Pedro -- This sentiment seems odd to me. This is because I have retired to an out-of-the-way rural area and no longer travel to conferences, and so my only contact with other than family members is through e-mail, including lists. And my wife does all our communications with the locals. I do NOT feel lonely, etc. at all. It seems like the perfect setup to me! Every day I find new messages from all over the world. In what way is my situation different from all those lonely persons? Could it be my 'cold' Scandinavian genome? Or simply my age?
STAN On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:10 AM, Pedro C. Marijuan < pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es> wrote: > Dear Wolfgang, Rafael, Joseph... and FIS Collegues, > > Very briefly, as I am incurring in a forbidden "three" per week, I see the > general problem with ICT & social networks as an "information glut". It is > very similar to the parallel epidemics of obesity in affluent contemporary > societies. In the same way that our bodies are not very well equipped for > the sedentary life style and the overconsumption of food --and this is > clearly written in the genes selected during our long history as > hunter-gatherers-- we are also ill-equipped to deal with the diminishing > structure of meaningful social bonds around us and the increase of "junk" > information. Parallel to obesity, there is a current, silent epidemics of > loneliness, depression, psychogenic pain, suicide... How to counter that? > Very difficult problem, but knowing better what is the "sociotype", or say > the ranges of social structures akin to our genetic inheritance, would help > to identify better cultural alternatives and lifestyles, including better > uses for ICT presumably. > > A careful discussion should involve social networks (network science), > social brain hypothesis, evolutionary paleoanthropology, neuroscience, ICT, > cultural analysis, etc., and above all and a nice information science > integration. We are far from knowing *Homo informationalis! > > *best * > > Pedro > > * > Wolfgang Hofkirchner escribió: > > dear pedro, > > what you mention here is just what bothers me since long. in the scientific > literature about the internet (both empirical and kind of philosophical) > there are two positions to be found: > > the first position is the optimistic one in which the potentialities of the > new media are praised and the technical support for establishing new ties > (bonds with people) are appreciated. the second position is rather > cultural-critical and bemoans the rubbish that is multiplied by the net and > the gadgets that mediate that. > > i, for my part, guess, the truth is a little bit more complicated. the new > ties you can establish are not only strong ties that you strengthen by > technology (e.g. when i was abroad i skyped with my family) but also and > predominantly weak ties that promote a kind of irresponsibility because you > can enter a "community" and – that's more important – leave it whenever you > want without sanctions being there. thus my research question: how can we > shape icts in order to foster real communities? > > wolfgang > > http://hofkirchner.uti.at/ > > Am 21.07.2010 um 12:10 schrieb Pedro C. Marijuan: > > Dear Rafael, Bob, and FIS Colleagues > > Thanks a lot for the erudite comment and the elegant Latin. I quite > agree about that challenging aspect. However, I keep thinking that the > whole new communication technologies are adding to the decreasing > "sociotype" of individuals in todays' society. Like TV in the previous > generation, they provide an easy amusement but at the cost of a tighter > budget in the daily time needed for socialization. Like other > Anthropoids (following the "Social Brain Hypothesis") we need around 20 > % of time devoted to social "grooming", to languaging, laughing etc. in > a variety of social groups. Do not paying on a daily basis this > evolutionary debt conduces to disappointment, frustration, depression, > unhappiness... My point is that the whole ITC are bringing extra > opportunities for a variety of e-contacts but at the same time are > diminishing the "social grooming". This could be searched out throughout > the notion of "sociotype" summarizing the connective structure around > the individual, and would need specific inter-multi-cultural > researches, and above all achieving more concretion around a series of > indicators. > > Bob's very positive comments about "ascendancy" in weighed graphs are > much appreciated. In next exchanges I would like to introduce some > further ideas. Maybe human social networks as gauged by the sociotype > could also benefit of the ascendancy approach (metrics abouts > parenthood, relatives, friendships, acquaintances, etc.) Who knows. > > About sports and wars, I think Tom Stonier had already published in this > very list about the subject (1997-98?), or was it in some FIS Proceedings? > > all the best > > Pedro > > Rafael Capurro escribió: > > Dear Pedro and all, > > in an article selected by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung of The New York > Times of today (July 19) with the title "The Mediuim matters" (by > David Brook) there is a discussion on Nicholas Carr's book "The > Shalows" where he argues that theInternet is leading to a > short-attention-span culture. This is apparently the old discussion > internet vs. book culture but in fact the author points to an essay by > Joseph Epstein in which he (Epstein) distinguishes between beeing well > informed, being hip and being cultivated. > > The Internet culture is an egalitarian culture, appropriate for being > well informed and being hip (or up to date) , while when you enter the > world of books you are confronted with the "greater minds" and > respecting the authority of the teacher. "The Internet culture may > produce better conversationalists, but the literary culture still > produces better students". The challenge being "how to guild an > Internet counterculture that will better attracht people to serious > learning". We live in the culture of the spectacle (Guy Debord) which > is egalitarian but what we see is the product of a highly hierarchical > structure of "the best". > > The challenge is the how to build a counterculture within the > egalitarian information society that attract people not only to > serious learnig but also to high level practices in other fields such > as sport, music etc. This group is an example of such a counterculture > within the egalitarian internet. By the way, the Latin word > "informatio" had originally the meaning of "culture" or (German) > "Bildung" also in the humanistic sense. Cicero writes in "Pro Archia" > (Ch.3) : > > "Nam, ut primum ex pueris excessit Archias atque ab iis artibus, > quibus aetas puerilis ad humanitatem informari solet, se ad scribendi > studium contulit, primum Antiochiae (...)" > "For when first Archias grew out of childhood, and out of the studies > of those arts by which young boys are gradually trained and refined, > he devoted himself to the study of writing. First of all at Antioch > (...) " which was the center of knowledge of the whole region. > > And this is the text on the Internet > > http://www.uah.edu/student_life/organizations/SAL/texts/latin/classical/cicero/proarchia1e.html > > quod erat demonstrandum > > best > > Rafael > > > --------------------------------------------------- > Pedro C. Marijuán > Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group > Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud > Avda. Gómez Laguna, 25, Pl. 11ª > 50009 Zaragoza, Spain > Telf: 34 976 71 3526 (& 6818) Fax: 34 976 71 5554 > pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es > http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/ > ------------------------------------------------- > > _______________________________________________ > fis mailing list > fis@listas.unizar.es > https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis > > > > > -- > ------------------------------------------------- > Pedro C. Marijuán > Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group > Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud > Avda. Gómez Laguna, 25, Pl. 11ª > 50009 Zaragoza, Spain > Telf: 34 976 71 3526 (& 6818) Fax: 34 976 71 > 5554pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.eshttp://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/ > ------------------------------------------------- > > > _______________________________________________ > fis mailing list > fis@listas.unizar.es > https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis > >
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