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black-listed nations, bbc news
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carleton college, bbc news, biod
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chronical of higher education, b
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climate change, un, bbc news, bi
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embassy bombs in rome, bbc news
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fair, media, bbc news
fake deaths, bbc news
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fbi, bbc news
fcc, neutral internel, liz rose,
Federal Reserve, interest rates,
federal workers pay freeze, bbc
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feedblitz, bbc news, biodun igin
ferraro, bbc news
fifa, soccer, bbc news
financial times, bbc news
firedoglake, jane hamsher, biodu
flashing, sex crimes, bbc news
fox, cable, new york, bbc
france, labor, biodun iginla
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french hostages, bbc news
french muslims, natalie de valli
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g20, obama, bbc news
gabrielle giffords, bbc news
gambia, iran, bbcnews
gay-lesbian issues, emily strato
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germans held in Nigeria, tokun l
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goldman sachs, judith stein, bbc
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gop, bbc news
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Hackers, MasterCard, Security, W
haiti aid, enrique krause, bbc n
haiti, michelle obama, bbc news
heart disease, bbc news
Heather Locklear, suzanne gould,
Henry Kissinger, emily straton,
Henry Okah, nigeria, tokun lawal
hillary clinton, bbc news
hillary clinton, cuba, enrique k
hugo chavez, bbc news
hungary, maria ogryzlo
hurricane katrina, bbc news
Ibrahim Babangida, nigeria, toku
india, susan kumar
indonesia, bbc news, obama admin
inside edition, bbc news, biodun
insider weekly, bbc news
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International Space Station , na
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iran, lebanon, Ahmadinejad ,
iran, nuclear weapons, bbc news
iran, wikileaks, bbc news
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italy, eurozone crisis
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nobel peace prize
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wal-mat, sexism, bbc news
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warren buffett, us economic down
weather in minneapolis, bbc news
white supremacist, Richard Barre
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wvirginia coal mine, biodun igin
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xian wan, china , nobel prize
xian wan, japan
yahoo News, biodun iginla, bbc n
yahoo, online media, new media,
yemen, al-qaeda, nasra ismail, b
zimbabwe, mugabe, biodun iginla
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Biodun@bbcnews.com
Thursday, 27 January 2011
New Yorkers Told to Stay Home as Snowfall Cloaks City
Topic: new york snowstorm, bbc news
by Suzanne Gould and Biodun Iginla, BBC News - Jan 27, 2011 5:54 AM CT A winter storm left thousands of people without power, grounded hundreds of aircraft and blanketed parts of New York in a foot of snow, leading the city to close all schools and non-essential government offices. While the storm was forecast to begin winding down for the morning commute in National Weather Service guidance issued at 3:57 a.m. local time, New York Mayor Michael Bloombergsaid the heavy overnight falls had left it too treacherous to travel. New York City almost never takes a snow day, but today is one of those rare days,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “People should stay at home and off the roads.” The storm caused 1,500 flights to be canceled by yesterday afternoon, with 352 scrapped for today as of midnight, according to the FlightAware online aircraft tracking site. John F. Kennedy International Airport was closed at 12:28 a.m. local time because of snow and isn’t expected to reopen until at least 8 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in an e-mail. The Long Island Rail Road has canceled 14 westbound trains for the morning commute and will use buses east of Speonk and Ronkonkoma, according to its website. Boston, Washington With the storm expected to leave as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow in Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino also issued declarations urging people to stay off the roads and schools are shut, the system website said. Boston has had 50 inches of snow in the past 30 days, Menino said in an e-mailed statement. In New Jersey, Newark International Airport was closed at 11:42 p.m. yesterday and was slated to resume services at 6:59 a.m. The state’s Transit Service suspended bus routes with no estimate on when they’d be restored and said trains would suffer 30 minute delays, with some canceled and others combined. Rail passengers must use end doors to improve reliability, it said. In Washington, buses will be initially restricted to emergency routes today, though the Metrorail subway will open at the usual time, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said on its website. Pepco Holdings Inc. reported at least 87,000 customers in the Maryland suburbs of Washington were without power. “The winter storm has caused extensive damage to our service territory,” according to a statement on Pepco’s website. Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion Resources Inc. reported 143,540 customers in Virginia andNorth Carolina were without electricity as of 11:51 p.m., and in the New York metropolitan area at least 578 customers were affected as of 11:30 p.m. yesterday, according to Consolidated Edison Inc. Heavy Falls Several areas near New York City saw heavy snowfalls overnight, including Queens, Bergen County in New Jersey and across central Long Island, Nash said. As of 11:30 p.m., Saddle Brook, New Jersey had reported 7.4 inches and Middle Village in Queens had measured 6 inches, according to the weather service. Between 7 to 9 inches of snow fell from Washington to Baltimore, according to the weather service in Sterling, Virginia. About 13 inches was expected to fall in the Philadelphia area and 11 inches in Wilmington, Delaware, according to the weather service. “We’re expecting it to start tapering off around the morning commute, around 6 or 7 in the morning,” said Lauren Nash, a weather service meteorologist in Upton, New York. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg told reporters yesterday that the city has gone through 252,543 tons of salt, and has 109,714 tons still on hand. The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
Posted by biginla
at 12:46 PM GMT
Yemen protests: Thousands call on president to leave
Topic: yemen, al-qaeda, nasra ismail, b
27 January 2011 Last updated at 05:59 ET Continue reading the main storyYemen's protests are said to be inspired by the popular revolt in Tunisia by Nasra Ismail, BBC News Middle-East Desk, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla Thousands of Yemenis are demonstrating in the capital Sanaa, calling on Ali Abdullah Saleh, president for more than 30 years, to step down. This comes after mass protests in Egypt and a popular uprising in Tunisia that ousted its long-time leader. Yemeni opposition members and youth activists gathered in four parts of the city, including Sanaa University, chanting anti-government slogans. They also called for economic reforms and an end to corruption. Yemenis complain of mounting poverty among a growing young population and frustration with a lack of political freedoms. The country has also been plagued by a range of security issues, including a separatist movement in the south and an uprising of Shia Houthi rebels in the north. There are fears that Yemen is becoming a leading al-Qaeda haven, with the high numbers of unemployed youths seen as potential recruits for Islamist militant groups. 'Tunisia-inspired'Continue reading the main storyEconomic and social problems- Poorest country in the Middle East with 40% of Yemenis living on less than $2 (£1.25) a day
- More than two-thirds of the population under the age of 24
- Illiteracy stands at over 50%, unemployment at 35%
- Dwindling oil reserves and falling oil revenues; Little inward investment
- Acute water shortage
- Weak central government
Protesters gathered in several locations of the city on Thursday morning, chanting that it was "time for change", and referring to the popular uprising in Tunisia that ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this month. Opposition MP Abdulmalik al-Qasuss, from the al-Islah (Reform) party, echoed the demands of the protesters when he addressed them. "We gather today to demand the departure of President Saleh and his corrupt government," he was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. There have been a series of smaller protests in the lead up to Thursday's mass demonstrations. On Saturday, hundreds of Sanaa University students held competing protests on campus, with some calling for President Saleh to step down and others for him to remain in office. Over the weekend, Yemeni authorities arrested prominent rights activist, Tawakul Karman, accusing her of organising the anti-government protests. Her arrest sparked further protests in Sanaa. After her release from prison on Monday, she told CNN that there was a revolution taking place in her country inspired by Tunisia's so-called Jasmine Revolution. Protests in Tunisia have ended 23 years of President Ben Ali's rule and ignited unrest elsewhere in the region, including Algeria and Egypt. President Saleh, a Western ally, became leader of North Yemen in 1978, and has ruled the Republic of Yemen since the north and south merged in 1990. He was last re-elected in 2006. Yemenis are angry over parliament's attempts to loosen the rules on presidential term limits, sparking opposition concerns that Mr Saleh might try to appoint himself president for life. Mr Saleh is also accused of wanting to hand power to his eldest son, Ahmed, who heads the elite presidential guard, but he has denied the accusations. "We are a republic. We reject bequeathing [the presidency]", he said in a televised address on Sunday. (Required)Name(Required)Your E-mail address(Required)Town & Country(Required)Your telephone number(Required)In most cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location unless you state otherwise. But your contact details will never be published. When sending us pictures, video or eyewitness accounts at no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Terms and conditions SendClear
Posted by biginla
at 12:22 PM GMT
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
New or updated articles by Biodun Iginla of The Economist and of the BBC
Topic: bbc news, biodun iginla, the eco
January 26th 2011
Posted by biginla
at 7:31 PM GMT
Publisher's Newsletter--The Economist, by Biodun Iginla, BBC News and The Economist
Topic: bbc news, biodun iginla, the eco
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| In this issue we explore a global forecast of opinions and predictions that will define the world in 2011. With the global population approaching 7 billion, novel technologies will play an inevitable role in shaping our global communications, reinventing renewable energy sources, and introducing new methods of fighting disease. Even so, perhaps the most pressing issue the world will face will be the ever growing volatility of the overheating currency market.
