A response to Billy on Bob’s thought experiment, part 2 April 23, 2007
Posted by mwj as atheism, christianity, existentialism, fsm, philosophy, religion, technology, youtube. add a comment.
Part two of my response to some YouTubers on the subject of existentialism and religion. The webcam is ancient but I am making a few faltering steps towards a new way of thinking about religion. Click below for the transcript.
(more…)
A response to Billy on Bob’s thought experiment, part 1
Posted by mwj as existentialism, philosophy, technology, youtube. add a comment.
Part one of some low-tech observations about existentialism in the post-human age. Follow the link for the script if you can’t bear watching my lips flap about completely disconnected to the words that are coming from them.
(more…)
What seems easier than to let a thing be just the being that it is? Or does this turn out to be the most difficult of tasks, particularly if such an intention — to let a being be as it is — represents the opposite of the indifference that simply turns its back upon the being itself in favor of an unexamined concept of Being?
–Martin Heidegger, The Origin of the Work of Art
A new standard: drinking like the rest of the world April 14, 2007
Posted by mwj as opinion, politics, twu, writing. 2 comments.Since I’ve kind of gotten into a habit of posting work published elsewhere, I present my final opinion piece (ever?) for Mars’ Hill, the student newspaper at TWU.
—
After the Fraser Health Authority decided we had too much arsenic in our water, Trinity Western University was forced to give students as much clean, tasty water as they could handle. I moved off campus this year, so I was kind of miffed that I missed my chance to drink water at TWU that didn’t taste like goose poop.
(more…)
Mastering digital media March 16, 2007
Posted by mwj as education, games, journalism, media, second life, technology, web2.0, world of warcraft. 2 comments.My Dad told me that a recent article I wrote for the TWU school paper, Mars’ Hill, went a long way in explaining why I’m pursuing the career path that I am. For those who want to know, I’ve republished the article below.
—
The kingdom of Norrath has a GDP roughly equivalent to Namibia. In 2002 the average citizen made about $3.42 an hour. This is an impressive figure, considering Norrath has been in a constant state of civil war since its genesis in 1999. What makes this figure even more impressive is the fact that Norrath is a virtual kingdom, inhabited by players of the online game EverQuest.
These days, inhabitants of online worlds can earn much more. Second Life, which is more of a virtual world than a game, encourages players to buy and sell virtual goods for real money. Some citizens rake in over $50 000 a year. Of course, some are logging 70+ hours a week, as in the case of Veronica Browne of Simone! Design, a virtual fashion company. Despite the long hours, she makes over $17 an hour, well above the retail average. Even the more fantastical games like World of Warcraft, with over seven million players, have well-established economies where it is possible to make a significant income over and above the monthly cost of play.
(more…)
Even now the world-cities of the Western Civilization are far from having reached the peak of their development. I see, long after A.D. 2000, cities laid out for ten to twenty million inhabitants, spread over enormous areas of country-side, with buildings that will dwarf the biggest of to-day’s and notions of traffic and communication that we should regard as fantastic to the point of madness.
– Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, Vol. 2, 1928
Nick Gisburne and YouTube: a new context for an old debate February 14, 2007
Posted by mwj as journalism, media, philosophy, politics, technology, web2.0, youtube. 3 comments.
This is a YouTube piece that excerpted from the article below. Unfortunately, I had to record it with a stone age camera, but I got the audio with my iBook speakers, so its fine. (Link)
—
The debate over religion and free speech has erupted on YouTube. Nick Gisburne, an atheist on YouTube, recently published a video entitled “Islamic Teachings: Cruelty From The Qur’an.” This video was taken down by YouTube staff, at first citing its “inappropriate nature,” and both of Gisburne’s YouTube accounts were subsequently made unavailable to the public and permanently disabled. Until other users started to publish Nick’s work on their own account, it was impossible to find any of Nick’s videos, either his attacks on Christianity and Islam, or his videos speaking in defence of himself.
I have a huge interest in this debate, and believe it is an opportunity to examine the implications of “new media” for the old discussion over the tension between religious freedom and the freedom of speech. It also shows us a darker side of Web 2.0: in a world where “social networking” is the new mechanism for determining what content we do and do not see, there is the major danger of the whole enterprise devolving into “gang warfare,” as one YouTube member has so aptly put it.
(more…)
Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.
– Martin Heidegger, Building Dwelling Thinking
My first virtual meeting January 18, 2007
Posted by mwj as collaboration, games, second life, virtual, virtual worlds. 1 comment so far.I am applying to join the inaugural class of the new Master’s of Digital Media (MDM) in Vancouver, BC this fall. I’ve already had a chance to interact with, Dr. Gerri Sinclair, who received her PhD in Shakespearean studies, worked for a number of technology companies including IBM, and is now the force behind the new MDM.
The MDM began in part due to what I believe was around a $30 million grant from the BC government. Much of this money is being used to create the new Centre for Digital Media (CDM), which will house future classes of the MDM. For now, the building exists only in Second Life, thanks to Master machinimator, Scope Cleaver, who constructed a version of the building in the virtual world. A brief clip of the construction process is embedded here: for a longer version go here.
The most interesting part of this so far is the virtual meeting that I attended this morning inside this virtual CDM, whose purpose was to discuss the possibility of maximizing creativity and collaboration inside Second Life. Here is a screenshot from the experience (to see the full picture, just click on the image):
JoannaTrail Blazer: so to recap - so far we are looking at a room with invisible walls in the sky, with a pit structure, like a round amphitheatre, in the centre a thought diagram type board we can all add to
Arteer Oliva: def need to make time to orient
JoannaTrail Blazer: and no table
Arteer Oliva: YAY!
JoannaTrail Blazer: and a Wii, laptops, and a minifridge
I came up with the Wii and the minifridge.
The simplistic life and the essence of technology January 5, 2007
Posted by mwj as philosophy, technology. 4 comments.A friend sent me a link to an interview with Eric Brende, an MIT graduate who has written about his decision to forsake the hi-tech life and go live with the Amish.
My friend asked me for my response, and I gave it to him, in perhaps a slightly longer version than he expected. Nevertheless, I found this a great opportunity to consolidate my critique of the modern day luddite into three broad categories: historicism, romanticism and escapism. I thought I might post my observations here for all to enjoy.
The essence of technology… in no way confines us to a stultified compulsion to push on blindly with technology or, what comes to the same thing, to rebel helplessly against it and curse it as the work of the devil.
– Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology