[iDC] Alan's questions about media theory/ies

[davin heckman]

Mark wrote: what i wished to note was that technology is an inorganic
> repository of memory not only--nor even primarily--on a discursive
> level. this is not to disavow the obvious functional importance of
> 'language based instruction' vis-a-vis tools. rather, it is to emphasize
> the pre-linguistic and pre-cognitive aspects of embodied technology. and
> in regards to communication and comprehension, i would include media
> artifacts which include everything from orality to distributed digital
> networks.
>
> in short, i am not suggesting that language is unimportant. rather, i am
> following the holistic perspective your comments suggest. namely that
> attention to the pre-linguistic/cognitive enables a fuller appreciation
> of how our everyday interfaces with technology always engage with the
> bodily sensorium, a realm that is not equivalent with the discursive.

I am really enjoying this thread, and don't know that I have much to
add to it, except that, that a key classification to note would be
technologies and techniques as "inorganic repositor[ies] of memory"
and technologies and techniques which are "discursive" (or which have
content).  Obviously, you are thinking along these lines.  But it
might be important to point out that what we call consciousness is
discursive (even our word, discourse, refers to conversation,
rationality, and structured writing, implying a link between social
existence and temporality).  How we think about our "bodily
sensorium," insofar as this experience can by anticipated, remembered,
and shared, means that, although these realms are not necessarily
equivalent, as we engage with them consciously, they become
equivalent, symbolic, shared, etc.

Peace!

Davin Heckman
<www.retrotechnics.com>