Use Your Pol Pot Noodle!
Posted by Mystic Al Your ... at 20:23, 03 May 2010Over at scientificblogging, Camillo Di Cicco has put up The Medium Religion, a piece about philosopher Boris Groys' contention, 'the revival of extremist religion worldwide, in the face of a secular and skeptical world, depends on the broadcast of video and distribution of data, particularly through the Internet.'
Di Cicco finally sums up Groys' position, 'In older times, religious rituals were practiced "in isolated sacred places. Today, "ritual, repetition and reproduction have become the fate of the entire culture. Everything reproduces itself -- capital, commodities, technology and art."
'Video recordings, digital images transmitted to countless many, are attempts to generate belief and passion, and function in some ways like "a Byzantine icon," says Groys.
'"The digital file functions as an angel - an invisible messenger transmitting a divine command."'
Setting aside the issue so does the latest Coco Pops advert, I can only respond, uh-oh!
I don't know whether Groys's of the same mentality, but many Dawkinians seem to be of the growing persuasion such a possibility justifies the outlawing of 'destructive' memes, though one guy's 'destructive meme''s another guy's 'life enhancing inspiration': for instance, how many people REALLY believe - as Richard Dawkins seems to assert - Mozart would've composed better music if he'd've been inspired by Darwin and Natural Selection rather than God and Religion?
To me that's as silly as saying because I'm madly in love with my girlfriend, everybody else ought to be too!
It wouldn't really matter if these sorts of ideas were left at the academic level, but China and Google give a hint just how things could develop if our governments were to go down that 'saving us from ourselves' route.
For instance, would Dawkins REALLY approve if, in the spirit of egalitarianism, governments decided Evolution was a dangerous meme because it could be taken as implying some people were better than other people?
To get some idea where that kind of thinking could really lead think of Pol Pot being in control of the entire web.
Bookmark/Search this post with
- Mystic Al Your Metaphysical Pal's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
17 February 2010
2 weeks 4 days
Is the transmission of digital images fundamentally different from analog? Groys says that digital reproduction causes a substantial loss of aura (through the invisible being made visible) but is there really a distinction between aura and context? Specifically, the context of the original and the lack of context in the copy. It makes sense to describe the aura, or spirit, of an image to continue the "divine messenger" metaphor; however, if aura simply means context then his core message could be applied to not only analog media, but to the printing press and even to oral traditions -- the latter of which has existed at least as long as the oldest extant religious traditions.
My point is, I don't think that an internet meme, for example, poses a fundamentally different risk than a game of telephone. Is Christian fundamentalism in the United States more or less pervasive/viral/dangerous etc., than Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East? Consider these figures. Whatever your answer to the previous question, I doubt the graph would even vaguely resemble this.
Perhaps it is the lack of human interaction in the more modern modes of transmission that predispose them to purely mechanical repetition rather than the spiritual element that ideally is present in ritual repetition. However, considering the inevitable, eventual loss of context (whether immediate or generational) through repetition, it would seem the original intent is less important than the spirit in which it is received.
As a side-note, the first video Groys played, of the Russian prophet and his congregation was rather disturbing (not more so than the second video, only more personal), particularly in light of the spiritual/mechanical argument. I was immediately reminded of both the ascendent beauty and the grotesquery of religious service. In my childhood experience of attending Catholic mass, the beauty was primarily vocal. The piercing harmony of the soprano choir girl, the low and somber intonation of the priest. The way these words were often reflected in the congregation is what I can only describe as grotesque. Mechanical repetition is accurate, but not adequate. Watch the crowd carefully. Amidst the scattered, enraptured believers are the glassy-eyed pendulums, badly in need of winding up.