TEL 555
Postmodern Perspectives
Some interesting sites on postmodernity (a few of thousands):
·
Dueling
Paradigms: Modernist V. Postmodernist
Thought for a good review of the differences between modernism and
postmodernism
·
Notes on:
Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition:
A Report on Knowledge
·
Postmodern
Culture is a journal devoted to postmodern issues
·
The
Self-Referential Simpsons Page is a postmodern look at “The
Simpsons”
·
The
Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
The
Postmodern Condition
Jameson: postmodern aesthetic comes from the
marketplace
Historical
Background
·
Critique
of modernism
·
Modernism: knowledge based on rationality; cognitive
approach
·
Postmodernism: knowledge based on the communicative subject;
semiotic approach
Tenants of
Modernity
·
Modernity
refers to the last three hundred years of Western history during which many of
the current ideas were developed.
·
Reason
and rationality
·
Progress,
linearity, universalism
·
Cognitive
subject
·
Science
and material progress
·
Representation
·
Truth
·
Human center
·
Cartesian
mind/body split
·
Spectator and spectacle
·
Metanarratives
Postmodernism
critique of modernism
·
No single truth
·
Flexibility
·
Historical and cultural processes over reason
·
Centerless
·
Capitalism problems
·
Progress not equal linear growth
·
Mind/body are one and/or multiple
·
Economic/material measure is inadequate
·
Aesthetics
·
Rhizomatic NOT depth
Generally,
postmodernism is:
·
The disappearance of authority, unity, continuity, purpose,
and commitment
·
The emergence of complexity, multiplicity, fragmentation,
resistance, negation, rupture, and irreverence for any specific goal or point
of view
·
Deep purpose and deep commitment no longer exist, and
hedonism seems to be the prevalent way of life
Attempts
to define postmodernism is discouraged and frowned upon by postmodern theorists
Some
Postmodern Conditions
·
Hyperreality and simulation (Baudrillard) – Think of The
Matrix
·
Lack of transparent technologies
·
Pastiche
·
Chaos/random/nonlinear
·
Fragmentation (Decentering of the Subject)
·
Visual Styles and Imagery
·
Multiplicity
·
Social and self construction
·
Play and fantasy
Slides on Postmodernism and
Reality Television
(optimized
for Internet Explorer)
McLuhan
“the medium is the message”
|
Society |
Communication |
Knowledge |
|
Oral/Tribal |
Presence, multiple senses, real time, e.g.-Memory Palaces |
Holistic, phenomenon |
|
Literate |
Out of context, visual, fixed time and space, compression,
reproduction |
Abstract, science, truth, legal, systems |
|
Electronic |
Telepresence, multiple senses, mediation, fixed and fluid,
reproducible |
Global village, collective unconscious, sense of self |
Hayles
Toward Embodied Virtuality
Posthuman
·
Information over material
·
Consciousness/identity constructed
·
Prosthesis
·
Humans and machines
·
“The posthuman subject is an amalgam, a collection of
heterogeneous components, a material-information entity who boundaries undergo
continuous construction an d reconstruction” (p.3).
Early
cybernetics research – show that machines could function like humans
·
Homeostasis, feedback loops and reflexivity
·
Blurring of the distinction between observer and system
Second
wave cybernetics
·
Self organizing and self making
·
Feedback loops are questioned
Third wave
cybernetics
·
Capacity to learn and evolve
What does
it mean to be posthuman?
·
Humans are embodied beings
·
Where the body is constructed
·
Unknowing part of a system
·
Similar to artificial intelligence
·
Conscious agency is flexible (think about Turkle and
identity)
·
If humans are part of a distribute system, connections with
machines are possible mechanisms to relate to outside (environmental) factors
·
Expands the parameters of human consciousness
Turkle “A
Tale of Two Aesthetics”
“The
dynamic, layered display gives me the comforting sense that I write in
conversation with my computer” (p.29).
·
Computational seduction/conversations with computers
·
Projection of self into machines
·
Hackers, Hobbyists, and Users
·
Macintosh
o
Opaque, graphic simulations (icons)
o
Conversational (friendly) experience
o
Allowed more tinkering/experimentation
Macintosh (postmodern) and IBM/DOS
(modern)
Objects to
Think With
·
New ways to think and communication
·
Icons as simulacrum
·
Surface level interactions (e.g. a desktop)
·
A vehicle to exist in a postmodern world
Nichols –
“The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems”
Benjamin and the transformation of art – loss of the aura, reproducibility, and politics of the masses
New ways
of seeing and perception
Montage –
combines multiple realities into another new form
Cybernetic
systems and electronic culture
Interface
as reality
Simulation
as substance
Digitization
is culture: “the chip replaces the copy”
There are
no originals, only copies – simulacrum
Cybernetics
as reality simulation (Matrix)
Sobchack –
“The Scene of the Screen”
Contemporary
“sense” is rooted in the presence of the screen (cinematic and electronic
display) (think Turkle)
Microperceptual
aspects of our engagement with technology
·
Photograph: and “fixed” meaning
·
Moving picture: as a subject itself – a narrative,
description, theme, etc…
o
A visual synthesis of perception
·
Electronic: separation of perception from
reality
o
Importance of presence and a lack of nostalgia for the past
and future