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@@ -0,0 +1,367 @@ +\chapter{} + +The limitations of the new information +languages, the limitations of the machines, +storages, operating systems, circuitry, machine-compatible logic, programs diminish +what was once far richer. The old words +were broader; they packed complexes of +implication within them; their ambiguities +allowed for richness and latitude, for rethinking, redefinition from time to time. +They contain treasuries of implication within them; the \enquote{amounts} of information they +contain are staggering. Consider Eliot's \booktitle{The Wasteland}: + +How do you represent, in terms of specification, and thus bits of information (if that +is even the way to put it) the endless galaxy of implications contained in Eliot's poem? +In the first place the poem is a rhythmic index, a memory-system. The allusive and +apparently self-contained word or phrase opens up into other poems, and histories. +That is to say they are references to memory +storages. The first line reads \textquote{April is the cruelest month...} +\emph{All} Aprils included; +the April of Chaucer, the April/Easter of the +crucifixion, \booktitle{The Divine Comedy}, all the +Aprils contained in \booktitle{The Golden Bough}, and +all the rites of spring, sacrifices and renewals +to insure fertility, of dying and being planted +in the earth to spring up in a new form. Are +we to mix our terms here? For example, +political, social, economic conditions, to say +nothing of genetic evolutionary and \enquote{adaptive strategies} +and continuities to be considered as the stuff of literary concerns\ldots\ at +least not \emph{directly}.\footnote{Although the naturalists had tried to meld science into literature.} +Nor had passion, hatred, character, conflict, +ceremony been allowed to be part of science. +But once we consider the universe to be +language, information, then fiction and +magic permeates it all. When experience and +reality are processed by computer, the usual +domains and disciplines are mixable. Once +discrete realms shatter again, their languages +melt, float, interface. Multi-lateral Pythagoreanism. But then, hadn't this modern fusion +of realms been anticipated by dreams and surrealism, +but in a non-quantified, anti-particleized way? + +Agriculture itself as a metaphor for death, +all resurrection, and conversely. In ancient +thought, of course, the spoken and acted-out +rite is a ceremony pre-operational to planting: it is a planning and management +system. It \emph{precedes} the actuality of material life, as the modern rite of manipulating the memory of past and future wheat crops inherant +in money \emph{precedes} ali spring plantings and +growths. + +There is the question of metaphor and +simile, which the computer \emph{cannot} handle +unless given specific instructions, and then +within a limited set of circumstances (which +may grow, but becomes unwieldy). Metaphor +is a form of \emph{fused association}, sometimes of +completely \emph{unrelated} terms (except in the +mind ofa poet, novelist, or advertising copywriter), to create a third term, but in a pecu- +liar way. In the world of program-driven +computers, one list of items may be matched +to another list. What is compared are two or +more strings of \emph{stored-up impulses} (given in +one or another set of computer languages). +Beneath, on the level of circuitry and +machine-language, something different happens than thought. \emph{Items are not being +compared.} + +All items in natural language are not +bounded by the compartmentalization required by a computer: they have no true +boundaries. Truly different sets of items +\emph{cannot} be compared unless a tedious and +endless program is written on the order of "if +[\![ this \ldots\ ]\!] then [\![ that \ldots\ ]\!]" +An algorithm describing the way metaphors are generated can +be easily written; it cannot be implemented +or generated by a computer language. The +instructions could be written such that +\enquote{whenever \enquote{April,} then \enquote{cruel}}, but only +applies to these terms whenever \enquote{April} and +\enquote{cruel} appear. But supposing that another +poet appears, working out of another framework, to speak of April in conjunction with +the autumns of the southern hemisphere? + +In order to unlock the poem's meaning, +one already has to have access to a vast +knowledge of literary, religious, anthropological, political, historic, mythological and +psychological compilations (and those edited) in order to summon up the full text of +references. The way the fragments are allusively juxtaposed may be analogized to the +way information is stored, organized and +sequenced on a disc ... in non-sequential +fragments with memory addresses. Well and +good. + +It may be said that the retrieval process of +the brain-body is somewhat like the retrieval +process in a computer, but there are significant differences. (That is if anyone knows +what goes on in the brain). The computer was +orginally likened to the brain. The terms +were reversed and the brain was likened to +the computer, leading to ridiculous assesments—tried out experimentally—that the +brain \enquote{processed} information in an on and +off way. Later this was modifed and it was +said that the brain \enquote{parallel-processed.} The +mental processes are associational and quasi-random, and frequently get confused, yielding felicitous mixes. The computer processes +are much more rigid and limited. It is when, +in the poem, the fragments are fused that the +difference becomes more apparent. The +computer cannot fuse associations into a +seamless whole. + +Fiction, drama, poetry, non-quantifiable +psychology and other traditional modes of +discourse are partial but stand for wholes; +they have long incorporated complex modes +of organization of people, events, matter into +dramatic sequences ... novels, plays, epics, +poems, psychological theories ... Creating +indices, hierarchies, queues, maps, models, +simulations, translations, sets, classes are +some of the problems raised by information +handling. Each reorganization raises these +problems again and again in new ways. + +All literary works contain, among other +things, indices and every such work solves +the problem of hierarchy, or of queueing +without specifically delineating these modes +of sorting as problems. Literaure does not +accept polarities as absolute oppositions. +Dialectics is the emanation of crippled and +self-constrained minds ... the realm, really, +of accountants. Hierarchy? It's all in Dante. +Sets? Borges deals with them wittily. Indexes? See Eliot. In literature (and literary +psychology ... such as Freud's or Jung's) all +these modes are dynamic, allusive, \emph{multireferential.} +As for set-theory, this is, of +course, the mathematician's and logician's +whimsey. As in life, literature shatters sets. + +In real life, all sets are fuzzy. For example; +in a complex, transnational, transtemporal +holding company which owns other companies and parts +of companies and constantly seeks to conceal itself behind a thousand +portals represented by the shell-names of +companies distributed in a lot of countries, +which is the set of all sets? The subsidiary or +subset may contain (by control) the set of all +sets. In fact, taken all in all, the contiguity of +economic (and political) activity eventually +links and sends the representations of each +part of itself at incredible speeds to every +other economic and political body \emph{in the +world} these days, especially in the age of +advanced telematics. In the modern world, +America, France, the USSR +(since transnationals overlap their boundaries) ... are indeed fuzzy sets, better expressed in literary +language... indeed, the language of \booktitle{Finnegan's Wake}. (And one may say that a set, +called for convenience Mafia, is conjoined +and interpenetrates those sets called corporations and those sets called governments +through other interpretive realms called +politics, by using a set-violating, economic +activity called bribing... It is, to be sure, +primarily and economic organization, but +on the other hand, requires primitive rituals +as part of its sustaining power.) + +The way of the fiction writer and mythmaker is a function of long stores of knowledge, arrayed in certain ways, drawing from +a taken-for-granted memory bank. The world of information processing is a world of partial faiths and fictions. Tests for truth that +match reality are meaningless in this world: inner consistency is what counts. + +In literature (its application to the new information world will soon emerge) one +converts the experiences of the self and +others into words. (What sensors does one +use to acquire the experience of others? +Through what set of filters --- ideas, technology, legends, myths, psychological and social theories, artificial memory/intelligence --- +does one sift one's own personal experience?) The writer uses imagery, similes, +symbols, signs, translations, conversions, comparisons, +metaphors, tropes, compact representation, character, emotion, conflict, +drama in certain limited situations. All +dictated by a body of traditions. Experience, +real people, furniture, space, action, geometry, geology, geography are converted into +evocative words and are arranged into some new structure, perhaps +more neatly --- or more amusingly, or startlingly --- than in life. +Fiction, poetry, drama are programs designed +to transmit energy which \emph{amplifies} as it goes +through its \enquote{circuits.