PostSingular #2 Last Blog!

I really was happy with the ending of this book. It was one of those books where a sad ending would just make the book crappy. I am so happy that the Nants did not take over earth and they were able to live in a better world. Also I really found the second half of the book to be very catchy, and quite funny. I think after you know the characters and you start seeing the world they live in and who they are and what they are doing you get attached. I think that the author did a great job at getting the reader attached from the beginning by pulling at the heart strings when Jeffs best friend died. Then he gets us emotional with Chu when he gets sucked into the virtual earth. Then we learn about the four “bum” kids who are going from place to place, known as rebels, yet they are smart enough to save the world. I found the book brought in some really interesting ideas, and what I thought was hilarious was how much the author seemed to hate dogs. It kept making dogs seem to be these evil, dirty animals. I love dogs so I caught on to this very fast and laughed to myself thinking Rudy Rucker must be a cat person. But besides that I found the transportation from world to world to be very interesting. I thought I was great that Thuy was able to figure so much out and was brave and went and saved that harp. I think that it was very relatable to girls when she got sucked into the Nubees world because she got her pigtails eaten and her favorite shoes. That made me laugh as well that the author felt it important to take away a girls hair and shoes. I still saw the world as a place where I would never want to live or have that happen to us though because they had no privacy what so ever. I mean I would hate to think that there are people that could watch my every move, and my secret life. I mean I thought Chu made a good point when he was saying, why can’t we say everything we are thinking since we can read each others minds. I thought along with him, what is the point of clothes if you can see what is beneath them? There are no secrets. One thing I did find odd was the way the author described Christians/Right wing conservatives in the book. First of all they assumed that everyone that was a Right Wing believed in Christianity. Secondly they assumed that the right wings were all for the Nants taking over the world because they were ready to go to heaven, but I thought that they weren’t really dying when they were being transformed into virtual world? I wasn’t quite sure I understood that. So wouldn’t the Right Wing conservatives be against it? Wouldn’t they want to be on an earth where they can die so they can go to heaven? I just thought that Rudy Rucker may have had the facts wrong on that part. Just thought I should give my voice on that part since I mentioned that I liked that Rudy Rucker mentioned something else about God earlier in the book. I wasn’t quite sure I could grasp Rudy Rucker and his stance on Christianity. It seemed to be used in other places, where I am not sure if others would pick up on it, but it was subtle and hinted towards Biblical relations. The second to last paragraph of the book is an example, talking about how they got a new start, like settling down from a flood and starting over. I thought that this really tied in with Noah’s Ark story. Maybe I am wrong and the author didn’t mean for me to see that. Also what I liked about the book was it was kind of a love story…in a different form. I mean you could tell that JayJay really liked Thuy and she really liked him. There were other love affairs going on in the book but that one was the big one and how they knew that life with anyone else would not be as great as life with each other. That made me happy that they were able to be together happily ever after. I don’t remember hearing if Sonic ended up living or not. I do feel like they should have said that he was alive, because he was helpful in getting rid of Jeff Luty, or did he die when he jumped through the transporter? I guess maybe I missed something there? All in all I really liked this book.

PostSingular & Class discussions!

