Arlo and y'all: I'm thinking that dualistic technology and the meaninglessness of what passes for a "productive" life is actually just a relatively new extension of a very, very old problem. I'll name just three points here. Slavery is as old as civilization itself. For their sins, Adam and Eve were CURSED with a lifetime of toil. According to Plato, craftsman were very low on the scale of goodness and truth. On his scale, only the artists and poets were lower. These are just a few of the reasons that Monday morning rush hour is a great funeral procession. Work or die? Are those really are only choices? Why should it be a form of captivity, a form of punishment, or so far from truth? Jeez, what a nightmare. That's enough to make a slacker out of anyone. That's enough to make a guy suicidal. Or maybe its just me. You know, cause I grew up in Detroit. It all seemed so pointlessly circular to me. Drive to work in your car, where you make cars for the sake of getting money so you can afford a car so you can go to work and make more cars. I tend to agree with Willard, the hero in Apocalypse Now, who said, "You don't get a chance to know what the fuck you are working in some factory in Ohio". For him, that option was so unappealing that he would rather face death in the jungle. Maybe that's a bit too dramatic but I can relate.
Arlo quoted ZAMM:"It is this identity that is the basis of craftsmanship in all the technical arts. And it is this identity that modern, dualistically conceived technology lacks. The creator of it feels no particular sense of identity with it. The owner of it feels no particular sense of identity with it. The user of it feels no particular sense of identity with it. Hence, by Phædrus' definition, it has no Quality." (ZMM) "People arrive at a factory and perform a totally meaningless task from eight to five without question because the structure demands that it be that way. There's no villain, no "mean guy" who wants them to live meaningless lives, it's just that the structure, the system demands it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure just because it is meaningless." (ZMM) _________________________________________________________________ Rediscover Hotmail®: Get quick friend updates right in your inbox. http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Updates2_042009 Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