} There is selection. +One cannot write about everything. + +The compilers and refiners, the preservers and organizers, the abridgers who assembled and trimmed the treasure, the great +canon of literature (surely there was always editing and censorship involved), assert that +their Great creations represent whole populations ... Man and Woman writ large. But +in fact these are \emph{sampling} techniques, which +can provisionally be said to have been invented by the Greek Tragedians. But what is +left out? Among other things, the living stuff +of humans, which involves neuronic, hormonal, enzymatic, chemical, metabolic, genetic, electromagnetic activity had not been +fit for literary language. Yet one could come +up with a prototypical set of biological reactions accompanying (indeed, initiating and +sustaining) mythological, literary and religious prototypes and archetypes. + +When Proust bites into the tea-soaked +Madeleine, the taste is a stimulus to releasing memory which then pours out and is +recorded as a printout. We have a report of +Proust's brain operating, but in another language. We could also write a biochemical +essay which replicates the event. We could +also say that Proust wrote a treatise on information storage and retrieval, on the long and +short-term memory, in which the tea-soaked +Madeleine is the key word, and the instruction, that begins the memory dump. + +When a marketing study is prepared, +psychology and sociology is used to create +the stimuli, the association of ideas that will +generate the \emph{feeling} which reaches the memory to release biochemicals, electrical charges, +symbols. All emotions, behaviors, dramas +and tastes are tallied, sampled and compared with standardized and representative +beings: prototypes, concurrent archetypes: +the hypostatic buyer. Frequently life-signs are monitored by biological telemetering +equipment. But, at the same time, the marketers must try to turn diverse populations +into Standard Consumers; infecting the archetypal consumer's memory with prototypical +hunger. Persuasion. + +\emph{True} archetypes, \emph{original} archetypes, prototypical figures, their deeds and emotions +are communicated down through the ages. +From time to time their attributes are altered +to adjust to newer ages. These are used as +templates to force people into those imageforms. Consider that message called \emph{Oedipus} +and how it has been used again and again. +But were such recorded, aboriginal events +prototypical? Who, what set of people made +them that way and why? If Jung talks about +the collective unconcious, one must not only +ask, \enquote{who collected it?}, but who keeps +reminding us? And what are we not reminded of? Who speaks of the archetypal +revolutionary, the primal guerrilla? + +Some set of \enquote{orginal,} transcribed events +and characters are made into standards, +broadcast and rebroadcast. Those who follow +are made to resonate to the original +signal. People through the ages are made +into transcievers. The emotion of a perhaps +once-lived life in turn gains power to motivate people across time and space. In fact, +the people, the transcievers, the relays, are +frequently more emotionally moved by these +compulsive fictions than by their own life or +the people they live among. They are taught +to screen their own experience through +these long-transmitted stereotypes, reassessing their own lives, comparing, matching, +referencing, denying what they are in fact +living out, viewing what is around them +through mediational scrims. + +Some humans, fearing death, watch the +butterfly emerge from its chrysalis, or they +see the seed planted, going into the winterdead ground, and grow up as grain, and +dream of the time when they can metamorphose, transubstantiate into angels and gods. +The whole algorithm of agriculture is described in Christian thought, represented by +a human\slash divine figure in its metamorphoses +into divinity. So they invent varieties of +immortality. The way to immortality lies +through death; it begins with a dissolution, a +liquidation and ends with a reconstruction, +recombination, resurrection. + +But the progrssive series of deaths and +resurrections lead somewhere. (Not \enquote{true} +death, for energy and matter are conserved.) +If we view the world, the universe in a +quantum-operational sense, +in which the observor intervenes in the observed, then, as +we have said, \enquote{Mind} permeates the universe and must constantly be sustained and +reproduced or the universe will cease to +exist. Thus, \emph{all} the instruments of perception, of past and present, place mind in the +univese and the universe in\slash as\slash of mind. True, the referential frameworks change and +the rules change. Thus dreams permeate through skins, flow through all boundaries +and are shuttled back and forth in history; +empty space becomes a plenum which manifests itself into sometimes virtual entities, +fields of particles and waves, sometimes real +and permanent entities which are viewed +with astonishment. Life is an illusion; the +flow, the dance, the perpetuation and evolution of language is all, and bodies