. Well I don’t like the new corn. It’s too too sweet. Maybe palates are getting used to sweet and more sweet. So give them more. I’m betting my normal corn will soon be sold as “heirloom corn” just like we have “heirloom tomatoes” for those of us with memories of such things. These are the “old-fashioned” tomatoes that don’t withstand travel, that are juicy and don’t have leathery skins, that are grown nearby and in season. As per Hurley’s link above- I remember the old corn, and the old tomatoes just as I remember a quieter world of less traffic, no cell towers, more wildness and green, more farms, cows and sheep in fields now subdivided tightly packed with mushrooming McMansions.

- from the “burbs”

]]> By: hurley http://www.radioopensource.org/summer-reading-william-gibsons-spook-country/#comment-91645 hurley Sat, 25 Aug 2007 08:52:28 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=1160#comment-91645 Another take on technology: http://www.philosophynow.org/issue61/61tallis.htm Another take on technology:

http://www.philosophynow.org/issue61/61tallis.htm

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