From the Clouds to the Earth

This is a short summary of a fascinating article on WIRED by Balaji Srinivasan http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/11/software-is-reorganizing-the-world-and-cloud-formations-could-lead-to-physical-nations/ which discusses the already present and the possible future where virtual communities existing and coming into existence in the clouds are taking physical shape on the Earth in real-life communities, groups and will perhaps even form new nations. "Software *is* reorganizing the world."

I find it important to touch upon this subject now as, I believe, we will sooner than we think be quite caught by surprise by new communities and a new world surrounding us and springing forth, as it would seem, from nowhere.

As our generation is, unfortunately, getting poorer, Srinivasan tells us that we are taking our minds to the clouds and are sort of "emigrating" there to seek work opportunities, like-minded individuals and, being of a social nature, communities to which we may belong. We may not have the slightest clue as to who our neighbour is but we may know someone as far as thousands of kilometres away like the backs of our own hands. Srinivasan calls this process, which "starts out internationally distributed and ends up physically concentrated" the "reverse diaspora". But the definitive tangible form of this new frontier is, as of yet, unknown to us.

For the present, Stanford, MIT, and others present us available quantitative studies with "cloud cartographies" that, instead of "mapping nation states" map the "states of our minds" by using the newer metric "geodesic distance" instead of just using the physical measuring unit "geographical distance". The former shows us the "number of degrees of separation between two nodes in a social network". I suppose these will be able to predict where and how the new geographical communities will take shape.

Reading the full article is worth the time. I certainly have much to learn and to find in the online world and I would not be surprised if my virtual explorations took me to places I have never even dreamt of. So we don't get left out of this brave new world let us, with caution of course, venture to connect online.

Virtually Everywhere

Technology, space, time and everything in between...countless opinions either in favour of this digitalized world or against it but the question of whether it is one of the most fascinating phenomenons of our time must indubitably have an affirmative reply. Just as much as the online world kept me in awe as can be read in my posts in 2009 so does it keep me amazed now.

We do not need to move in the physical space in order to be present at any event. Par example, the Large Hadron Collider exhibition at the Science Museum in London was easily accessible via live-stream, courtesy of The Guardian where we could enjoy the company of both Professor Higgs in the morning and Stephen Hawking in the afternoon. http://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2013/nov/12/stephen-hawking-large-hadron-collider-live-stream-video?CMP=twt_gu

We could also view a cool photo of them both on @sciencemuseum's Twitter page: http://twitter.com/sciencemuseum/status/400675840775565312

But if the value and beauty of women in science were topics of interest to us we were able to hop over to Brussels and take a look at the inauguration of the "Science needs Women" photo exhibition held at the European Parliament http://twitter.com/4womeninscience/status/400400078516801536 or to travel to Moscow, Russia to see the nominees for L'Oreal's Women in Science awards http://twitter.com/4womeninscience/status/400307121771642880

All this on November 12, 2013, in one day!

Also the National Science Foundation was live-tweeting from the Gender Summit in Washington on the following day  http://twitter.com/NSF/status/400660834919018496

So thanks to our digital presence it is this facile today to be virtually anywhere and everywhere.

A Tale of Two Worlds

Ah yes! "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" to quote the amazing Dickens. I do derive joy and I smile inwardly when reviewing my older posts from several years ago when the carefree days of my time at University allowed me to occupy the free hours with little adventures in the virtual world of Final Fantasy. I nonetheless explored the communities more than I played. It was the digital phenomenon of Actuality's veiled online presence that fascinated me and fascinates me still.

I hope to be able to continue this blog in a more organized and systematic fashion with interesting topics on the virtual and the real life world. Desirably, the blog will develop into a specific yet unique source for many things digital in a harmonized tone...something very much like a "virtual concerto".

Before I conclude this post I must return to Dickens and include the continuation of his magnificent introduction to his "A Tale of Two Cities" whilst bearing in mind our Digital Age;

"...it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going the other way - in short, the period was (...) far like the present period..."