lyse into +language, symbols, matter, space, velocity, energy, bodies, money... (Perhaps humans +resist this liquidity. When humans are converted into economic symbols, one form of +capital, the being is liquified, transsubstantiated into capital. What is capital but a set of +numbers which will metamorphose again into factories or other humans?) The first law +of thermodynamics tells us that matter and energy are conserved. Then the instruments +that view these events are also conserved. That is to say mind is eternal. (Really?) And +perhaps, so is time. And clearly we can see the whole program of the birth, life and +death of the universe speeded up for us in a reconstructive program. +But more, we can now populate our computer with a plethora +of virtual, interconnecting and concurrent spaces and minds, as the Kaballists had proposed so long ago. Perhaps we will see +them, since these fictions will have themselves become instruments of perception. + +In the pre-Judeo\slash Christian past, the metamorphoses were circular or cyclical, +happening without any purposive, long-range +strategy. The Jews and Christians introduced +two complementary --- yet opposing --- long-range strategies; non-repeating, goal-oriented +history, which led to collective immortality, +out of which sprung metaphysical evolution. Events in time were arranged in an +ascending sequence leading to collective +death, transfiguration, resurrection and escape into paradise ... a reuniting with that +from which they had originally been seperated from. + +With the advent of the industrial-scientific-technological-capital +revolutions, the transformation programs \emph{appeared} to be secular. Events were arranged into a \emph{non-}Judeo\slash Christian, long range strategy of transcendance. \emph{Qualitative}, metaphysical transubstantiation was replaced by an accretive, recombinatorial, technology-assisted march +toward transubstantiation (since everything +can be prised apart into units, numbered and +rearranged). This invention was called progress, though still incorporating the old notions of immortality. At certain stages, the +accumulation would reach a critical mass +and a quantum leap into a new period would +take place. Permanent revolution. This was a +reaction to that perpetuated, obsessive dream +of a faded paradise, the Roman Empire, and +the descent into Feudal chaos. How many +expulsions from timeless and non-progressive paradisos haunt our \emph{collected memory}? +This kind of thinking led to concepis of +rational forecasting, retrocasting, planning, +management. + +But since events had to be scheduled in a +practical, materialistic, exponentially rising +line, in order to gain escape-velocity, +in order to escape entropic fate, it was clear that +man's ascendant journey required a series +of engineered metamorphoses. The mechanisms of natural evolution seemed to be +gone. And anyway, Man wouldn't let any +new form that emerged from him, challenge +him. This meant that the journey toward +immortality required tapping the earth's and +the universe's energy. And if one were to +harness the universe's energy, that would +cost a lot, and anyway, most people, while +fearing death, were not nescessarily interested in immortality: the enterprise had to be +sold. Enter \booktitle{Faust}. + +\booktitle{Faust} stands for a key word, one of many +in a directory of transcendance strategies. +\booktitle{The Divine Comedy} is another. \booktitle{Faust} is +dynamic and action-oriented: Dante is static. +Dante (and The Church) encouraged saving +of energy and cutting down of indulgence-expenditure --- called sin --- while Faust encouraged profligacy as a means toward +progress. + +One general form of the transcendance +algorithm runs this way: Hero seeks, or is +impelled to seek knowledge; hero has dream, +or dies, or passes into another realm; the +new, or next world is revealed; hero comes +back, or leaves directions in the form of a +book. Note the role of knowledge or information. + +\booktitle{Faust} is the great poetic myth representing +the transition from the medieval to the modern age, from medievalism to capitalism, +from agricultural\slash feudal society to industrial +(and then to the information society), from +one kind of magic to another. (And it is +Eliot's lament that we had taken the wrong +path.) \booktitle{Faust}'s ascent is built around one +concrete and one mystic project. The concrete project involves a dam and land-reclaimation. +\booktitle{Faust} is in every marketing strategy +the computer and software manufacturers +generate. The mystic project is the transubstantiation of, the rejection of the body and +the earthly life, earthly events and time, +history, and mundane procreation, utilizing +a meta-sexual image. \booktitle{Faust} +becomes, as it were, one of the programs of modern society. +The dependance on mystic knowledge, information, is very strong. + |