Media Mutandis - a NODE.London Reader -

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Media Mutandis: A NODE.London Reader

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:22:00 +0000

NODE.London [Networked, Open, Distributed, Events. London] is committed to building the infrastructure and raising the visibility of media arts practice in London. Working on an open, collaborative basis, NODE.London culminates, in its first year, in a month long season of media arts projects across London in March 2006.

The NODE.London Reader projects a critical context around the Season of Media Arts in London March 2006 and provides another discursive dimension to the events of October 2005's Open Season. It engages debates in FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software), media arts and activism, collaborative practices and the political economy of cultural production in the present day.

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Thu, 02 Mar 2006 14:48:39 +0000

Delectatio in felicitate alterius – Benevolence Theory • O. Rössler

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 14:41:59 +0000

by Otto E. Rössler

Source: Personal and Spiritual Development in the World of Cultural Diversity, Vol. 1 (ed. by G.E. Lasker and K. Hiwaki), pp. 69-78. The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2004. ISBN 1-894613-97-X
(corr.)

Preface by Tim O’Riley
Otto E. Rössler’s long-standing commitment to openness and collaboration encouraged us to invite him to Open Congress. Although it was not certain how he might specifically contribute, it was felt he could provide a highly particular intellectual and philosophical context to the event. His stress on the primacy of benevolence, in particular his emerging theory of benevolence, seemed appropriate and we invited him to speak along these lines. The following text formed an aspect of his talk at the event. Reflecting on Descartes’ famous dream, Rössler stated that the ‘exteriority’ engendered through Descartes’ method is an infinite privilege. The ability to move outside one’s subjective world (the basis of a scientific approach) creates power and with this power comes the responsibility to act benevolently. Benevolence is therefore a most precious possession.

Rössler has worked as a scientist for most of his life. His decision to study medicine was ethically motivated (‘a substitute for becoming a monk’, in his own words) and he subsequently worked across theoretical biochemistry, physics, mathematics, biology and nonlinear dynamics. He was involved in the development of chaos theory in the 1970s (see the Rössler Attractor, 1976) and more recently has worked on a theory of ‘endophysics’, a two-level explanation of the problems associated with quantum mechanics and relativity.[i] The endophysical approach endeavours to describe nature by accounting for the relation between an ‘internal’ observer and the world (the ‘endo’ prefix here indicates a system seen from within, whilst its ‘exo’ counterpart indicates this system seen from without). It posits an imagined, exterior observer and treats the world itself as the interface to a broader reality, to which we as embedded observers have only partial access. For Rössler, physics becomes dependent on brain theory. In reference to his work, Peter Weibel asks, “Is there another perspective possible than that of the internal observer? Are we inhabitants of the inner side of any interface?”[ii]

The physicist David Bohm’s notion of dialogue as a practice was intended to develop a form of thinking that relied on the group rather than the individual.[iii] His ambition was to establish a form of participatory and collective thinking as a means of engaging with the world and in this dialogic practice, a form of thinking emerges over time through the differences in the individual motivations and characteristics of a group’s membership. As a method, it reflects the very essence of ‘difference’ in the broader social context. Rössler’s notion of benevolence perhaps inevitably draws on his work in theoretical physics but also seems related to notions of dialogue and openness. For him, benevolence is rooted in the primary relation between individual subjects, a conception and anticipation of the other being the very motivation for benevolence. This is perhaps reminiscent of Martin Buber’s conception of the other, met with through dialogue, as a subject rather than an object, as you (‘I- thou’) rather than as he or she (‘I-it’). Such primary terms do not signify things as such; rather, ‘they intimate relations'.[iv] As Rössler has said, in conversation: “by acknowledging your infinite power, you act fairly”. Indeed it is perhaps such awareness that engenders benevolence. The mistaking of laughter for smiling in the interactions between toddler and mother provides the basis for benevolence itself. For Rössler, we recognise and therefore create the other person through benevolence; we dissolve and reconstitute our subjectivity in the light of the other.

Future Wireless: practical.discourse.creative • L.Sykes

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:33:41 +0000

by Lewis Sykes

Overview
Wireless technologies have changed the world and continue to do so at an unprecedented rate. But as we embrace these technologies, we also need to ask how are they changing our personal and social spaces? Do we really want mobile phone calls on commercial flights – or is ‘always-on’ culture making us wireless wage slaves? Who owns the wireless world and how can we truly realise its creative potential beyond the realms of corporate culture? Has wireless technology liberated communication or has it simply revealed a darker, more dysfunctional side to our natures? What can users and practitioners do to take control of the airwaves and shape and colour their own future? These are just some of the global issues, which Future Wireless addressed – not just through live debate – but also through practical demonstration, workshops and unique artist interventions.