Indeed, 2011 may very well be defined as a year filled with ever changing landscapes in business, science, and technology. However, what will remain certain is the uncertainty of a muddled future. Sincerely, Paul Rossi Publisher |
ADVERTISEMENTWho has the power to change the world? As business leaders, politicians and journalists meet for the World Economic Forum's annual summit in Davos, The Economist online examines leadership today and asks, 'Who are the global elite?'. In our Ideas Arena online event, we'll be exploring the emergence of an un-elected global elite whose decisions affect us all. Join the discussion in our online forum through February 18th 2011
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Posted by biginla
at 7:17 PM GMT
Tunisia Issues Warrant for Arrest of Ousted Leader
Topic: tunisia, bbc news, biodun iginla
Moises Saman for The New York Times A young man injured during clashes between protesters and the Tunisian police was carried away in a wheelchair near the office of the prime minister in central Tunis. By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, NATALIE DE VALLIERES, AND RASHIDA ADJANI, FOR THE BBC's BIODUN IGINLA Published: January 26, 2011TUNIS — The interim government in Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for the overthrown president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and members of his family for financial offenses, the justice minister said Wednesday, as protesters continued their call to rid the government of cabinet members connected to Mr. Ben Ali. Fethi Belaid/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesPeople fled tear gas during clashes with security forces in front of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi’s office in Tunis on Wednesday. The warrant has been sent to Interpol. Meanwhile, Switzerland announced that it has blocked funds worth tens of millions of Swiss francs connected to the Ben Ali family, but did not provide further details. In a country where it is novel for public officials to face a free press, the justice minister, Lazhar Karoui Chebbi, announced the warrant in a long monologue at the head of a conference table surrounded by throngs of journalists whose subsequent questions quickly descended into a shouting match. Mr. Chebbi was once allied with Mr. Ben Ali. As the minister spoke, the chants of protesters calling for the release of political prisoners came in through the windows, while the families of prisoners thronged the steps to the ministry and the hall outside the room. Despite a call for calm from pro-government demonstrators, the police fired tear gas at protesters who massed outside the offices of the prime minister to demand the dissolution of his government. The turbulence came as the interim authorities prepared to announced changes in the government, which protesters say includes too many ministers, including Prime MinisterMohamed Ghannouchi, carried over from the administration of Mr. Ben Ali. In a square outside the prime minister’s offices, some demonstrators among a crowd of more than 1,000 hurled rocks at the police as billows of tear gas enfolded them, according to witnesses and security forces, and several protesters were taken to the hospital. But the police cleared only a side street and left the protest in the square to continue, surrounded by army soldiers watching from the sidelines. The confrontation seemed again to raise the question of what would satisfy protesters here whose example in recent days seemed to provide inspiration to antigovernment marchers in Egypt calling for the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. Demonstrators in Lebanon against the Beirut Parliament’s election of a new prime backed by Hezbollah are fueling the impression of a region in turmoil. On Tuesday in Tunis, after days of antigovernment protests, dozens marched in the capital to show their support for the interim government that replaced Mr. Ben Ali, pleading with their fellow citizens to give the temporary leadership time to hold elections. But they remained vastly outnumbered by more than a thousand protesters demanding the dissolution of the government, angry at its continued domination by former members of Mr. Ben Ali’s ruling party. The two groups scuffled briefly. The state news agency also reported that another Tunisian had attempted to set himself on fire in the impoverished interior city of Gefsa. It was the first instance of an attempt at self-immolation since a peddler burned himself to death, setting off the country’s revolt. More than a dozen people in North Africa and the Middle East have set themselves on fire since the Tunisian revolution started. The interim government, which has pledged to hold free elections in six months, appeared to be attempting to wait out the protests. In efforts to placate the demonstrators, the government announced a plan to spend over $350 million compensating those injured in the unrest, the families of people who were killed, and craftsmen and traders whose businesses have suffered during the revolt. There was also sporadic evidence that not all of the police were abiding by the interim government’s pledges to respect press freedoms. Moises Saman, a freelance photojournalist with the Magnum agency, working in Tunis for The New York Times, was mildly injured when he was assaulted by about a half-dozen police officers Tuesday evening at dusk. He was attempting to photograph a group of police officers beating a man in an alley.
Posted by biginla
at 5:10 PM GMT
Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue
Topic: egypt, nasra ismail, bbc news, M
26 January 2011 Last updated at 11:32 ET by Nasra Ismail, BBC News Middle-East Desk, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla Anti-government demonstrations in Egypt on Tuesday were the biggest the country has seen since the bread riots of 1977. Inspired by the recent uprising in Tunisia, they involved thousands of Egyptians from a variety of opposition groups. But just who are these opposition movements and what are their demands?Egypt's "day of anger" brought thousands of workers, students, members of opposition parties and other activists onto the streets. April 6 members make extensive use of Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to organise pro-democracy events. This youth opposition coalition was the main organising force behind Tuesday's demonstrations. In its online call for the "day of anger" on Tuesday 25 January, the group cited a list of demands. They included the departure of the interior minister, an end to the restrictive emergency law, and a rise in the minimum wage. The movement is urging Egyptians to "take to the streets and keep going until the demands of the Egyptian people have been met". The movement began as an Egyptian Facebook group in 2008 to support workers in the northern industrial town of Mahalla al-Kubra and called for a national strike on 6 April that year. Members, who include many young well-educated Egyptians, have shown a greater willingness than others to risk arrest and start public protests. They have successfully organised pro-democracy rallies and a large welcoming party for the former United Nations' nuclear watchdog chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, when he returned to his home country in February 2010. The group uses Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to alert its networks about police activity, organise legal protection and publicise its efforts. Mr ElBaradei backed the protest but has tended to avoid directly confronting Egypt's government. This umbrella organisation for opposition groups was set up by Mohamed ElBaradei when he returned to Egypt after many years abroad, declaring his wish to be a "tool for reform". Mr ElBaradei did not participate in the latest protests but he did back them in a post on his Twitter feed: "Fully support call 4 peaceful demonstrations vs. repression & corruption. When our demands for change fall on deaf ears what options remain?" Several members of his group were summoned by security services in the run-up to demonstrations. Also on Tuesday, the NAC issued a statement calling on President Hosni Mubarak not to seek a sixth term in September's presidential election and opposing any succession of power by his son, Gamal. It also demanded dissolving the newly elected parliament where the ruling NDP controls more than 90% of seats. In the NAC, leaders of liberal political parties like al-Ghad and the Democratic Front are represented alongside Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood. The loose coalition also includes prominent intellectuals and veteran activists, among them members of Kefaya, the Egyptian Movement for Democratic Change, which organised unprecedented rallies ahead of elections in 2004. The NAC says President Mubarak, 82, should not run in the next elections. The NAC has demanded an end to the state of emergency and democratic and constitutional reforms. Efforts to collect a million signatures in support of its programme were significantly boosted by the active involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood. However divisions grew when the Islamist group would not join its boycott of last year's parliamentary elections. The groups were already at odds over strategy, with many activists advocating more direct confrontation of the regime than Mr ElBaradei was prepared to countenance. Egyptian officials blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for causing riots but it has not played a big role in protests so far. Despite an official ban, the Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's largest and most organised opposition movement. The interior ministry blamed the organisation for rioting that took place on Tuesday, saying that a number of protesters "particularly a large number of those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood… began to riot, damage public property and throw stones at police forces". However, their numbers in the protests is unclear. The conservative leadership decided not to fully endorse the demonstrations to the anger of some younger supporters. A senior spokesman, Essam el-Erian, said he did expect large numbers of the organisation's members to participate of their own accord, and called on them to stick to peaceful methods. Leaflets outlining its political demands were distributed at the rally. Until last year, Muslim Brotherhood members (running as independent candidates) held one-fifth of seats in the last parliament. But it lost its representatives in the 2010 parliamentary election. After a first round of voting was marred by serious fraud and violence, it decided to boycott the second round. In the past, the group has proven able to draw large crowds out onto the streets but has mostly avoided directly challenging the government. It has organised large protests against Israel's war in Gaza and the US-led war in Iraq, for example. This well-established party does not enjoy popular support, but previously led the official opposition in parliament. It then boycotted the second round of the last elections because of widespread vote rigging. Along with its president, al-Sayed al-Badawi, it has often been accused of being too close to the government and giving it the cover of an official secular opposition. Like the Muslim Brotherhood, Mr al-Badawi did not join Tuesday's protests, but gave his approval for the youth of his party to participate in their personal capacity. He then announced his own demands on Arab satellite television for the dissolution of parliament, a new national unity government and new elections under a proportional representation system. Ayman Nour joined the popular protest but no longer has wide political support. The founder of the liberal al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party, Ayman Nour, spent over three years in prison on what were widely seen as trumped-up forgery charges after finishing a distant second to President Mubarak in the last presidential election. While he was behind bars, his party was taken over by government supporters. Its headquarters were then set on fire in a dispute between rival factions. Since his release in February 2009, Mr Nour has been a regular presence at anti-government demonstrations. His group set up a movement to oppose presidential succession before joining the National Association for Change. Mr Nour is still thought to harbour presidential ambitions but no longer has the high profile he did in 2004. He joined in Tuesday's protest. More on This StoryThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites The Beat Generation caught on camera by Allen Ginsberg
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Posted by biginla
at 4:53 PM GMT
BREAKING NEWS ALERT: Experts Hail Return to Civility at State of Union
Topic: state of the union, bbc news
by Biodun Iginla, BBC News Democrats and Republicans sat together. Applause breaks were shorter and more subdued. Booing and heckling were nonexistent. And the president took pains to appeal to both sides. Tuesday night's State of the Union address marked a return to civility for an event that had in recent years been overwhelmed by partisan rancor. Lawmakers from both sides pledged to tone down their rhetoric following a mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others. Editor's Notes:
Posted by biginla
at 4:37 PM GMT
MediaBistro News Feed by Biodun Iginla, BBC News and MediaBistro New York City : NY : USA | Jan 10,
Topic: media, mediabistro, bbc news
| Morning Media NewsfeedWednesday, January 26, 2011
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The Internet Stole Obama's State Of The Union From Cable News (TheWrap.com) A reliable producer of big ratings for cable news networks for decades, the president's annualState of the Union address Tuesday seemed to mark a turning point in which media delivery of the event was decisively channeled through the Internet, not television.TheWrap.com: National Journal defended its decision to publish the full transcript of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address about two hours before its scheduled delivery Tuesday. According to a spokesperson, the publication received the transcript from "a trusted source. Recognizing the clear news of that, we moved it." Mashable:In addressing American innovation in the State of the Union Address, President Obama called America a nation ofGoogle and Facebook.HuffPost: "The energy was down, the president seemed tepid, and there's no doubt that about 10 or 15 minutes into it, he sensed that," MSNBC'sJoe Scarborough said. "I've never seen an audience as flat or a president as flat as this…it was just boring all around." Newsweek/ KausFiles: Civility is boring! Who knew? It was way more invigorating when people cheered and shouted, "You Lie!"Slate: "Win the future." That was President Obama's slogan for his State of the Union address, in which he used the phrase (or a variant) 11 times. New York Magazine/ Daily Intel: In the grand tradition of opposing party response speeches, Paul Ryan's was pretty good.Michele Bachmann's speech was not as much of a crazy mess as liberals hoped it would be. Mediaite:Rep. Michele Bachmannmade history Tuesday night not just for being the first representative of the Tea Party to give a State of the Union response, but also for flatly refusing to look America in the eye. 