What is the symbolic complex and how does the symbolic complex transform for us the image of that person (how do we transform others through the symbolic)? Semiotician and Novelist Walker Percy, in his essay “The Loss of the Creature,” writes “Impossible to see: the thing as it is, has been appropriated by the symbolic [...]
“Plan out your life wisely.” This is the first sentence of the 229th maxim by Baltasar Gracian from his book The Art of Worldly Wisdom. In this concise and illuminating piece, Gracian encourages us to “plan with foresight” and thus regain and, to some extent, control certain aspects of our life. He also proposes a [...]
By jgrefe
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Posted in Communication Studies
| Tags: Baltasar Gracian, Christianity, Leadership, life, Maxim, People, Philosophy, Plan, Religion and Spirituality, The Art of Worldly Wisdom, Wisdom, Wisely |
When one deals with money, one is already in the realm of the religious, with the worship of a holy item. The accumulation of money when well achieved and comfortably at bay provides an almost heavenly comfort. When money is forced away from us, a kind of existential loss is forced away as well. The [...]
By jgrefe
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Posted in Communication Studies
| Tags: Communication, Content, Economic, Exchange, form, Georg Simmel, Money, Money supply, Nick Cave, Personal Finance, Philosophy, Religion, Worship |
An email from a friend this evening contained an aphorism from E.M. Cioran. The aphorism (from, I’m guessing “The Trouble With Being Born”) is:
She meant absolutely nothing to me. Realizing, suddenly, after so many years, that whatever happens I shall never see her again, I nearly collapsed. We understand what death is [...]
By jgrefe
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Posted in Communication Studies
| Tags: aphorism, Body, Communication, death, E.M. Cioran, Existence, friend, life, mortality, Philosophy, the Other |
Mutants
Our bodies blend in and at the same time seem to stick out. We cover our bodies in layers of buttons, zippers, belts, beads, metals and cloths of all sorts. This strikes me as slightly odd. I can see the function of covering the body for social reasons and to protect the body from the [...]
By jgrefe
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Posted in Communication Studies
| Tags: Arts, Communication Studies, dress up, Fashion, form, Interface, Phenomenology, Philosophy, Sartorial, Sociality, sociology |
Between the person and the interface of social media, there is a human or humans. In this medium of the blog, I present the reader with static yet increasing snippets from my side of existence and from the zone of other networked friends, bloggers, writers, musicians, designers, critics and thinkers that are blended as a [...]
By jgrefe
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Posted in Interface Humanities
| Tags: Decentered Self, Extimacy, Fragmented Body, Interface, Japan, Lacan, Phenomenology, Philosophy, Social Media, Social Media Fatigue, Social Networking, Subject, Tokyo, Web 2.0 |
This is my original translation of the first two paragraphs from Kiyokazu Washida’s essay “The Plastics” as published in Nature Interface magazine. I believe this to be the first time this is being presented in English.
The Plastics
It is far from normal to say that human beings are natural. Inside the body, humans are carried [...]
By jgrefe
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Posted in Interface Humanities, Japanese Translations
| Tags: Artificial, Cyborg, Human body, Interface, Japan, Japanese, Japanese Translation, Kiyokazu Washida, Phenomenology, Philosophy, Plastic |
The experience of engaging in cyberspace, of living through this interface, presents one with challenging experiences as to the virtuality of the self and to the virtuality of reality. That is, the ability to create (or have created for you), maintain (be maintained) and, ultimately lose control of one’s internet identity and the greeting of [...]
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