Finally an explanation! I knew that I was doing something wrong. The only problem is that it doesn’t say how to get off the cycle. I guess that I will just wait until after surviving the next couple of all-nighters…
rights
The dumbest generation
A new book that may be a good read is Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30)
From the book’s website:
According to recent reports from government agencies, foundations, survey firms, and scholarly institutions, most young people in the United States neither read literature (or fully know how), work reliably (just ask employers), visit cultural institutions (of any sort), nor vote (most can’t even understand a simple ballot). They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount foundations of American history, or name any of their local political representatives. What do they happen to excel at is – each other. They spend unbelievable amounts of time electronically passing stories, pictures, tunes, and texts back and forth, savoring the thrill of peer attention and dwelling in a world of puerile banter and coarse images.
The book argues that this is not the typical elder generation complaining about, or not getting, the younger generation but it is a serious problem.
To those of us outside the US its no point in laughing at the Yanks – the evidence shows the same trends even in Europe and based upon my (non-scientific, anecdotal evidence) students – I cannot say that I am impressed.
On the other hand, for as long as I can remember, I have been hearing how the great thinkers have all gone. As a young PhD I was taught that the pace of life and the realities of academia no longer allow for the great works – we have to force research to create publications. Reading is almost frowned upon and when was the last time you could sit in your office and just think?
Still I see plenty of evidence of thought, and great thought at that. No, it is not in the same pattern as the old thought. It is more communicative – it must be to catch the reader who is not allowed to read and think. To enable this depth may, sometimes, be sacrificed.
If we look to the past it seems populated with genius – but this may be because we tend to forget the idiots, unless they were spectacularly idiotic. But if we look around us we seen the idiots but cannot see the geniuses, this may be that they are working instead of appearing on talent shows for the untalented.
ps trust me, I am 41 today 🙂
CCTV music video
An unsigned Manchester band The Get Out Clause wanted to create a music video but did not have a camera crew so they got creative. They set up and played in front of surveillance cameras at different locations and then requested the surveillance tapes from the under the Data Protection Act and cut together a music video of the results.
The result is a very cool grainy effect – My favourite part is when they are playing on a buss! More information about the video here – Check out the actual video on YouTube!
(via Boing Boing)
Holy SMS
Oh wow! The BBC reports that Pope Benedict XVI will send religious text messages to thousands of young catholics. I wonder if this should be considered as SPAM? It’s strange to think of religious figures using technology – not that I know why it should be…
photo: “Very model of a modern mobile monk” by remittance_girl
Singer in Stockholm
The philosopher Peter Singer will be giving a lecture in Stockholm on the 29 May on the “Ethical Aspects of the Difference between Secular and Religious Approaches”, read more about his lecture here. Unfortunately it is Stockholm but I will see if I can go up to Stockholm to listen to him.
The lecture will be followed by an existential discussion between Ann Heberlein (blogged about her recent book)
Georg Klein & Peter Singer.
Place: Lärarhögskolan, Stockholms Universitet (Aulan, Konradsberg) at 7 pm (more details here)
Wikipedia T-Shirt
Open Content Licensing in Swedish
Right now I am putting the finishing touches to a booklet on Open Content Licensing in Swedish and I am struggling to make it interesting as well as informative – not an easy combination when it comes to copyright licenses. Another difficulty is working with the topic in Swedish since it is not a language I am used to working with.
Anyway I would really appreciate any Swedish readers who would like to take a look at the text and send me comments. So feel free to read it: licensbok_iis_15.pdf
Books not dead – bookshops are dying
For a long time there have been claims that the book is dead or at least terminally ill. The most recent revival of these claims was with the launch of the kindle ebook reader.
In the 1979 book The Micro Millennium, Christopher Evans forecasted that due to electronic media, “…the 1980s will see the book as we know it, and as our ancestors created and cherished it, begin a slow but steady slide into oblivion. . . . there are a number of reasons this is imminent.” Naturally Evans was wrong.
Again when the Internet became commonplace the book was given another obituary and again, judging from book sales, it was another premature prediction.
The thing is that technology will not kill the book. Technology has the ability to organize, reorganize information. It facilitates storage and searching but it will not kill the traditional book form. The book has other values that will not be easily replaced by technology. Steven Poole has written a great post on this.
photo: Old Spines by brighterorange
So the book is not dying but the bookshop is! So this was nothing new but it was driven home to me in force when I happened to walk past one of my favorite small bookstores, it was having a moving sale (not a closing down sale).
News of a book sale usually makes me happy, but after browsing the generous 30-50% sale offers I realized that even with the discount the books were cheaper to buy new ones online. So this is not something new but I thought that a discount this large would even things out – but it didn’t.
Trusting Technology
Claire over at Mummys Bracelet has written about the drawbacks in the blind trust in technology and used a row of fun/scary examples about people who have followed the advice of their satellite navigation systems into dead ends, rivers and other traps. Ignoring their better judgment and the evidence of their own eyes.
This is the kind of stuff I have written about before but it reminded me that I had a book chapter called “Trust & Technology” in Swedish which has never been online so I decided that it was time to but the preprint where it belongs – unfortunately it’s in Swedish but I was very happy with the way in which the chapter turned out.
The basic point of the article is that we should not trust technology more than necessary and, more importantly, we should not allow experts exclude us from discussing the pros and cons of technology.
Silly Friday
The Mayor of Graz in Austria has reacted to polls showing that almost half of the people in the city felt that listening to other people’s mobile calls highly irritating – he has now ordered that mobile phones have to be put on silent mode when their owners get on a bus or a tram. (BBC Online)
Sure it is irritating listening to other peoples mobile phone calls, but why limit ourselves to public transportation? Why not make it illegal in parks and public buildings? I am also irritated by bad taste in clothes, body odors, drunks, boisterous kids, angry pensioners and people who insist on standing in the way. So why don’t we ban the all?
Communication Age by credit: Dom Dada
Attempts at banning mobiles on public transport have been tested before and failed. In Stockholm the attempts failed and now the subway has excellent mobile coverage instead. Trains have silent compartments but this doesn’t stop people from talking on their phones. Its just something everyone will have to get used to.
The Mayor of Graz may not get this and even if he believes his ban it will fail (for so many reasons). All I can say is – thank god it’s Friday!