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MSNBC's Ed Schultz: 'We Are A Channel That Has To Follow Rules Of NBC News'(TVNewser) The stunning news that Keith Olbermann and MSNBC were parting ways sent a message through the entire news division: Ratings growth, and the ad dollars that come with it, are great, but it's not worth damaging the 70-year-old NBC Newsbrand in the process. NYT / Media Decoder:MSNBC received some gratifying ratings news from the first night of its new primetime lineup as it showed increases in the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. hours, even in the absence of its previous leading man, Keith Olbermann. Rupert Murdoch's Family Reunion (The Daily Beast) Rupert Murdoch may soon be reunited with his daughter, Elisabeth, at News Corp. -- and the return of his eldest son, Lachlan, might not be too far behind. If Rahm Can't Run For Mayor, He Should Snare Talk Show(Chicago Tribune) It could be a very long four years for Rahm Emanuel if it turns out he can't run for mayor until 2015. The Man Who Would Be Mayor ought to bide his time as a talk-show host or pundit. He was born for a seven-second delay. mediabistro.com featured jobs Client Services Technical Manager AdKeeper Inc. Chicago, IL Media Supervisor Deep Focus New York, NY Careers Reporter Dow Jones New York, NY Demand Media Ups The Price Of Its IPO(paidContent) Demand Media, which will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, has priced its shares at $17, according to a Securities and Exchange Commissionfiling. Twitter Blocked In Egypt In Response To Massive Protests(ReadWriteWeb) Egypt has seen tremendous anti-Mubarak protests. In retaliation, the Egyptian government is doing what governments all too often do, blocking, cutting, filtering. Specifically, Twitter is blocked in Egypt. 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Posted by biginla
at 4:13 PM GMT
Theory Beyond the Codes: Part 2--presented by Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Topic: technology, internet, economics
CTHEORY: THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE VOL 34, NOS 1-2 *** Visit CTHEORY Online:http://www.ctheory.net***
TBC 016 01/25/2011 Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker _____________________________________________________________________
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THEORY BEYOND THE CODES
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CTheory Interview
Digital Inflections: The Einstein's Brain Project =================================================
~Alan Dunning and Paul Woodrow in conversation with Ted Hiebert~
"[B]odies are never event bound and event defined, but event defining -- and always at the point of becoming. This is a continual shudder across our work -- the body as an ever-receding event horizon. A hole in the fabric of the world, a non-alibi, a white hole."
-- Einstein's Brain Project
Introduction ------------
What does the world look like when we turn out the lights? Does it not first surprise us -- not with nothingness but with a dance of after-images which, fading, are transformed into patterns of visual noise? And, even after the noise begins to fade, does not the imagination kick in -- whether dreams of day or night or blind-spot hallucinations of what would be there if only the eyes were open to see? It is as if the closed eye compels a cognitive hyperactivity that ensures there will always be something to see, even when that vision has no real correlation to the world around us. Even the closed eye knows no solace from the visual.
One imagines that for the camera the situation is different -- the camera not being subject to false appearances as a result of what was seen a second before the room went dark. The camera does not know darkness -- the camera knows only the nothingness that is a pure absence of stimulus.
Or so one might imagine...
But the real question is whether machines can imagine too, whether in the darkness there is anything that might cause the machines to see as humans do -- to see things where there are none, and to recognize within these visual mistakes optical or aesthetic possibilities? Maybe not on purpose, but when properly configured even cameras can be made to see in the dark -- and to make up images where there would otherwise be none. Consider the possibilities of the following scenario -- seen for the ways it might make the machines themselves imagine:
A camera and a sensitive microphone are turned on, but enclosed in a completely light tight, anechoic box. They record no image, receive no light and sense no sound. The camera input is adjusted with maximum gain and brightness to reveal the video noise inherent in the system. This noise provides a medium that can potentially be modified by external electromagnetic forces. [...] Face tracking algorithms using a cascade of Haar classifiers scan the random noise in each video frame and look for any combination of pixels that form the most basic characteristics of a human face -- areas that can be loosely characterized as eyes, nose and mouth with a sufficient degree of symmetry. When the software finds such a combination of pixels and symmetry the area is zoomed to full screen, its contrast and brightness adjusted, blurred and desaturated to clarify the found image. [1]
The project is called ~Einstein's Brain~, a collaboration among Alan Dunning, Paul Woodrow and Dr. Morley Hollenberg, who have for more than a decade been examining the aesthetic possibilities of machinic rendering. Using a variety of biofeedback equipment, pattern recognition software and interactive media interfaces, the work of the ~Einstein's Brain Project~ (EBP) explores technology as an allegory for human consciousness, and human consciousness as a contributing participant in the development of our technological future.
