Fallen Into Knowledge

Okay, play along with me here:  CNN reports that, according to some Scientists, in 45 years it will be possible to download the contents of your brain to a computer (for data back-up?).
Okay, so assuming that this actually were possible, and assuming that the download was in a format readable on a computer, like, say, a rich web page with photos, movies, and text, and assuming that you could not download selections of your memories - its all or nothing; the question is, “would you want to have the contents of your brain downloaded?”
What would you find?
Likely you would find lots of stuff that had receded so far into the background that you had forgotten that you know it to begin with.  Likely you would find that you know much more than you realized.  And, Likely most of you are thinking right now about all the stuff you would prefer stay in your brain and not see the light of day.
Question is, “Would this be a good thing?” (intentionally ambiguous question) and, “would the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?”
Discuss.

“what do you do when you have a big project ahead of you?  You clean your house.  I have a big stack of papers to grade this weekend, you can be sure that my house will be clean by Monday.”  So said the Prof of my Milton Class.  Its true, at least for me.  I have a bunch of projects on the stove, but somehow, I feel like in order to focus I need to clean my space.
“Cleaning” quickly became “re-arranging” Today.  While it is certainly the case that in the process of re-arranging my space I get it cleaned in the process, for me it also means moving 1000+ books off their cases onto the floor in order to move the cases, and back again from the floor onto the cases.  More work than is sensible for just a cleaning job.
But, having done all of that, it feels better.  I think I have used the space better than I had before, I like being able to look at the trees from my desk, I feel that by un-cluttering my space I have cleared my head as well.
I have always been interested in the relationship between the physical space in which I live and my mental state.  How well I think life is going, how productive I am (or feel), my ability to relax and rest:  all of these seem to depend heavily on my living space.  Often, just a re-shuffling of the stuff in my physical space is enough.
It would be interesting to study how physical space affects people’s quality of life.  Is this just me, or is it a universal phenomena?
Okay, here is a poll:  Is your Living space subject to frequent or periodical re-arrangement?  Or, once you have put things in their places do they stay there until you move again?  What are your thoughts on the relationship between physical space and perceived quality of life?

I have decided to start including some of my thoughts, of the academic variety here in the blog.  These thoughts are not fully formed, so take with a buckets of salt, and feel free to respond:

From Jamison:  “It is instructive here to juxtapose Auerbach’s discussion of the odyssey in Mimesis, and his description of the way in which at every point the poem is as it were vertical to itself, self-contained, each verse paragraph somehow timeless and immanent, bereft of any necessary or indispensable links with what precedes it and what follows …the historical un-naturality (in Brechtian sense) of contemporary books which, like detective stories, your read ‘for the end’ - the bulk of the pages becoming sheer devalued means to an end - in this case the ’solution…’” (126)

I know I find it difficult at best to slow down in my reading and enjoy the texture of a text - I am always in a hurry to “get to the end,” even when I am reading the Odyssey.  So the question is:  when did the primary motivation in reading become consumption?  And, Just what are we trying to gain by consuming the book?
What about the reading experience make us want to be done with it?  to get to the end?
Further, and perhaps more concerning to me, is the prevalent assumption amongst literary critics that the interesting work pertaining to a text happens after the text has been read.  That is, the text is assumed to be an object to be analyzed, and not as facilitating an experience:  the text as static and not as acting upon the reader.  Does this tendency, too, come from a capitalist / consumerist mentality?  Or, more pointedly, what would a non-capitalist reading look like (assuming we can even talk about it, enmeshed as we are in capitalist structures)?  Immediately, Marx’s somewhat undeveloped concept of the “sensuous revolution” comes to mind:  that we might relate to each other as persons, not as objects to be consumed.  I think a return (? move to ?) a model that pays attention to reading as an actualizing experience of a text would be a step in the right direction.

The Oregon State house has voted to do away with the whole CIM / CAM nonsense:  a view that will undoubtedly make the educator friends that I know very happy.

If I have not shared this with you, you have missed out.  Lucas Brunelle Makes movies of Ally-Cat races by strapping a camera to his helmet and racing himself.  High speed cycling through thick traffic, many laws are broken - it is not advisable to ride like this.  Still, the videos are a blast to watch.
Lucas Brunelle Videos

Well, the trailer for the new Harry Potter Movie is up on the web, it is due to be released in November.  However, it is just in time ot get excited about the sixth book in the series:  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due out on Saturday, July 16.  I for one, am excited about my one day a year devoted to Harry Potter madness

It is always interesting to see yourself though another’s eyes. New York Press has an article about Portland bicycle culture; as seen from the eyes of a New Yorker. Interesting to notice what the perception is, I’ll leave it to the reader’s whether or not the article gets it right.
A little background for those who might not be aware, New York authorities are really cracking down on Critical Mass in New York; every CM generates between 30 and 100 arrests; using everything from Motorcycles to helicopters to catch those pesky cyclists

Found:
Very cool website:
Landscapes of Capital
1 part database of commercials, something like 800 commercials that you can watch online, indexed so that you can search them
1 part analysis: what do these commercials tell us about ourselves, about the economy, about the workplace, about conditions of production.
Do they tell the truth? (No) In what ways do they re-present reality?
Check it out.

So, as you know, I spend a majority of my time trying to understand Really Difficult Ideas.  Difficult enough that most people acquire a “deer in the headlights” expression when I answer the “what are you up to these days” question.  And there is no doubt that Understanding such ideas is difficult and takes concentrated time and effort, but I find interesting that we don’t acquire similar expressions when confronted with the notion of understanding people.
I know, call me Captain Obvious:  People are difficult to understand.
Some might object; but we cannot understand people as if they were ideas.  True, nor would I advocate such a thing.
But.
It seems to me that responding well to people; responding to people in a peace and life-giving way, responding to people in such a way as to maintain their subjectivity as persons, requires some degree of understanding.  Not complete understanding - that, even in the realm of Ideas, is a mirage, unattainable - but adequate understanding.  Enough to respond well.
When I think about this process, I feel the “deer in the headlights” expression coming on.  Because responding well to People is so much more important than understanding Really Difficult Ideas.

Walmart is at it Again.

You see they can’t pay more (even though their wages are several dollars an hour under the wages that their competition pays), because they have to stay competitive.  If they are to succeed, they have to pay as little as possible.  The question is:  who exactly benefits from this arrangement?