And, where do we go now?

First off, no one will ever read this, I know from experience. But listen to the song I've uploaded. It's called "Crystal" by Wolfy. They're a pretty awesome new band. Um...this blog WAS for N100 about a year ago, but now it's for "Seeing Sideways" with Beth Lykins...uh...N4...something. ^_^' Anyways, I take pride in my literary skills even though my basis is visual representations...sumpin 'er other... I dare you to read some of my stuff. I dare you to think.

#4 - Response to Lessig's book "Free Culture"

Laurence Lessig wrote a book titled Free Culture. Here are my selective thoughts…

Chapter Eleven: Chimera grabbed my attention right from the start. It actually wasn’t the content, but rather the title. A chimera in reality is a person with two sets of DNA. “Chimera” was also a term used to describe the half-human alchemy creation in the Japanese Anime series Full-Metal Alchemist (which I love dearly). In the series, the chimeras were miserable, since they were no longer fully human or fully “free”. Often, they would be put out of their misery through death. Lessig incorporates chimeras in his book by saying that the struggle between copyright and culture functions much to the same degree. He claims that both halves are neither right nor wrong, but in fact they are both right and at the same time both wrong. He suggests that instead of fighting for dominance, each side should impart rules that can govern the whole successfully. If not, one half will eventually give way (die), and the other half will soon follow suit since they are not separate but one “entity” or chimera.

Chimeras, contrary to their role in Full-Metal, do not have to be limited and unproductive. Earlier in history, when copyright and culture had a “working” relationship, chimeras were born in a timeless way. Walt Disney merged tales from the past with his own creativity to form such movie classics as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. If creativity is not allowed to build upon itself, at most, won’t it simply run in circles?

Before I read Lessig’s book, I was convinced that “free beer” was the way to go (basically, all digital media found on the web should be free to anyone who can find it). However, let’s say that the argument was over America’s way and the U.N.’s way instead of copyright’s way and culture’s way. I honestly, don’t want either to become dominant. The idea of partial power given to more than one brandishes cooperation as opposed to dominance. While decisions made for the common good will always come with a struggle, at least they will come. I agree with Lessig.

Media, in my mind, is this generation's history book. We use to write our pages freely, is this still true? If so, how long will it stay? There are only two sides to a coin, but what person in their right mind let's their future rest in a flip? Don't eat what is fed to you; feed yourself. Consider what is important, and stand up for it.

As so many great "inspirers" really meant to say, and as Russell Peters so blatantly put it, "Be a man - do the right thing."

#3 Assignment - Paul Saffo, Originality

In 1994, Paul Saffo wrote an essay titled The Place of Originality in the Information Age. This essay discusses the effects of technology on designer’s ability to create original works. While initially Saffo wrote about possible negative effects, in the end, I think he did feel that technology would further design as opposed to hinder it. To better understand Saffo’s later view, I will discuss a project done many years ago by Noah Webster. Of course, as you must know, Webster is credited with compiling the American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. While I am sure this was an immense feat, it is not the project itself I will discuss, but rather it’s “never-ending” content. Have you ever thought of how many words are in the English language? Could someone ever add the last word to the dictionary? With words, there are restrictions. English only has 26 usable letters. If you are creative, you can even count Romaji (Japanese words in English form) and other words from different languages, but in the end you can only use 26 different little pictures. Even with its confining limits, an English dictionary can seem limitless. Each word is different and holds meaning – just like any design. Each word in fact is original, because when one letter is changed it is in fact a different word. Design has but one limit, and that is the limit we put on ourselves. I feel Saffo’s concern may have been related more to the individual’s character, than the “character” of technology. In his essay he quoted T.S. Elliot saying, “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge that we have lost in information?" Wisdom is derived. Deriving is an ability born from introspection which is directly related to one’s character. Our culture sometimes seems as if it has lost all its basic values. We wonder when the next leader with character will rise up. He may be the face of art, the face of music, or the face of our country. Saffo contemplated the new face of originality. With so many designers going through the motions of “copy and paste” and not deriving there art from their own talents, he worried that greatness may never find its way through to the next generation. But how many faces are there to find? The character and wisdom it takes to be original are just as rare as the character and wisdom it takes to be a good national leader. How many Michael Angelo’s, Mahatma Gandhi’s, and Martin Luther King’s were there? New technology/culture will define anyone who lets it, but he who has the character to display wisdom will redefine technology and culture. I would like to end with a quote from Paul Saffo himself, “We swim in a sea of culture, of memories old and new, and all our acts flow out in response to what we experience. In the coming age of infinite recall, I think we will rediscover a preindustrial fact: origin is not a point but a continuum, and the process of originality is much more linked than we imagine.”