In their words:
~Einstein's Brain~ is a collaborative, immersive, virtual and augmented reality work that explores the notion of the brain as a real and metaphoric interface between bodies and worlds in flux, and that examines the idea of the world as a construct sustained through the neurological processes contained within the brain. It suggests that the world is not some reality outside ourselves, but that it is the result of an interior process that makes and sustains our body image and its relationship to a world, and that the investigation of virtual reality, its potential use as a perceptual filter, and its accompanying social space is an exploration of the new constructions of consciousness and the consequent technological colonization of the body. [2]
What follows is an edited series of electronic conversations with Alan Dunning and Paul Woodrow on aspects of recent EBP projects and ongoing topics of inquiry.
Ted Hiebert (for CTHEORY): First, thank you both for agreeing to this conversation, which I hope will also be an opportunity to highlight some of the very innovative work you are doing with your collaborative project, ~Einstein's Brain~. In a general sense, I want to say that your work is about questions of digital subjectivity, consciousness and perception, though I know that for you it is also about a whole range of other things as well. In a pragmatic sense, however, what I think is truly unique about the work that you are doing is that it reverses the terms according to which technology is popularly understood -- not necessarily only an operational assistant to human productivity but as itself a series of interpretive systems that are subject to aesthetic renderings of various sorts.
Einstein's Brain Project (EBP): New technology always creates new aesthetic possibilities. What you have identified is our sense of technology as something that constantly generates analytical potentials that can be realised by systems that go beyond mere representation. One of our ongoing concerns has been with invisible energy fields as components that surround and attach themselves to us and to themselves, and a large part of our project has been to visualise these in ways that reveal and capitalize on their capacity to excite and instigate new structure and novel form. We have given ourselves over to the idea that technology is a form of life, and our work tries to suggest what kind of life this is.
CTHEORY: Your later work, in particular, emphasizes these ideas -- which I'll get to in a minute. First however, I want to contrast them a bit to your earlier work, which I think does this too but in a slightly different way. For those who aren't already familiar with the work you've done, I wonder if these earlier projects might not be important for the understanding of how your ideas have developed, and the nuances of your more recent projects.
Take, for instance, a project such as ~The Madhouse~ in which you had a sculpture of a human body coated with thermochromic paint, coupled with an EEG-enabled HUD, as trigger interfaces for audience interaction. When the viewer touched the model it changed color and, if I'm not wrong, the viewer's thoughts also interacted with a programmed database to provide a series of EEG-selected visuals. There are many things that are interesting about this project, among them the fact that you titled the body/sculpture ALIBI, as if to purposefully provoke the question of agency and placement when faced with the technological interface. In your later work, it becomes clear that this is not about using the technological as allegory for the human, but the opposite -- not subjecting the human body to the machine but purposefully subjecting machines to the human body. Not technology, as McLuhan had it, as that which extends the body outside of itself, but instead the body as that which forces technology to internalize -- adapting to the messiness of human input. In other words, this wasn't just about wiring bodies to the machines, but also an exploration of what happens when the relationship is seen the other way around.
[Figure 1: ALIBI, Pandaemonium, 2002]
EBP: ALIBI (Anatomically Lifelike Interactive Biological Interface), the interface to the Madhouse cycle of works, was conceived as an interface built around ideas of absence and invisibility, even as it was intended to be tangible and present. Its surface disappeared as the thermochromic paint became transparent at a certain temperature, creating a fleeting index of a touch. Its main interactions were enabled by moving within large invisible, electromagnetic fields that encircled the body. These interactions enabled a participant to navigate a complex virtual 3D environment that was generated on-the-fly by evoked potentials harvested by an EEG equipped HMD.