The Paradigm of Bruno Latour in Contemporary Sociology of Science (rough copy in English by Giselle Rakobowchuk) BA in Sociology at University of Pécs 2010 BA Thesis

1.     Science: Its own Master?. 2

2.     From Scientific Truth to Social Construction. 3

3.     The ANT of the Laboratory That Engulfed the World. 6

4.     Science, Society and Chickens: Did the Chicken Ever Cross the Road?. 10

5.     The Social After and Before Bruno Latour 18

6.     Sociology: 20

BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 22

1.    Science: Its own Master?

Until the relatively recent emergence of the study of science as a field of scientific research and perhaps since the triumph of the French Revolution’s rational principles, the questions of truth, knowledge and reason have been entrusted to the care of the ‘nobility of science’, the princes, duchesses and counts donned in their uniform mantles of ‘white lab coats’ and the scholastic decrees issued by these scientists have been accepted as the correct and the only plausible interpretations of the world surrounding us. With the appearance of Thomas S. Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” in 1962, a revolution of its own swept through Francis Bacon’s fort of ‘una scientia universalis’ (Bacon), fracturing it into the myriad fragments of postmodern thought and inquiry. Latour – fortress of sociology? The objectivity of science and its established principles are today in the impregnable ivory towers of the scientists themselves being continually evaporated though it is still feasible to say what Robert Merton stated in 1970, that “even now, there are scholars who would argue that science goes its own way, unaffected by changes in the environing social structure” (Merton 1973: 176).

Continued after break line...

Karubist

Karubist is one of those best friends for life one is almost certain never to lose

- ah, the joys of language barriers! :D

Other best friends for life: the Lycopodium - impossible to get enough of them!

Virtuality: The Bridge to Exploration

In today's modern, 21st century world it is easy to take for granted the technology we now use in our day-to-day activities (emails, chats, popular networking sites, etc.), without our even giving it a second thought yet the more I muse on the expanse, almost gaping depths of the virtual universe, I cannot cease to wonder...

With carefree ease are we able to traverse through the boundless space of binary codes and numbers, to caper from one planet of knowledge to the other, to immerse ourselves in the void of relentless intangibility and at the same time, in the midst of this flowing mass of information, find precisely what we are seeking...and how it boggles my mind when I am constrained to realise there still exist innumerable manifestations of absolute ignorance on the subject.

An interesting article; "Tapping Virtuality To Attract and Train 21st Century Teachers" @ http://thejournal.com/, explores the pedagogical potentials of the virtual environment, of introducing modern teaching methodologies by handing teachers digital tools while moving them to virtual classrooms and explains the absolute disfunctionality of "the old 'sit and get' model". Naturally, these innovative virtual spaces are not meant to replace RL institutions and interactivity in teaching but offer a fresh and new approach to lifelong learning. http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/08/04/Tapping-Virtuality-To-Attract-and-Train-21st-Century-Teachers.aspx?Page=3

Indeed, as my thoughts take me to another point in space, to the more abstract world of harmony, I wonder where I would be if I were not granted the possibility of listening to the contemplative beauty of music offered to me by this same space of virtuality. Were I forced to travel to distant halls, to search for ingenious ensembles, gifted orchestras and virtuosos endowed with that unique spark of talent, no energy, time or place would there be spared for my thoughts to form, develop and effectuate into written words...

Harmony, beauty and ingenuity are now truly all but a click away...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yQw3DvqEbxI

Older Posts...Continuing Ruminations

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

17. The Uneven Mirror


I miss Vanadiel.
One of the simplest statements I have ever made on this blog, if not the silliest. First of all, I haven't entirely abandoned it. Secondly, how can I possibly miss a place that does not exist?

A few questions I propose to myself. Why do I find this statement to be silly? Why do I miss Vanadiel, if I haven't even left it? Why do I, despite all of the above, still regard it as a place?

This statement is silly, because I don't believe I can rationally agree to my having attached any deeper and truer sentiments that could agree with the term "miss" to a video game. Had I said "I miss playing Final Fantasy XI", I would not have regarded that statement as being silly. One can certainly miss the absence of playing the game and not the game itself. Had I said "I miss the friends or people I encountered in FFXI" that phrase itself would have again justified the word "miss" as the people who play the game are in reality living persons, whom one can regret the absence of. And in all honesty, I don't believe I profoundly miss either playing the game (though I still do and still find it - especially owing to lack of time - utterly frustrating) and I certainly cannot possibly miss the people in it, the reason for this will be given after I answer another question: "who are the people in the game?"

