March 14, 2005
Feelings Are Always Local
Open Systems: Networks
Feelings Are Always Local by Dan Gillmor; V2_Publishing/NAI Publishers; ISBN 9056624237:
The network concept and its cultural fallout are still far from fully understood. Analyzing sets of entities which relate to one another communicating intensely with the outside world means to be ready to cast a different light on environments which, until now, were considered closed systems. In fact, the fundamental difference between 'system' and 'network' is that the former is wholly defined by the relations between its elements, and is intrinsically coherent, while the latter expands and communicates in every direction without losing its coherence. Thus, networks, seen as 'open systems', can be decoded in new ambits, such as the social dynamics in urban environments, the roads taken by scientific discoveries, specific natural ecosystems or the incredible collabirative heap of neurons inside our brains. [from neural.it]
This text, written as a catalogue of the DEAF 04 exhibition, interlaces these themes with the description of the installations, but with a particular attention to networks and their intrinsic contradictions, such as the production of new types of RNA and proteins between the brain cells which implement the memory functions and the great rise in the quantity of information meant to exercise control, proportional to the general rise in the size of the infosphere. This wide perspective makes possible to break free from the social evolutionist theory and to follow paths of thought which connect and intertwine, generating complex visions, necessarily multidisciplinary.
Posted by jo at March 14, 2005 11:14 AM
