I'm one of the naive ones. But the naivity kept me producing (both code and other creative stuff) for a good few years. Having the desire to complete ever more ambitious goals also helps. As does zero social life ;-)
> ... I wonder where exactly the divide between 'leisure/fun' > and 'work/labour' lies if not in the differences between having a > job - whether as a 'code monkey' or as 'paid' artist ... and not > having a job ... it's a problem. coding even if you're doing it in your leisure time isn't always fun. maybe we should remember that the divide between work/leisure is an artificial one? james On Sat, 7 Jan 2012 18:27:58 +0100 IR3ABF <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't know Rob, > > I could afford maintaining my wife and childrens life by working as > a 'code monkey'. > > As an outcome of the crisis in the 80ties, the Dutch government > issued a program to train jobless academics (including me) by > cooperating with the demands of the cooperative forces and a huge > number of former philosophers, historicians, musiciens and other > 'trained and skilled' people found jobs in the IT industry in late > 90ties, early 2000nds > > When the financial crisis hits really hard the industry reacted by > disposing these group first, aged between 45 and 60, what effective > way is there left to (re)gain a living apart from being a > 'outsider', guised under the name of activist/artist/pauper or being > dependent on welfare as earning money (to pay for the financial > demands modern life imposes on every single individual) by practising > cultural/software/ creative activities not as part of the > cultural/software/creative industry is by far too less to survive > decently. > > It is one thing to discuss things from a comfortable position, > backed by whatever institutions who pay the expenses and the rent, > but a complete different thing when that is not the case, when there > is nothing to hold on > > What remains then is something else, not expressable in 'jargon' or > 'code', and I wonder where exactly the divide between 'leisure/fun' > and 'work/labour' lies if not in the differences between having a > job > - whether as a 'code monkey' or as 'paid' artist or as a 'cultural/ > creative/sex worker - and not having a job, or should I go into the > streets and fellate white collar workers to maintain my family? > > Send with consent from Judith V. - artist by birth - mother and lover > > Sent from my eXtended BodY > > On 7 jan. 2012, at 16:54, Rob Myers <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On 07/01/12 15:18, Andreas Maria Jacobs wrote: > >> > >> Where and how are software skills degraded from a professional > >> craft to a hobby 'free' time occupation? > > > > There are two reasons why I suggest people on Netbehaviour learn to > > program using these resources. Neither is so they can get jobs as > > code monkeys. > > > > The first is so that they can get a feel for how code works. So > > they can > > gain an insight into how the software they use every day, and that > > affects their entire lives, works. This is important for thinking > > critically and realistically about software. > > > > The second is so that they can use code as a tool to achieve their > > own ends using software, less constrained by the fixed affordances > > of applications and web sites. Data visualisation, digital > > humanities techniques and web scripting are all useful ways of > > doing things with software. > > > >> What are the benefits from it when being outsourced and jobless? > > > > Software should not be an economic end in itself. It is a tool for > > achieving other ends. This is its benefit to artists and activists > > and academics, not that they might be able to make a living by > > writing code > > for multinationals. > > > >> The naivity - also expressed in this list - surrounding software > >> practices is astonishing > > > > We don't leave culture to the culture industry or sex to the sex > > industry. We shouldn't leave software to the software industry. > > > > - Rob. > > _______________________________________________ > > NetBehaviour mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour -- http://jwm-art.net/ image/audio/text/code/ _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