Therefore, to make sense of the statement "I miss Vanadiel" and to be able to properly answer my questions, I put forth the following; defining Vanadiel, or in other terms; defining a virtual world. Once I have conceptualized this word or term, it will be easier to understand it and everything in its context.

Vanadiel=virtual world. Ok. so far so good. Virtual world does not = real world. Virtual world ~ real world? Getting there. Real world=a dimension one perceives with one's five senses. Virtual world=nope. uhhh...nevertheless a dimension yes, a perceived dimension, yes again. Real world--> people. Virtual world-->people? yes and no. existing people? yes and no. Duality, duality...fantasy ever mixing with reality. <-Answer to be found somewhere there, which takes me back to my other post. That border, that surreal border.

Very well, my answers will be still in a very "rough copy" format, but I'll eventually polish them (whenever I find that time that is never there...lucky me, I have 2 hours before my next lecture, but darn, so sleepy after getting up for that horrid 8am Calculus - calculus...why me???)
We can only understand Vanadiel, id est a virtual world at a higher level of abstraction. (I am continuing this in the evening after lectures and I'm even sleepier lol...I totally lost my thread of thought...)

VANADIEL / VIRTUAL WORLD= (rough copy format ;)) a fictive dimension that consists of fictive and non-fictive elements. The fictive components heavily outweigh the non-fictive ones. I divide the fictive elements into imagined and perceived; I also divide the non-fictive elements into preconceived imagined and factual. (Now comes the fun part)..the fictive elements (I stress the word element, as I am referring to fictive elements and not to fictive per se) cannot be factual but the non-fictive elements can very well be imagined...a serious paradox. Non-fictive=factual? No duh. Imagined=non-fictive? Umm...that is why I again stress the word ELEMENTs. Naturally, I'm describing typically Weberian ideal types...none of these terms exist in themselves. I'm not happy with the precise words though...well, I'll leave it at that for now.

Ok, let me get this by going back to my "who are the people in Vanadiel" and why I cannot possibly miss them.

The people (here comes a paradox again) exist and do-not exist at the same time. In other words, the people I perceive are not the people that exist, nor are they the people I imagine. Let me take a real life person. He or she will be the "non-fictive element". The factual non-fictive element is Bob working at the gas-station, who is a short, unattractive, fat and fair-headed guy. The imagined non-fictive element is Bob working at the gas-station, whom I imagine to be a very tall, attractive, well-toned and brown-haired guy. (Not that looks are supposed to matter, but hey, this is just an example :D - it gets even more interesting when the girl is actually a guy or who knows, the other way around even?) Now take this ideal and mix it with another. The fictive element. The perceived fictive element is the elvaan pixel-figure I see and that Square Enix designed x years ago. The imagined fictive element is the elvaan, who bears an uncanny resemblance in character (not in features) to Legolas of Lord of the Rings (brave, noble, etc. - not that I was ever fond of Legolas but ah well, just an example again - association with the word elf - elvaan) and who hails from San d'Oria of Vanadiel with an incredible past of completed missions and quests and who-knows what other otherworldly feats. And what do I get? I get (oh my, to come up with some kind of auto-generated name - better an npc) a hybrid-being; Bonmaurieut of San d'Oria.

Can I possibly, in all reality, miss Bonmaurieut of San d'Oria? No. He does not exist. Can I miss Bob? Not really, because I don't know Bob or the Bob I think I know doesn't exist. And if he existed? Even then, that Bob could never be just a Bob I know and miss, because take Bonmaurieut away from Bob and all that remains is a Bob that is not the Bob I have come to know and like. Ok, so much for missing people. Let's keep Bob in San d'Oria and Vanadiel. There are other Bobs and Joes to worry about and to miss in the real world anyway.

