"The myth of linear progress (tied to the Enlightenment myth, in the European sense) is one that I often try to... Well not undermine, but show that it is not without its dark side. In a way this is why I take issue with the "singularity" myth- perhaps it is more Utopian than many of the others, less universalist and thus less potentially tyrannical- but it nevertheless has its underpinnings that we started at point A and at each epoch move to the next letter in the alphabet. What people seem to miss is that for every "advance" you also sacrifice something."
I think that last part is worth taking note of. This is relevant in the history of the civilizations, sure, but it is also relevant in our own personal histories. For every thing invoked, another thing banished. For every road taken, another that was not.
This came about in a free-flowing conversation that I've had by email with Rudy Rauben recently. (Really, it's been ongoing for months. It just flares up and then goes away. Not unlike a hemorrhoid, I'm told, but this is much more pleasant. The conversation begins with the "interview" linked above, and continued from there.) This has mostly been some early brainstorming for what might become a new comic series or graphic novel- though I wouldn't look for it in finished form anytime soon. The soil needs some tilling yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment