Memes

"Language is a parasite that we've adapted to..."
-Susan Blackmore


Memes are constantly overused and re-contextualized by how they're operated by language.
Thus their longevity is assured and can continue to exist in an constantly evolving landscape.

Plato's cave/Neo's Matrix

The discourse between Plato's mentor Socrates and his brother Glaucon bears many similarities to the Matrix and the fallacies of "reality," but perhaps may even be compared to our own ever-expanding virtual world. The duality of fantasy and real life, however, may be more complex than a cave of shadows or a world of technological domination. The divide of light and dark purposed by Socrates to demonstrate someone whose whole life was comprised of only shadows and echoes is a question of what is good and bad. Our virtual life, namely the depth of the Internet and social networking, has blurred those lines that separated what we knew as false and true...because what if it's all reality? The way that the virtual world has attached itself to what is natural (non-technological) has shown that not only can it be beneficial (i.e. communication), but lessen previous problems of mobility, costs, and time. This light or darkness that is enlightening and at the same time darkening our perspectives brings into question what the consequences will be. In my opinion, despite the anxieties our current virtual world is associated with, we are ultimately more curious about how much further we can go. And by that time I'm sure it will take more than a red pill to reverse us back.

campus opposites

I was a bit confused with this assignment and couldn't really choose a particular "narrative."

I decided to lift off from the idea of "stress vs. tranquility."

The New School campus itself doesn't present any specific emotions for me.

But the people who work there do.

NOTE: I plan to re-do this entry. 

The Cage
I have to admit that I haven't had a horrible experience with the people here, though I know people who have. Always a sense of reluctance coming up here. I understand the circumstances but it'd be nice to feel welcome.

4th Floor Cafe

People here are really friendly. Aside from the girl at the cash register who texts on her phone all the time, the atmosphere is totally different. This one time a guy was off from his shift and was nice enough to give me change for a 20 in singles. That's sincerity.

24 hours

February 2nd.

9:30am

"Good morning, Luppa, Lulu!"
They don't reply but they always smile.

11:00am

"Wait, we spoke today, I need to take a picture of you."

This is my roomie Michelle.
She's nice and bundled up, going off to who knows where!

11:13am

"YOU'RE ALIVE!"

I was very relieved to see our snail out-and-about.
He had been comatose for three days.
Probably had recover after all our fishies died from a fungus epidemic.

5:45pm

I bummed around the apartment all day and did some ~homework~ but

later I got my nails done with my other roomie Maryam.

7:00pm

 

After nails I went to meet up with girls from outside of class.

We're not just classmates, we're actually friends!

This was taken at Rocco's where I had a glorious Reese's peanut butter cheesecake.

Which I later regretted.

11:00pm

 

"I'm home!"
My roomie Maryam. She got her nails done pretty too.

It's very secretary.


♡♡Link to this photo set♡♡

The Medium is the Message

This phrase was coined in 1964. Marshall McLuhan died in 1980. Conveying meaning through metaphors of trains and light bulbs as components of a higher society, or using references to media in forms of newspapers and the electrical company seem obsolete by today's standards. The arena is much bigger than the time of McLuhan's passing, and to his credit, there were probably few who could fully anticipate the overwhelming societal effects media has had on us. In fact, I think we still are at a stage where the reverberations of hyper-communication will lead to are unknown.

Yet, McLuhan's concepts on the distraction of content and the consequence of larger social implications are hardly ignorable and still extremely relevant. Not only was he right about technology as links and building blocks of a sophisticated civilization, but also as an all-consuming staple of our lifestyles. Influenced by history, literature, philosophy and anthropology, he makes an interesting connection to Napoleon's quote, "Three hostiles are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." It's all about representation and to be misinterpreted is social phobia.

In McLuhan's time, comparing cotton/oil with radio/television was an important reality. But this insight does not have much feasibility now. One only imagine if McLuhan had lived to see the inception of Internet how infiltrating and absorbing it has become.

We are totally surrounded and consumed by our technology, to step away from this culture seems almost as irreversible as going from modern to prehistoric man.
Marshall McLuhan's references in technology may be dated, but his theories on media are unavoidable.