I have been so interested in Postsingular and am excited to finish the last two parts of it! I think its so interesting how far their world has advanced and the orphidnet they are using. I think it is interesting because a few of the class discussions we have said like "what ifs" and now in this book these things are coming true. We talked about how we can imagine what a person looks like completely if we have different images compiled together to create that person. Even though this book doesn’t quite do that the orphidnet hides no secrets about anyone. Everyone's lives are invaded and can be found and shown to everyone. It also sucks in my opinion that they don't really have a choice whether they want to go on the orphidnet or not because some people do want to keep their secrets and lives personal. I really enjoyed how a lot of the first part was setting up the whole story and helping us to get to know the main characters and what exactly is going on.
I think in class the other day it was interesting that some people believed that communication with others through the technology that we have is not as personable or relational than person to person conversations or contact. I find this to be very untrue, but there are a few things about the technology in Postsingular that might ruin the person-to-person conversations. What I mean is, with how far we have come in our world with laptops and cell phones and ways to communicate with others it has helped long distance relationships with friends, family or loved ones. It has also helped get important messages or information out to a large number of people quickly. I think it is unfair to say that technology would ruin a relationship or make a relationship worse than contact to contact. Wouldn't a relationship with some contact be better than no contact? So the relationships that communicate with the help of technology is better than deciding not to contact someone because you don't like talking on the phone or writing emails? I thought it was very unfair to say that. But when looking at the book Postsingular they have brought in an even newer form of contact with others. They send messages to each other without saying anything to a person that might be in the room. Its like aim in a way. So they are mixing the two forms of communication together. Would this make the relationship better or worse? They are hiding it from the other people in the room, so it’s more private, but does it take away from the conversation being personal? I think it would be hard to judge because some communication is better than no communication, no matter which way you do it. I am not sure if this is making sense, but I am trying to basically say that communication is important in any relationship you have. I think it is an unfair statement to say that communication is less valuable if it is used through technology. And even though for Postsingular their technology is even more advanced and may take away from a normal conversation, I still think it is more valuable to communicate in the way you are comfortable rather than not at all.
Moving away from that topic, while reading I was noticing the relation of this book to the other books we have read. One of the things I noticed in a lot of the books we read they have predicted that we will be able to stick gills in our neck and breathe under water. Which I think is a very funny thing to imagine. I haven’t quite grasped that idea myself, but that seems to be a common advancement in a lot of the books. That was just something I picked up on and thought was interesting.
Another thing about Postsingular is in ways it almost seems as if times have changed where women are once again not in power, and the men are in control. The women have become dependent and needy. I may be wrong, but it does seem to be that time repeats itself so maybe more women were not enjoying the workplace and decided to go back to the homes. Even though this was a change it was also obvious that there were more norms put into place that we are working to change for us right now. Such as it seemed like a norm is that technological advances are happening very fast. Also porn is becoming accessible through the orphidnets very easily. The gay/lesbian issue we have today feels as if it is not an issue in the book but rather very accepted. Finally the last thing I noticed was how it almost seemed as if drugs were easy to access and they were uncontrollable. Yes a lot of these things are happening today, but it seems as if they are even more in touch with them in the book.
One last thing I found really interesting is that Jil talked about God. I loved that even though it was a short little thing about it they made a point to tell people that God. Is. Love. I was reading it and I was like what a great thing to put in a book about God because so many people I think are afraid of Christianity and think that we are all about sinning, and things that people do wrong, but in reality its all about love, and God’s love for us and how we can love God. I wish that that were more of the focus when people heard of Christianity. I think that the guy out in Red Square who yells at people goes about it in a terrible way, he should be telling people of God’s love, and not about how they are sinning….for a true Christian would know we are all sinners, no one is perfect but that doesn’t matter because God loves us anyways! Just thought I should add that little bit. Seems to be that our classes somehow always get on the topic of Christianity, yet never really give it a chance before there is a joke. Any other religion that someone would joke about all hell would break loose.

More on Filth...

The Filth -

Actually one of the things that I loved about the Filth was the introduction or otherwise known as Warning! I thought it was really interesting and funny to do something like a warning in a book. I thought to myself...why didn’t The Ticket That Exploded have a warning section? I think the part that really made me laugh was the part where pregnant women should be careful or not be taken/read during that time, and like a warning for women to not become pregnant while reading The Filth. I think that when the reader reads this section before they read the entire book they will understand that the author has a sense of humor, and also helps someone realize that the book is not meant to be serious. Also he mentions the use of metaphors, as almost if he wants us to stop after each section and find the metaphors he has used and to help us to understand the reading better.


I think looking over the reading The Filth is quite funny if you look at it closely. I mean the main job is to be "garbage men" and they "stop the world's back yard from stinking". And while reading this and realizing that they are supposed to be helping save the world and stop people from "creating the world's end" it looks as if they are living in Hell. I mean the entire book just shows violence, porn, and other crap that fills their world. There are so many people that are trying to over take the world, whether it’s with giant sperm or overtaking the President. I mean The Filth themselves seem to have problems. Tony or Ned Slade doesn't even know who he really is, and can't quite grasp either world that he lives in. Plus all he cares about is his dang cat. There is something wrong with the world if the only thing you care about when you are being put in jail is your cat. I think one of the most disturbing pages is 150 where it is talking about the world of Anders Kilimakks and all of the babies are supposed to be copies of him, but they are all super creepy babies and that world would be horrible to live in as well. I think all in all if you look at the Filth as a whole, I wouldn’t want to live in that world, or any of the world’s that people are trying to create or where certain people want to be leaders or take over everyone else.

What I think is interesting is to compare The Filth to the other books we have read and in all honesty I think that they are all similar in many ways and I would not want to live in any of these worlds. It seems like technology that has advanced has just caused more problems for everyone, obviously in different ways, but it always creates destruction. Also I feel like each world creates a new or different problem and I think like if our society were to look at these books and see that multiple authors think that our world is headed towards a society like any one of these we might start trying to be more careful. We might try to keep our lives how they are and not advance our technology, or worry about how much smarter we all could be. I think all of these books have kind of been like a message saying watch out our world could become something like this at any point in time if we are not careful. We already have enough issues, I couldn’t imagine having more like in these books. I mean I think some of the things in The Diamond Age are cool, but in all honesty I think that they would cause destruction and unhappiness and father away from the world of peace that everyone wants. I think that these books are all cool in the way that so many authors have had such creative minds and all different that create possible societies that we might become if we are not careful. It’s been very interesting to see all the different books and the lives the people live. I am excited to read the last book and see how it varies.

Filth

I have read through the 7th Article and I am getting the hang of how to read the comic book style, but its still a challenge every once and awhile to know which bubble to read next. Sometimes I find myself skipping the bubbles or like going in the wrong order so I have to re-read a page. I think Filth is interesting, and although this is mentioned in class, why is Slade so important, especially if he isn't even doing good? I feel like he has so many mixed personalities. Also the entire book he doesn’t even want to be working with Filth. The second he actually remembers Slade and who he was he was like "I quit". I thought for sure that once he figured out who he was and maybe why they needed him he would be like oh yea I need to save the world and clean up their crap.

Another thing about Filth I find interesting and not unsure of is why is it ok for us to see the women in the book naked and not "blurred" out but all of the men are "blurred" or censored. I started to wonder if this was on purpose and had some kind of hidden meaning to it...like that we are just so used to seeing naked women and not naked men that its awkward, or the author just didn't want to be picturing naked men. But then I think to myself, most of the women are seen with one type of body and for some reason its really muscular or "masculine" and I am wondering once again if this is the way that the author likes women or if its just part of the story. I was not quite sure, but I was questioning the point to how the women and men look and why the men are censored and the women are not.

Also, I am not quite sure I understand the monkey? Is it just because we “came from monkey” that is why he can talk and be “human” I just don’t get it. I am not sure that this is necessarily a book that I would love to read, but I am trying to understand it. I am also trying to read the book quicker than in 2 weeks because I think that it would be something that would make more sense if you read it all together at once.

I really thought Article 6 and 7 were funny in a way because Gregory John Feely was so worried about his cat and like even when it was obvious that the police was not joking around and wanted him to be serious he was like “please my cat”. I had to laugh to myself because I think so often that so many of us would worry about our animals before we might worry about things going on in our own lives. We love our pets and hate to see them in pain, yet when we are in trouble, or in pain, we car for them first. Maybe because we are supposed to be taking care of them and loving them, and when we mistreat them we mistreat ourselves in a way? If that makes sense at all, but we love our pets so much we would do anything for them. I know people who paid ridiculous amounts of money for their dog to live when it was mean to die. They gave them multiple shots a day at a certain time of that day and the dog was on pills and had surgeries…it goes to show how much we care about our pets.

I am not going to lie, this book would be better without all the sex, but then someone might argue that this book wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t in here. That’s true, I just feel like along with the Ticket that Exploded it can mess with our emotions, and for me it makes it harder to enjoy the book. I don’t really enjoy reading the sex parts and it is not something I would chose to read if I had the choice. I guess this is what happens when you don’t actually look that the books you are going to be reading before hand. Although I am not enjoying the sex part of the class…I still think there are things to be learned and I still think that the class overall is interesting that the topics and discussions that are brought up are interesting, even if I don’t agree with everything.

Blog Questions & Answers!

I decided to go through and answer the comment questions to all my previous blogs this week as my blog. Thought it would be interesting to go back and revist some of the books.


But how do we separate ourselves from technology? Or is the impulse to separate from technology a technological desire in itself?

I think that it would be tricky to try to separate ourselves from technology because yea we have become so dependent on it. I think it might be in our best interest to separate from it, or be careful how attached we become to it. We could attempt to keep less technological devices in our homes, or places where we could “avoid” having to use them. I think a lot of the things we use are unessential to our lives. So many years people went without cell phones, personal laptops, and other devices. I would actually assume the opposite with the second question. The technical desire is probably for us to become attached and for us to become dependent on it, its so hard for us to realize that life is doable without the technology that we have in it. It would be really a challenge for us to get rid of our cell phones, and to try to hand write everything, or mail someone instead of e-mail. An example of something that many college students hate is when we are required to write a paper we have to find sources outside the internet. This is really a challenge to get to the library and find articles, or books. Often times we resort to online databases that work as sources off the internet, yet we found them on a form of technology.


