Re: Supplanting Singing?

Scott and all,
Sorry about the delay; I was cleaning up a final and some studio work...

> How do explain the fact that your computer allows you to conduct this
> conversation? Doesn't this change how you view the 'world'? How you act
> in the 'world', are IN the 'world'? For me, it is the interface or
> threshold between this perceived activity on the net and my activity in
> the world as you call it that I find fascinating. Simply consider your
> perception of distance. Has not this changed because of your electronic
> persona?

Well, I've had similar conversations on the phone, and face to face, and
via mail, and the biggest difference I've noticed is that this medium allows
some reflection to occur before responding. Dead air on the phone is annoying
and expensive, so you tend to chime right in. This, of course, doesn't apply
to flame-throwers. I've noticed, though, that I tend to get a little antsy if
I don't get an e-response within a couple days, so I know I expect this to be
way faster than snail-mail.

The reason I don't feel my world-view has significantly changed due to e-tech
is because I know this medium does not exist and cannot function without the
human at the other end of the line. I like to refer to computers as stupid
boxes of rocks for that is precisely what it is, just as a shovel lying on the
ground is really nothing more than a stick. What is important is what is
said---the IDEA---from your mind. How I get it is mere representation.

As for distance---hmm. For the past three years I've been regularly
corresponding with people in Australia, Cape Cod by post and Minneapolis by
e-mail. I still feel their distance, because for Laurie, my winter is his
summer, for Mac, my quiet summer is his tourist season, and Mark's temperature
is 15 degrees colder than mine. That is, their identity is tied to WHERE THEY
ARE, not their choice of platform (Mac users may contest this, though :-) )
The only perceived difference is in the continuity of our dialog; I write to
Mac and Laurie only a few times a year, but Mark and I carry on threads for
messages at a time.

I think your idea of an electronic persona is interesting; since you've never
seen me, nor I you, the only way we can perceive each other is through our
written ideas---again a representation. We may be sincere or sarcastic, but
it's hard to tell without the aid of facial inflection or body english, eh?
Unless we use smilies. Remote representation is the ultimate poker-face. All
boils down to trust.

> Doesn't the computer suggest its own way of negotiating space?

Nope. I asked it this morning, and it didn't suggest a damned thing. ;-) In
fact, it didn't feel like saying much at all; it even refused to talk to the
printer!

Mark