Future Wireless Introduction • Dr. R.Barbrook

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:41:36 +0000

by Dr. Richard Barbrook

“It is possible to be enthusiastic about contextualised use of new technologies while being critical of technological progress ideology that still so thoroughly surrounds even critical techno-cultures”.
Tapio Mäkelä

Open Congress - Introduction • M.A.Francis

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 18:21:54 +0000

by Mary Anne Francis

Open Congress and its questions
As its title indicates, this section is concerned with an event at Tate Britain, Open Congress, which took place across two days in October 2005 and was organized by the Critical Practice Research Cluster at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. It addressed the possibility of taking the rapidly expanding phenomenon of Free/Libre [and] Open Source Software (FLOSS) and seeing how its methods could apply to art especially, and cultural production more generally. Whereas FLOSS refers to computer programmes/codes that are freely available for anyone to copy, improve and redistribute, we wanted to explore whether and how the ‘transport’ of FLOSS to cultural production would challenge the ruling paradigms of cultural production. Clearly, the enquiry would centrally engage issues of authorship or creativity, along with issues of the ownership of art. But questions of how a FLOSS (Art) practice affects knowledge (what is known and who knows) and governance (who rules, or wields power and how) were also crucial topics. Indeed, the themes of ‘creativity’, ‘knowledge’ and ‘governance’ organized the Congress’ concurrent strands, while plenary sessions addressed topics that cut across all three.

Future Wireless Vision • C.Benesch

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 11:51:38 +0000

by Christian Benesch

Far from just a long awaited relief from endless troubles with cabling, "wireless" has become a synonym for independence. A term that not only describes the new networks that are becoming so popular, but also devices that can leave their base and be the permanent companion of the owner. They set him free of many prior restrictions. They let him move. They are there when needed to provide their calendars, task lists or the oc

The Free Software Definition • The Free Software Foundation

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 18:24:08 +0000

by The Free Software Foundation

We maintain this free software definition to show clearly what must be true about a particular software program for it to be considered free software.

‘Free software’ is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ‘free’ as in ‘free speech’, not as in ‘free beer’.

Towards a Human-centric Communication • D.Choi

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 17:31:08 +0000

by Dooeun Choi

Wireless technology lets us be connected anywhere and anytime. So we can expect that a wireless future will bring much more ‘ubiquitous’ connectedness. However, a single node can only manage a limited number of branches, so there should be intermediate nodes that vary in terms of quantity and quality. Therefore the important issue is to whom and what we would like to be connected. The utopia of a wireless future might come if we can figure out how we can relate with other valuable nodes and classify them as ‘personal’ cases.

The Search for Spectrum • P.Cochrane

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 11:53:40 +0000

by Peter Cochrane

Peter Cochrane participated in the Cybersalon & Open Spectrum UK conference, FUTURE WIRELESS: practical.discourse.creative,at the Science Museum's Dana Centre, London, October 4 2005. The following article presents ideas aired in Peter Cochrane's contribution to the evening panel discussion, Wireless Horizons:

The Search for Spectrum
Peter Cochrane's Blog, silicon.com, Monday October 10 2005
Written at Chatham House, London. Copy dispatched via Wi-fi from a London coffee shop.

The Open Source Definition, Version 1.9 • B.Perens

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:28:19 +0000

by Bruce Perens

Source: http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

The indented, italicized sections below appear as annotations to the Open Source Definition (OSD) and are not a part of the OSD. A plain version of the OSD without annotations can be found here. http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition_plain.php

Future Wireless Vision • C.Condorelli, B.Gibson

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:27:45 +0000

by Celine Condorelli and Beatrice Gibson, taxi_onomy

Our vision of a wireless future is dystopic. Being constantly connected means you are forced to simultaneously be doing several things at once, and we see this as a fundamental problem. A world in which we cease to process because we are swamped by the varying and multiple trajectories of information means, in fact, that we are increasingly distracted by our own technology, and that we cannot escape our own data. We become in essence the victims of an economy of distraction.