Hauntology

I find the theories suggested by Douglas Rushkoff to be extremely interesting and highly relevant to the way in which media and technology are changing our experience of time. As stated on Rushkoff.com, 'Rushkoff argues that we no longer have a sense of a future, of goals, of direction at all. We have a completely new relationship to time; we live in an always-on "now", where the priorities of this moment seem to be everything' (Rushkoff 2013). I do find myself siding with Rushkoff in many regards. Recently I have been discouraged by the amount of emphasis in our culture to live within this Facebook, Twitter immediacy, the fact that every moment needs to be immediately uploaded or shared within a platform to make it tangible is, I feel, along the lines of what Rushkoff is saying. However, I found recently the idea of living within the present takes away from the future to be turned on itself. I discovered an example of someone momentarily living in the future to heighten their sense of the present, or now. 

Recently, a friend and I went to see a performance by the London Heritage Orchestra at the Opera House. They were playing Vangelis' much acclaimed soundtrack to the popular eighties sci-fi film, Blade Runner. My friend and I are adoring fans of the film, soundtrack, and everything associated and had been looking forward to the event for sometime. It is not the looking forward to the event where I find the aspect of living in the future to still be present, but rather, something my friend said to me prior to the performance. He turned to me and asked if I was planning to record any portion of the performance on my iPhone (for Facebook or future reference purposes) to which I replied that I hadn't even thought about it. He went on to say that lately he had been tired of what technology had been doing to his experiences. That he was tired of watching a shaky, hand held recording of something after the event and having that experience take away from the memory of the actual event. We both agreed not to film any of the performance. What my friend did was live momentarily in the future to heighten his sense of the present, or now. He, without knowing, foresaw a combination of what Rushkoff describes as Digiphrenia and Overwinding, trying to relive an entire concert, through technology and having that technology alter his experience. 

It was this conscious act and ability to see how technology can alter his memory and perceptions in a future context, that made me think there are two sides to Rushkoff's argument. It is possible to utilise the future to live more peacefully in the now. 

Rushkoff, D 2013, 'Present Shock', Rushkoff, accessed 23rd May 2013 <http://www.rushkoff.com/present-shock/>

Social Science

Being from a non-scientific background, that is, none of my family studied science, and I myself have never done any scientific study, bar that of lower high school, the development of open science is something I am very grateful for as I have a keen interest in the science world. From an amateur perspective that is. 

There are many beneficial branches of open science which would directly benefit the science world and its development, such as, academic journals, open research, open access and open notebook science (Wikipedia 2013). However, looking at this from my perspective, that being a novice point of view, how can open science benefit me? What good are academic journals and research notes full of scientific jargon I don't understand? Well, the truth is, there is no use. In that regard. Where I find the concept of open science beneficial is where it connects with another online, new media platform. Like, wait for it, Facebook!

Recently I stumbled upon a page a friend had 'liked' and since then I have thoroughly enjoyed every post and addition it has made to my Facebook Wall. The page is called, I Fucking Love Science. Despite the name, the page is actually extremely knowledgable, while still relating to the mind of a science novice like myself, and five million other people who now follow the page! 

Started by Elise Andrew, a biology major who specialised in animal science and evolution, in 2012 (Wikipedia 2013), I Fucking Love Science has soared in popularity. What the page so brilliantly does is combine the popular meme culture which surges through contemporary society, relates those memes to science with knowledgable, current fact, all within the easy platform of Facebook. Its open science genius, working it from a completely new angle, one could even describe it as social science. I have learned far more from Andrew's short posts about 'whats happened this week' in the science world and just through her interesting, knowledgable and fun captioned pictures ranging from black holes and marine life to statistics and breakthroughs in the science world, then ever before. 

I feel, from my own perspective, Andrew's Facebook page is a fantastic new form of open science, or, has developed it's own brach of the umbrella, social science. By making it as easy to learn and develop your understanding of science as it is to stay in touch with your friends or experience social networking, I Fucking Love Science is paving the way for contemporary forms of learning. 

I Fucking Love Science can be found at the below link, I highly recommend you check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience

Elise Andrew, wiki article, 16th May 2013, accessed 16th May 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elise_Andrew> 

Open Science, wiki article, 20th April 2013, accessed 16th May 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science>

Micro-Politics and Meme's: 'Somebody got time for that'

'The sixties was only superficially a decade of individualism, if the counter cultural revolution transformed society, it is because individuals, knowingly or unknowingly, acted on mass, as a swarm' (Coalition of the Willing 2011)

The idea of micro-politics and bio-politics can, I feel, be seen to be largely defined in the above quote, individuals acting, knowingly or unknowingly, on mass. Further defined, Erin Manning summarises Michael Foucault, stating, 'In the political episteme, movements of bodies work not at the level of individual detail but with global mechanisms of equilibrium, of regularity, of normatively' (Manning 2009). These counter-political motions are so completely intangible in their nature, yet their outcomes completely achievable. A movement so elegant in it's complete lack of its own awareness is something which would fit these categories, something like, perhaps, picking a potential example for the benefit of this blog, the increasingly popular, worldwide phenomenon of memes. A meme is, as defined on merriam-webster.com, 'an idea, behaviour, style, or usage, that spreads from person to person within a culture'. 

A Meme is the act of individuals engaging with the world around them. They are the transformation and development of ideas, people and events. It is loose, free, ungraspable and unaware of itself. Largely free from outside (corporate/marketing) influence. It is the unrestricted spread of ideologies and free thought and expression. As stated by Brandon Hopkins, 'Even when this DNA (contained within all memes) is a trivial and arbitrary substance memes can be as powerful as computer viruses' (Hopkins 2011). Though open to capitalisation, it is something, at its core, devoid of political influence, with the ability to reflect upon its surroundings and make light of things overseen or cast aside. It is individuals engaging on a global scale, forming a loose melee of interaction, thought and growth to bring about a form of social organisation. 

Although now they are largely comical and may never develop into a useful counter-political or micro-political tool, they demonstrate a platform for worldwide communication and expression, knowingly or unknowingly. It can be seen then, that some form of counter-political revolution could form, of itself, through the spread of memes. Those involved in the practice could be largely unaware of the great power they have in spreading information and ideologies. A simple picture captioned with a few words could be the spark which ignites a flame of counter-political thought. A flame that links groups from differing cultures who share ideologies on similar issues, like global warming, gun polices or abortion, or simply spreads ideas around the globe and start people thinking. It could be the silent hero, completely unaware of its own political affect. 

It goes without saying that such a platform has great room for beneficial use and vast room for misuse. However, personally, I find something like this has far more potential then say, the 'haktivist' group, Anonymous. Though their values are counter-political, their execution is far to centralised. Its anonymous aspect cannot make it truly micro-political, it is simply to controlled, with no potential for that free swarm movement of information or counter-political ideology through the masses.

The Coalition of the Willing 2011, online video, accessed 9th May 2013 <http://vimeo.com/12772935>

Hopkins, B 2011, 'Micro-Politics: The Hidden Battle Against Internet Censorship', Hypocrite Reader, accessed 9th May 2013 <http://www.hypocritereader.com/2/micro-politics-china>

Manning, E 2009, 'From Biopolitics to the Biogram, or How Leni Rienfenstahl Moves through Fascism'