Hard News: The Messenger God
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Nice topic. Our Hermes of human form include the likes of Pellegrino Turri, inadvertent inventor of the CC in email a couple of centuries ago.
What motivated him to create the first typewriter, along with carbon paper? The desire to communicate with his blind lover. I'm confident you can find something lyrical in that.
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Hermes in later developments became part of the gnostic tradition. A simplified catchphrase might be an introspective 'know thyself' Today en masse we are a miserable failure at that. Just a lot of noise, talking past each other.
What are the implications of the buzzing, constant, real-time world in which we now live?
depends who's giving off the loudest, and to my ear, the most insidiously annoying 'buzz'
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Rort irony...
What kind of world has Hermes wrought?
Divine devicesolation?*
*a nominative neologism... -
What kind of world has Hermes wrought?
A place where we have little time to think about how we could/should reply.
2013: Milliseconds to anywhere in the world
1950: 7 days for Air Mail to London. 7 days back.
1913: Hours to get a telegram to London…..maybe….
1860: 3 months+ for a letter to get to Britain. 3 months+ back.
1769: 3 years to get around the world …..and no one knows…..
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Russell Brown, in reply to
A place where we have little time to think about how we could/should reply.
That is a good observation. How many of our communications problems stem from the closing window of time to reflect?
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"The debate over copyright is really a battle between the innate interests of two of Hermes’ works; communications and commerce."
And then, as if that battle weren't fraught enough, he added the complex contradiction of Creative Commons...
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Ross Mason, in reply to
How many of our communications problems stem from the closing window of time to reflect?
Ummm.....all of them that are further away than face to face chit chat?
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I think we're still figuring out conversational norms and etiquette for the internet.
It's not like we don't shoot our mouths off sometimes in face-to-face conversation. There's no preview and no delete! Although apologies, retractions or explanations can be immediate, rather than days-long.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I think we’re still figuring out conversational norms and etiquette for the internet.
We have got way better at it, though. I remember the years when internet use was ramping up, and people had not yet learned to breathe before writing their emails. Yikes.
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JacksonP, in reply to
I remember the years when internet use was ramping up, and people had not yet learned to breathe before writing their emails. Yikes.
I still know some people like that. I'm creating a folder called 'dinosaurs' especially for them.
And I never reply.
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"chris", in reply to
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As modern technology has become increasingly mobile, the opportunity to communicate is almost constant. Given that digital and real worlds are now inextricably linked, how has it impacted on our physical ability to communicate and interact with one another? I was talking to a friend last night who was lamenting the days when people would talk to each other on a train ride, instead of all staring intently at their mobile screens. You could also argue that it has helped to enrich those moments with access to better conversations than you would get on a train in Auckland however...
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Lilith __, in reply to
I was talking to a friend last night who was lamenting the days when people would talk to each other on a train ride, instead of all staring intently at their mobile screens.
My experience of pre-mobile-phone public transport is people staring into space without making eye contact. Not much of a loss.
I do wonder how much always checking a phone absents you from your surroundings, though. I intentionally have my phone set up for voice and txt only, so I'm not tempted to carry the internet around with me.
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Emma Hart, in reply to
My experience of pre-mobile-phone public transport is people staring into space without making eye contact. Not much of a loss.
Or reading, particularly on the train. Which is what those people are doing with their phones, yes? And not everyone wants to talk to strangers on public transport, particularly women. Being able to use a phone and headphones as a tacit 'leave me alone' is occasionally very handy.
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"chris", in reply to
Yikes.
saucy sext meant for wife accidentally sent to the boss...Who could have imagined that the alphabetical order plus quick fingers could wreak such havoc.
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I am still disconcerted by people seemingly talking (loudly) to no one in particular in public. My mother used to tell me that could be a sign of mental stability.
I have been known to go up to loud talkers (those with ear implants) and say, 'Excuse me but I don't wish to hear nor share your conversation ". Or is it just a matter of changing public etiquette?
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Graham Dunster, in reply to
It's not the writing, it's the sending...
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_My experience of pre-mobile-phone public transport is people staring into space without making eye contact. Not much of a loss._
Cross words.
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Oops...'instability'
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Lilith __, in reply to
My experience of pre-mobile-phone public transport is people staring into space without making eye contact. Not much of a loss.
Cross words.
Who's cross? Just an observation. It's what most people will do if stuck at close quarters with strangers.
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Lilith __, in reply to
I am still disconcerted by people seemingly talking (loudly) to no one in particular in public.
Handsfree technology makes it nearly impossible to tell who's mad and who's just on the phone. ;-)
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Sacha, in reply to
handy both ways :)
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Graham Dunster, in reply to
nah, those collections of squares in newspapers. Possibly I was attempting to be too oblique...
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andin, in reply to
My mother used to tell me that could be a sign of mental stability.
Who, you or them?
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Oblique is for the chess puzzles. You were being cryptic :-)
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