But we still desire to change? I find it really interesting that you see books as more intimate than other forms of media. Why do you think that that is?

As I have been able to think about why I see books as more intimate than other forms of media I think its because books are powerful and can either relate to our lives or not, and we give meaning to books. We always are searching for the moral of the story and we are always reading for a purpose (even if its for fun). I think when you are going to be entertained by the media you are not looking to relate it to your life, you tend to watch movies and forget about them about an hour later. Even if it was a heartbreaking story in a movie, I think it doesn’t pull at your heart quite like a book can. Books we imagine our own picture, we imagine the characters and what we think is happening. Movie’s are images and meanings that are given to us, and we do not find them educational, like we might find a book. I think it’s a lot easier to persuade someone to do what you want them to do, or to create intimate emotions in someone through a book than it is through a TV show, movie, or other forms of media. I know for me reading books that are nothing like my life is most interesting because those books will help me form images of what someone else’s life might be like. If I were to watch a movie it might just be because it looks interesting or entertaining or funny.



I greatly appreciate the difficult work that you are doing here. I have been thinking more about this might it be the Burroughs gives the reader a view that he assumes they already have of homosexuality? I think of buzzwords like "gay agenda" and when put with this novel it seems like the author is making a satirical point about the cultures view of homosexuality.

Yea I think it is very interesting that he seems so open and honest in homosexuality. I once again think, its not necessarily the homosexuality part that threw me off, but how grotesque and disgusting he presented sex itself. He made it seem like it was not a big deal at all, and he just explained it how it was, and the descriptions were too vivid and gross to read.



The moral center of the movie has to do with getting it right in order to break out of the repetition cycle. Other films such as Run, Lola, Run and Blind Chance deal with this in different ways. But is it that it is a comedy --and as that genre needs a resolution--makes the morality be the only acceptable way out of the loop?

After I wrote this we had a class discussion on what the “real” reason was why he was able to break out of this loop. I started rethinking my opinion, but part of me still believes that morality was a part of it. Another part of me started realizing, “Oh yea, he did break out the second he got the woman in bed.” So the moral of the story to us viewers is, once you break even the strongest woman, and “become a better person” for her than you have won. Its interesting I think a woman’s perspective and a man’s perspective might be different after viewing the movie. I think that a woman might not pick up on the fact that he finally got to the next day after he won over the woman and did everything that she wanted from him, where a man could easily see that. I think the woman wants to believe that there always is a good guy and you can find him if he is willing to do all that work for you and change into a better person for you. The class never came to a conclusion, but it did make me think a lot more about it and I did laugh at the fact that it probably wasn’t because he became a better person that he got to the next day.

Ideas from Tuesdays Class Extended....

Tuesday in class we discussed how technology is a comfort to us and we don’t necessarily need it, but we are getting to the point where we wouldn’t know what to do if we don’t have it. I feel this is so true because for instance, what do we do when the power goes out? After a few hours of playing board games and sitting in the dark we are frustrated. When our phone dies or we forget to bring it somewhere with us we tend to feel we are missing something, even if we are not planning on using it. Many tend to say “I feel naked without my phone” It has become part of our outfits and something we need rather than a communication source or an emergency need.
We also discussed in class how technology is ruining our lives and taking away from our cultural identities. We are taking away from any special talents one may posses an this is creating us to need to be special and different. In the book Ribofunk people are being put into different “cultures” and identity groups and trying to find meaning in their lives. The technology has gone so far that they are feeling the need to change their human form into something else so they can be identified. Is this a result of technology? Possibly, but can we just blame technology or is it our own faults? Technology may be the underlying cause of it all, but we are a consumer society, always trying to have the next best thing whether it’s a technological advancement or any other form of advancement.
I think that the point brought up in class was really interesting because the part that got me the most about the book was where the daughter decided she wanted to be a bug and was changing herself into one, and the mom was turning into a cat. I thought to myself. I would be mad too if my daughter wanted to be a bug, but really a cat? I would be a dog first of all….but to think that technology and our world could advance to that point where we need to change our human form into something else to find identity and to have a culture is upsetting. I would never want my children, grandchildren, or even myself to have to change into something I am not. But when you look more closely at the “bigger picture” you see that we are already doing that, just not to the extreme yet. We are getting plastic surgery, and trying to look younger, sexier and what we “were meant to look like” we are trying to all be the “upper class” and have the latest fashion. Why can’t we all be ourselves, and show who we really are how we want to express ourselves?
I think there are so many things that goes deeper into the first part of this that I was discussing. The other day there was a question, what makes someone real or fake, and in reality only that person can know if they are real or fake. But why is it so hard for us to be real with people? Why do we hide behind something we are not and what is causing us to not show people our real background, what we stand for, live for and love about ourselves? I think this class has brought up a lot of good points, where the technological advances allow us to hide. The media which is now in forms of technology tell us what we should be and who we should be. We have these ideas of who and what we are supposed to be. I think taking away all the advances in our lives may cause us to see who each of us really are truthfully. We wouldn’t be able to hide behind a computer screen or text someone saying one thing and really meaning another.
Something that I have been curious about while I have been learning in this class is will we ever stop advancing technology or will it take us over. Will we be so dependant on technology that it takes away jobs, and it takes away what might give us meaning to our lives or how we identify ourselves? In the discussion group for Diamond Age I was just talking about how cool I think Dovetail is because that group of people didn’t allow technology to overtake their life. They went back to way before all the technology and make everything by hand and are doing things “old school” in a way. And they have their own culture because they don’t want to conform to the culture outside of them. Its an interesting topic to think about what technology can do for our culture or what it can take away from our culture and its meaning.

