User:Fabian Landewee/Flusser

Flusser on writing, complexity, and the technical revolutions

Flusser argues that the most important dimensions of the present cultural revolution is not sufficiently accentuated. Namely the fact that, linguistic communication, both the spoken and written word, are no longer capable of transmitting the thoughts and concepts which we have concerning the world.

It is his firm believe that if you want, nowadays, to have a clear distinct communication of your concepts, you have to use synthetic images, no longer words.

In his terminology he says that before the invention of writing, people thought in a pre-historical way, after the invention of the alphabet, historical consciousness was elaborated. And now we are in the process of elaborating a post-historical structural way of thinking.

• Before the Alphabet there was a prehistorical way of thinking, traditional images were used as maps for the world. The structure of images involved a specific way of looking at the world which is the mythical way.

• But when 3500 years ago the alphabet was introduced in the Western world, there was a total transformation of our experience and our actions. We went from a mythical way of looking at the world to a historical causal and critical way of thinking about the world.

• Now that discourse has been substituted by calculus, historical progressive thinking is being abondoned in favor of a new type of thinking. The post-historical structural way of thinking is more capable of transmitting the thoughts and concepts of the world we live in now.''

Flusser makes a distinction between a structural and functional complexity

• - Structurally complex: for instance, there can be systems where elements maintain a very complex relation with eachother. A structually complex system may be functionally simple, like television, which has a structure of complexity, but the use of it is simple.

• - Funtionally complex: simple system, but can be used in a complex way. For example a chess game.

Functionally complex systems are a challenge to creative thought. Whereas functionally simple systems are stupifying, idiotic.

Now the complex systems which now are coming about, are complex in structural sense, whether they will be functionally complex or not, depends on us. Flusser finds it necessary to have a new attituted towards the image: They no longer represent the world. The new images are now articulations of thought.

Flusser finds it necessary to have a new attituted towards the image: They no longer represent the world. The new images are now articulations of thought.

McLuhan, The medium is the message

Mcluhan sees media as an extention of our central nervous system.

The medium is the message: The impact that the medium has on our environment is far more important than what you do individually with it. Mcluhan gives an example by what he means by that: “The huge environment of a medium as the telephone effects everybody, but what you say on the telephone effects very few.“ He also states: “The effect of tv, the message of tv, is quit independent of the program. That is there is a huge technology involded in tv, which surrounds us physically. And the effect of that huge service environment on you personnaly is fast. The effect of the programme is incidental”

At the time people were afraid fo tv making people illiterate. McLuhan says the the following:

- tv is totally involving/subjective

- literacy is objective

To read is to guess, reading is selecting. So literate people would be better decision makers.

McLuhan also answered a question about violence and self expression. He uses the term violence in a broad sense. He sees violence as a simple encounter, abrasive encounters. The quest of identity is a violent one. “How much power can I exert, how much identity can I discover by simply banging into other people?”

Sports are a controlled and accepted form of violence, and it needs an audience.