IMKE course response: 5.10 Postmodernism · 11 October 06 by Ray Crowley
Mauri Kaipainen asks ‘What could follow postmodernism?’
post.postmodern worldviews might derive their absolute_truths through the swarming of individual opinions into a critical mass. The forces which give the swarms shape, direction and velocity may tend to derive energy from the corporate producers of the technologies which allow the virtual community to exist. These absolute_truths are the most efficient manifestation of the capitalist algorithm i.e. marketing & advertising become redundant because eachactant in the swarm feels empowered by making a ‘free choices’ with respect to his/her brand/tribe.
Mauri Kaipainen asks ‘What arguments are there against postmodernism?’
The question of the canon: postmodernism by its nature accepts any text or image as being worthy of equal value analysis. An analysis of Samuel Beckett’s dramatic techniques Vs. the semiotics of a McDonald’s Menu? The Aesthetics of Mondrian Vs. MTV branding. One might argue along the lines of Harold Bloom and George Steiner that the ‘public audience’ requires guidance with respect to what has cultural value in the interest of an developing of maturing society.
Mauri Kaipainen asks ‘How will interactive bottom-up media and new forms of participation change culture and philosophy?’
As can be already seen, the process of cultural production will continue to be devolved into the hands of the time-rich ‘prosumers’ (YouTube, Blogger, Flickr, YourGallery ). When this is combined with the continuing rise of internet based social-networking ( delicious , myspace) exclusive cultural worth and philosophical values may be generated solely through tribes thus making the agencies such as Public TV, National Press, Academics, Cultural Commentators, who were once perceived as semi-objective, redundant. It is worth considering that this uploaded cultural production may generate vast revenues for the providers of the distribution platforms such as Google, Microsoft & Yahoo and the soon to come Venice Project
tags: digitality, philosophy, theory
Alternative Input and Output Devices: Assignment 3: Virtual Reality Applications, a critical assessment. T*int