The Graying Western Mind?
I think the most interesting point of this article is that point made by the playwright Richard Foreman.
He says :
“I come from a tradition of Western culture, in which the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West. [But now] I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.”
I think what the interesting is that while Foreman’s anxieties may be correct, there has always been this assumption within some bits of the creative community that technology, and in particular the internet deluge of instant on information will destroy culture.
I would argue that in fact it will make insight more rare and needed than that instant fix. We cannot put the Google mindfuck back in the bottle, but we can simply point out the premises of the Western tradition that will not die no matter the rewiring that goes on. And most importantly, create for the context of the rewiring, not burrow in a hole hoping that upon emergence, we will be back in the 1930’s again.
The point is that while the internet has broadened our access to information, it severely lacks the tools to express individual insight. Sure, we can have these personal visceral moments in social media and elsewhere, but the depth of these thoughts is usually on the level of “I’m going for a piss, I just broke up, and I love the new sandwich shop.”
But I don’t have any fear that new mediums will arise that will focus primarily on expressing something very simple, and for lack of a better term, human. What is inescapable throughout human history from the drama competitions in Greece to texting preference to American Idol is that we need insight and connection more than we need information. But some may just not know it yet.
An actress friend of mine, Maya, is involved with a theater group in London called Punchdrunk which I think is directing this head on. They immerse the googled mind into something outside of its range to compute, and forces that mind and soul to be apart of an experience, much like Breht or Gortowski. That the physical, now that it has gone into a web haze of slumber, can now have the advantage of playing of those sleepy expectations. This is an opportunity, not a detriment.
But just like Everest, only a few people can experience Punchdrunk. The key will be to use the web in ways that can capture something contrary and shifted from the logic of the google search. (Which BTW, isn’t the end all, be all of web experiences.)
So I don’t fear for the human need to smash this perception to bits when it starts to encroach on our very instincts for survival through connection. Just deal with it, and do something about it, don’t moan about it.