TTE & Radical Alterity

The Ticket That Exploded - Also some Radical Alterity Connections

The question was brought up in class…Should we be angrier at this book or the way that media affects how we look at love and life an sex? Shouldn’t we be mad that the media has manipulated us over the years?

First of all my feeling on this is, I am actually angry with both. I will start out explaining why I the media is upsetting to me. I am and have always been frustrated by the media showing us what we should look like and who we should be, and how we should live our lives. The media consistently in more forms than we realize teach us what is “right” and “wrong” and what “everyone” should do and look like. I feel like it is so much apart of our lives though that it is almost impossible to function and to live without the media. We would not know what is going on in the world, we would be “hermits” potentially and we would not “fit in” with the rest of society. While some might view that as more desirable, to me it is just not possible. Therefore yes, I am frustrated with the media “controlling” my life and my thoughts and how “life should be”.

Secondly, I have been very back and forth on the book. I feel that maybe there was a point to reading the disgusting, disturbing information of the authors thoughts and maybe wildest dreams, yet why am I forced to read it, and had no idea I would be required to read this for a class. Its not merely the fact that its gay porn, I would personally not read any porn. I would rather not have these vivid descriptions of someone else’s fantasies in my brain.

The problem that I am finding is with the book I am saying that it crossed the lines of choice. Also it is ok for the media to control my thoughts but not the book, because I can chose what I want to listen to read and hear from the media and I can’t with the book. Normally we have more control over what books we read rather than what we watch on TV, what we hear about in the news, or the movies. Yes we have some control over the media we hear, and I guess we have the option to not watch TV or movies or read books or magazines, but realistically we would have no knowledge of what is going on around us and it would be hard to communicate to others. I guess it’s a struggle and a challenge to read something that you feel you were forced into rather than a go to a movie that you chose to go to and be manipulated by.

I think Burroughs does cross the boundaries in most of our lives of what is “ok” to be reading and what we want to think or not think about. The problem is his book doesn’t give it a rest. He doesn’t just talk about it at one time for a short time. We are stuck in this miserable disgusting world that we have no control over changing what is actually happening.


Another interesting point that I feel might tie into this is something from Radical Alterity, where on page 91 it talks about how America has no origins. It talks about how we have a mythical society and a mythical origin. I think that this is true because we do not necessarily follow our ancestors and we have no background that we follow. I feel that this is an effect that the media has had on us as well. I think the media has shaped who we are supposed to be, causing us to have no origin and no originality. We are all similar to everyone around us. We don’t bring very many unique backgrounds into our diversity. We appear to be very close to our origins like the book says, but yet we are so far away from them. I personally have little to no recollection of my own origin.

Oddly enough I have found that some things in Radical Alterity make me laugh because they are things that are true about America, or people in general that we may not realize, but is very true. We seem to have no meaning and not a very strong need to look for it. As a whole I feel that this is true, but personally I feel like I have found meaning in my life. I think that as a majority Americans have no other meaning in life besides going to school to get a education to get a good paying job to make money to spend. I find no meaning in living life that way, but that’s how it is “supposed” to be lived, and therefore I am at school wishing I wasn’t. But to survive its necessary. These books have been very interesting to connect to life, or attempt to connect to life.