Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

UG#514 - Virtual Reality & the Fragmentation of Modern Consciousness

Robin Upton | 28.08.2010 10:00 | Technology | Sheffield | World

Computer technology promises to be make work ever more efficient. But efficient at what? And why? If technology is saving people time, why do they seem to have so little left for what matters? The first hour features a presentation from last month by Nicholas Carr, author of "Is The Internet Making Us Stupid?", introduced by an essay from Steve Talbott, "Multitasking Ourselves to Death". We conclude with a few minutes of history from the great techno-sceptic, Ivan Illich, followed by a speech from Heather Menzies, author of "No Time, Stress, and the Crisis of Modern Life".

- mp3 27M

- mp3 27M


"Multi-tasking" has been celebrated as an ideal to strive for, as has maximising our activity. Our show this week takes a different angle, and should encourage you to reflect on what is the point of all this technological change, and the ensuing upheaval. We set the scene by reading Steve Talbott's 1998 essay, "Multitasking Ourselves to Death", which looks how multitasking affects some people, and questions the possibility of giving full attention to two tasks at once. "The important issues today should not grip us," he writes, "because the vital thing is that we should rouse ourselves to grip them.... so that we can wrestle with matters of our own choosing, despite the continual coercions coming from without."

This theme is continued with a speech from July, 2010 by Nicholas Carr, on "The Internet and Your Brain". He speaks about how human thinking is affected by our tools. If we try to be present in all kinds of places, we will not be really present anywhere, he warns. His interest in the topic started when his own inability to concentrate lead him to suspect that his heavy use of the Internet had changed his own brain. The internet, and multi-tasking, he warns, are part of what Cory Doctorow refers to as an "ecosystem of interruption technologies". 10 minutes of selected questions and answers follow his speech.

In our second hour, Ivan Illich gives historical perspective with his remarks on how the human sense of sight has changed since the time of Leonardo da Vinci, and how "virtual spaces" have come to dominate people's realities and information materials. We conclude the show with a wide ranging but accessible 2005 speech by Heather Menzies. Echoing the ideas of Murray Bookchin from episode 512, she speaks about how reliance on standardised units and measurements inevitably blinds systems and organisations to qualitative aspects of reality. She speaks of how abstractions, performance targets and flashing computer screens distract people from what really matters to them, and of the debilitating effects of stress. In the post 9/11 world, she warns, the American population is being prepared for totalitarianism by being disconnected from society, from each other and ultimately from the realities of their own lives.

Contributors: Steve Talbott (reading), Nicholas Carr, Ivan Illich, Heather Menzies

Robin Upton
- e-mail: unwelcome@altruists.org
- Homepage: http://UnwelcomeGuests.net

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech