"It strikes me that the current fetishization of analog technology has less to do with nostalgia than it does with an urge to slow down the transfer of data from the internal to the external, from the individual to the collective, and to make it all less instant, less ephemeral, less interchangeable, and more tangible, more linear and more contextual."
The Dilemma of Being a Cyborg - NYTimes.com
1 Feb 2012 / 0 notes
(via The New Math of Telecommunications - Craig Damrauer - Technology - The Atlantic)
25 Jan 2012 / 2 notes
"I am not going to use a computer because I don’t want to deny myself the pleasure of bodily involvement in my work…In using computers writers are flirting with a radical separation of mind and body, the elimination of the work of the body from the work of the mind. The text on the computer screen, and the computer printout too, has a sterile, untouched, factorymade look… The body does not do work like that. The body characterizes everything it touches. What it makes it traces over with the marks of its pulses and breathings, its excitements, hesitations, flaws and mistakes… And to those of us who love and honour the life of the body in this world, these marks are precious things, necessities of life."
Wendell Berry as quoted in The Phenomenology of Writing by Hand
This essay is chock full of wonderful quotes from writers reflecting on tools they prefer to use in the construction of their craft. Daniel Chandler also offers a model for describing writerly habits as Planners and Discoverers categorize how some writing and editing patterns align with medium preferences.
22 Jan 2012 / 1 note
"And, bonus question: Who would win in a fight, Clay Shirky or Nicholas Carr?
Carr would land some shallow punches, but then everbody would join with Shirky. So, no contest."
What the Internet Means for How We Think About the World - Technology - The Atlantic
David Weinberger making clever internet jokes in promotion of his new book, Too Big to Know. He goes on to make some interesting points about technodeterminism in Carr’s, Shirky’s and his own work.
17 Jan 2012 / 2 notes
Books That Are Never Done Being Written - WSJ.com
Nick Carr on the shift from moveable type and immovable text or the “typographical fixity” of print books, to the maleable, editable, edition-less e-book.
16 Jan 2012 / 0 notes
"I remember reading about a concept called “Not Two” (不二), a kind of yin-and-yang idea that suggests that dualities and differences are unproductive. To talk about a digital world and a non-digital world is a fallacy. The digital world is a part of our lives now, whether we like it or not. To completely cut ourselves out of email and even social media often means disconnecting from a good slice of our social lives, not to mention all the other amazing opportunities for learning and work afforded by the Internet."
Sounds a lot like Alexandra Samuel’s discussion about what’s wrong with the phrase “In Real Life” or IRL. Time to abandon the false dichotomy.
16 Jan 2012 / 0 notes
obsolete inheritance
Cartoon of the day. For more: http://nyr.kr/yVUOOM
13 Jan 2012 / Reblogged from newyorker with 439 notes
Of course, the knife also has a blade, scissors, nail file with a screwdriver tip and a LED/laser pointer. All you frequent travelers needn’t worry – the drive can be interchanged between the fully-equipped body and the flight-friendly body, which comes without the pointy stuff. (via This Swiss Army Knife Comes With a 1 TB USB Flash Drive)
12 Jan 2012 / Reblogged from anxiaostudio with 3 notes
