I’m currently reading Gilles Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition, and am trying to work out how to understand the metaphysics that is discussed in it. I’ll try to share a working sketch of where I’m at, drawing heavily on Plato and Nietzsche. First, Plato’s theory of Ideal Forms. If you’re looking for a more in-depth explanation… Continue reading A Deleuzian Metaphysics
Category: Philosophy
Economics of Attention Ch 5-8
Chapter 5 In Chapter 5, Lanham attempts to highlight the two different ways of seeing once again, through an at or through form of attention. Focusing in one way tends to mean we don’t focus in the other way. For example, Lanham gives the research who specializes in a topic, and can even teach that topic well, but struggles to put… Continue reading Economics of Attention Ch 5-8
Economics of Attention Ch4: An Alphabet that Thinks
Back to Chapter 3. I know you’re wondering about the image. I’ll get there! In this chapter, Lanham explains that ebooks have almost entirely attempted to simply reproduce print books. This is so much the case, that often the ebooks you find for sale are just PDF copies of the original book. Why would… Continue reading Economics of Attention Ch4: An Alphabet that Thinks
Economics of Attention Ch3: What’s Next for Text
Back to chapter 2. The third chapter of Economics of Attention is where things start to get really interesting, at least for my interests. Lanham traces the evolution of text in an attempt to understand how it’s been used to convey meaning in ways that are beyond the actual meaning of the words. These… Continue reading Economics of Attention Ch3: What’s Next for Text
Economics of Attention Chapter 2
Back to Chapter 1. This chapter explores the art of Warhol and the Dada Movement as part of its argument that {fluff,style,rhetoric} has made a come back and is equally, if not more important than actual stuff: “The lesson was simple and, once learned, tedious. Art is not stuff made out of stuff taken from the earth’s… Continue reading Economics of Attention Chapter 2
Economics of Attention: Chapter 1
Back to introduction. The preface and first chapter of [amazon_link id=”0226468674″ target=”_blank” ]Economics of Attention[/amazon_link] attempt to set the stage for what is to come. The author tells us that this book is written to answer the narrow question: “What happens when words move from printed page to electronic screen?” The answer, it turns out, is… Continue reading Economics of Attention: Chapter 1
NSA Loyalty Rewards Program: $1,000 Tax Rebate
I keep waiting for this headline to appear. In the ongoing struggle between privacy and convenience, convenience often seems to win without much debate. Marketing and advertising professionals seem to have unlocked the key to getting consumers happily hand over data about themselves: simply offer some rewards. If you let us track all of your… Continue reading NSA Loyalty Rewards Program: $1,000 Tax Rebate
The Goals of Higher Education
I’m taking Cathy Davidson’s Coursera course on the History and Future of Higher Education, so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on some thoughts about higher education that were prompted in a pedagogy class I took last semester. In the book [amazon_link id=”0805828362″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Teaching Communication[/amazon_link], Jo Sprague discusses… Continue reading The Goals of Higher Education
4 Questions For the MOOC Dream and Higher Education
Let’s play a quick a game. See if you can guess when the following passage was written and to what technology it was referring. The writer hoped that students could be taught by: “a single inspiring teacher who speaks to the thousands of revived students through [a technology]. A whole nation of students might… Continue reading 4 Questions For the MOOC Dream and Higher Education
Jesus vs. Socrates
vs. John Durham Peters writes in [amazon_link id=”0226662772″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Speaking Into Thin Air[/amazon_link] Socrates and Jesus represent two contrasting but enduring models of communication. Jesus serves as a model for dissemination, while Socrates models dialogue, which Peters claims has been widely accepted as the superior method. Socrates Socrates is well known for his… Continue reading Jesus vs. Socrates