Can I miss Vanadiel? Yes. But it doesn't exist either! So what does exist? A dimension. The dimension that not only consists of its fictive and non-fictive elements, but that is much more than that. Kind of like society (more than its elements). It is more than its elements, because it is a space existing in our minds but also a collective space, existing in the minds of others as well. Ok, I could go on forever but (I always do ramble nonsense when I'm sleepy) what I think are really significant are the sentiments we experience when taking part in this space. The trite joy at seeing prettyish and well-deserved gear on my elvaan character, the thrill of defeating that horrific orc, the sadness at listening to either tales spun by the creators of the game or by those I conceive in my own head (percieved versus imagined fictive), the delight of that non-existing beauty those graphics or those melodies offer nevertheless beauty all the same...and of course, the happiness those friends who exist and don't exist at the same time give me when helping me get that dearly desired utsusemi-ni scroll or that second limit-break, mission etc. And Vanadiel is more than just playing a game or being a game precisely because of its factual elements. It makes one almost believe that Vanadiel and its people exist. And they do, but only in the realm of Vanadiel itself, which is exactly why one can only miss Vanadiel as a whole and not in its parts...

Oh, and why do I miss Vanadiel if I haven't even left it? Precisely because owing to lack of time, I cannot fully partake of it. Only an hour or two (at best) a day or week cannot possibly manifest the same full and complex world I had previously experienced.

Ah, and silly? Is my statement still silly? In a way, yes. Because just as I can only miss the people of Vanadiel when considering them in the context of Vanadiel, so too can I only miss Vanadiel in its own space. Vanadiel only exists when you are in it. But then why and how can I miss it outside of it? *Sigh* a paradox...and a silly one at that...

Posted by Serenata at 18:50 0 comments Links to this post

Pause the Past
The world of the past, which my thoughts and writing recreate, seems to bear resemblance to that Vanadiel I will speak about in my next and very long post. (I wrote it already but haven't posted it yet.) It too is a constructed world consisting of fictive and non-fictive elements and a dimension in itself, though naturally, owing to it having existed at one period, this space is predominantly factual...the non-fictive parts of the past and those of the present imbued with the imagined elements contributed by my own thoughts...

lovely, my favourite version of La Follia played by Music of the Spheres:
--> Corelli: Sonata XII - La Follia (Music of the Spheres)http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/spheres-spheres/


Tuesday, 29 September 2009


Interlude


Been rather busy and unable to continue my rambling ruminations.

Meantime, while browsing YouTube, I accidentally stumbled on some lovely music - certainly inspiring while I muse on other projects of mine. Thought I might as well share it as it is new to me, it might well be so to others. Very enthralling and poignant. Eleni Karaindrou's a marvellous composer.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Safaraportugal#play/uploads/17/w0olQg_h7co


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56wm6mNe1WI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rcs1OC2Sus&NR=1


Posted by Serenata at 22:26 0 comments Links to this post

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

16. Gallery, Labelling and Vivaldi

I compiled a little gallery of my character for more reasons than one. One of them may be because I am so fond of these graphics and another, because I wish to share these images with "some" of my friends and acquaintances. It's rather interesting actually, how - as a female game-player -  if I didn't have any particular reason to mention my being fond of FFXI, I simply didn't bring it up. Now, I'm not all that covert about it.

Though gaming is entirely taking over other forms of entertainment and becoming ever more popular, it seems

to me that it is still considered to be predominantly a "men's world" and that there is to some degree a stereotypical image of who and what a player should be. I, for one, certainly don't fit that preconceived picture and then I get the "you play videogames?" sort of weird look if I tell some of my friends. On the other hand, from the other side of the virtual-real life mirror, I get the "nah, you're probably a guy" reaction, so it's a no-win situation.

I think it would be high time to finally get people to realise what is proven to be fact (see Nick Yee's Daedalus  - Demographics http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/gateway_demographics.html and In Their Own Words http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001470.php%20)%20in ) in other words, that the habitants of MMO worlds are indeed diverse in every respect.

Vivaldi anyone? L'estro armonico Concerto no.8 in A minor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoiT03ZUWKQ

Posted by Serenata at 21:28 0 comments Links to this post