Christopher D. Sessums :: Blog :: Existentialism and the Read Write Web

Comments

1. I think the sense of individual agency described in the clip and the sense of individual empowerment that the Read/Write web piece attributes to technologies like blogs do resonate with each other. I think the problem, with both, is in furthering the believe that those are all, or sufficient. Individuals can only control themselves. Social software can produce sense out of individuals acting on their own motivations. That shouldn't preclude (nor cast too large a shadow) over individuals *choosing* to act on collective issues, or, in the realm of blogs, the importance, for instance, of paid journalists with access to resources and tools in the functioning of a democracy. So I have no problem with either existentialsm, people taking responsability, or loosely coupled networks. I just think none of them represent the totality of what we can and *should* be trying to accomplish. Does that make any sense?

   Scott Leslie on Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 01:09 CEST # |

2. I like the way you frame the notion of "more," i.e., there's more to it than just the tools, per se. Responsibility is key, both individually and collectively. Perhaps totality can be found in the idea of hope and the proverbial grain of sand. After all, as Camus' portrait of Sisyphus reveals: what if Sisyphus actually enjoyed pushing the boulder up the hill?

   Christopher on Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 16:53 CEST # |

3. oh, he did. Or, as in a song I once wrote for an undergrad philosophy paper (sung to the tune of Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys)

   "Got me nailed to a rock and I don't care if it stops / Prometheus-us-us, Prometheus" ;-)

    

    

   Scott Leslie on Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 17:58 CEST # |