You are always welcome in my home Francis. Allan
On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 3:00 PM, frantheman <[email protected]>wrote: > Well, rigsy, your comment has finally had the (questionable) effect of > getting me back posting here! :-) > > I really don't see the problem with Facebook - as such. FB is neutral; > it's a communication platform - in that sense, a typical internet > application. The problems are the uses to which people put it. If they > want to spend their time taking care of virtual farms and answering > inane questions about their "friends," then that's their privilege. > Personally, I find it useful as a tool to keep in touch with family > and friends I have scattered around the world. (It's also good for > reminding me about peoples' birthdays - something I used to be very > bad at!) > > I've been thinking about this whole "real" vs. "virtual" issue on and > off for quite a while now. Observing my own life, I'm tending more and > more to simply reject the distinction. I've got one life and I live it > in all sorts of situations, on all sorts of levels, with all sorts of > different - wait for it, here comes a horrible "in"-word - > communities, most of which are overlapping in ways, just to make > everything more deliciously complex. And it's dynamic, in movement, > anyway. > > Let me give an example. Eighteen months ago I spent a large part of > the time I spent on-line here at "Minds Eye." Things have moved on > since and (in common with many others, if you look at the statistical > development over the past two years here) today I spend relatively > little time here (although I still read nearly everything posted > here). There are a number of reasons for this. In a development which > I regard as being largely coincidental many of those who used to be > heavily engaged (and with whom I was personally more closely engaged) > here started doing other things around the same time. In my own case, > I started blogging; according to the concept which I wanted to explore > for myself, this means writing in excess of 2000 words weekly which > involves quite a demand on the time available to me for other things, > including ME. Some others have gone the same way, Neil (Archytas), for > example, is also blogging intensively (http:// > allcoppedout.wordpress.com/). Others are doing various other things. > > This, however, does not mean that I have lost contact with them. > Ornamentalmind, Lee and Don Johnson spend a lot of time on Gravity - > oops, it's now called http://www.convo.io/. Vam also posts regularly > there and does a lot of other stuff too. Although I'm not on reddit, I > know Chris spends a lot of time there. Molly is also blogging and > doing other stuff. Ian Pollard is quite involved in a family phase. > > Facebook allows me to stay in touch with all of them (and others, like > Gabby as well) - and I do. As life goes on, there's also a developing > pleasant interaction between "virtual" and "real" life - Allan (iam > deheretic) have already met and I hope to meet him again, and, if my > plans work out, I'll be meeting Vam for a hike in the Himalayas in > autumn. > > Form on the internet changes quickly - I have no idea what will be on > offer and happening by the end of 2012 (if the world hasn't ended by > then :-)) But issues, questions and, above all, people remain > basically the same - and that's what really important. Over a number > of years I have made good friends at Minds Eye and these friendships > have proved meaningful enough to survive and develop even when we > don't use ME as a platform for interaction much any more. FB is one > more tool which helps - even if I often get angry at it about lots of > different issues. > > Francis > > On 3 Jan., 15:29, rigsy03 <[email protected]> wrote: > > You are kidding! I think Facebook is another pathetic example of our > > psychotic world! The idea is not new- it used to be hawked as the > > Communion of Souls by the Catholics or the old popularity contest. > > It's like Lonely Hearts with "x" number of buddies in similar straits > > or collecting friends like Green Stamps- in the past- to redeem for a > > catalog item. How ephemeral life has become- even our finances are > > blithe spirits! Well, Goldman Sachs has just plunked down some dough > > for Facebook which is a great indication of its future demise! Have > > you considered this constant agitation via tech and media will wear > > out the human brain and make interpersonal/real body encounters > > obsolete? The NYTimes is also hawking the "Me marriage" as the new > > paradigm so life gets goofier everyday,imho. Anyway, read some of the > > great comments about GS via the NYTimes- at least I feel I have my > > head screwed on properly! :-) > > > > On Jan 3, 4:11 am, iam deheretic <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > To my friend minds eye > > > I decided to get rid or the people on facebook I have nothing with in > common > > > with, ,, Please check your facebook and if I removed you by accident > please > > > let me know and I will place you back on my list.. > > > I like following members of minds eye on face book > > > Sincerely > > > Allan > > > -- > > > ( > > > ) > > > I_D Allan > > > > > If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken > > > Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, > -- ( ) I_D Allan If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