ALIBI is entirely a non-alibi -- a direct interface to a boundary that is diffuse -- neither properly here nor there, akin to a dissipating, permeable boundary reminiscent of a rapture of the deep. Not protected, like the astronaut in his suit, from the coldness of space, but caught, like the diver, in the overwhelming desire to meld with the ocean.
The body was never conceived of as an interface ~per se~ but rather as a sensory blister caused by the friction between two ever-changing worlds -- the immediate past and the immediate future. This is more apparent in later work ~Ghosts in the Machine~ and ~The Sound of Silence~, in which even the suggestion of an interface has been eliminated forcing us to imagine machines imagining a past and a future in lieu of a discernible present.
This comparison of machines wired to bodies or bodies wired to machines is interesting, and is one that has emerged through an imagining of both bodies and machines as organisms that are subject to the vagaries and whims of the other. It is this notion of affect that is important in how we have come to think about subjectivity. But in the end there might be less of a distinction than a polar comparison suggests. Our sense is that bodies and machines are inextricably enmeshed and their relationship constantly changes at speeds that are out of step with any mechanical or biological clocks. For us this problematises not just what such a body might be, but how we might locate such a body that is at one and the same time, both all too located, subject to the passage and ravages of time, but strangely, in technoetic enviroments, non-spatial and atemporal, as it is as is constantly re-defined as bio-illogical organism.
Our physical bodies might age, tire, change shape, and even disgust us, but are always remade when distributed by the technical apparatus. Where is the body that is super-distributed, that is omnipresent? The body is simultaneously present and absent -- fixed and present, mutating and absent -- always on the verge of becoming. The body is driven to new forms, new imagined and re-imagined forms, even as it posits itself as fixed entity.
For us, then bodies are never event bound and event defined, but event defining -- and always at the point of becoming. This is a continual shudder across our work -- the body as an ever-receding event horizon. A hole in the fabric of the world, a non-alibi, a white hole.
CTHEORY: In a curious way, might this have the effect of reversing the terms of phenomenal engagement as well -- or perhaps simply adapting them to the technological equation? One might even here propose something along the lines a techno-phenomenology, a type of phenomenology particular to the ways machines themselves inhabit this non-present that you describe. I agree that this sort of relationship is articulated in particularly poignant ways in recent installations such as ~The Sound of Silence~ and ~Ghosts in the Machine~. These are the pieces referred to in the introduction to this interview, in which you enclose cameras and microphones in perceptually-vacant spaces so as to subject the technologies themselves to their own internal processing noise as stimulus for image and sound generation. With ~Ghosts in the Machine~ the interface is a light-tight box that contains a camera; with ~The Sound of Silence~ a sound-proof space with a microphone -- in both instances the technologies are wired to see or hear what is not there.
These two works interest me particularly because they make clear a number of larger trends in your collaboration -- among them a real refusal to let subjectivity off the hook when faced with questions of the invisible.
EBP: This descriptor of a proposed field of inquiry is good in its ambivalence. What you refer to are the sensory experiences associated with certain products of recent technological invention, mainly projected images and screen images -- otherwise we might say that all "images as artifacts" are products of technology and can talked about in some phenomenological context.
When it comes to the perception of an image we can talk about it as an event -- as Alva Noe has suggested -- a kind of action. It's an action that includes a relation, in fact a number of potential relations, between the observer and the observed. The difficulty in thinking about this is to make a true distinction between the observer and the observed, since there seems no clear dividing line between the two in an objective way. So in a sense when you talk about Einstein's Brain Project not letting subjectivity off the hook when it comes to the invisible, there are always in every action of perception imperceptible qualities that accompany those phenomena that we as observers acknowledge as perceptions. This is made more complex by that fact that the act of perception itself is virtual -- we are in the process of creating potentialities for possible worlds. How is this possible without a subject? But maybe this is not what you mean by letting subjectivity of the hook -- and for what?
[Figure 2: Ghosts in the Machine 2008]
CTHEORY: In the context of your later work, I think maybe this could be framed as a question of interactivity, specifically in the sense that you begin to engage subjectivity as a dialogic space, rather than one of incommensurability. There's an important distinction to be made here, I think, in terms of works that extend the human body and mind and those that also reciprocate -- beginning to challenge the machines themselves as well. To put terms to it, it might be called the difference between interactivity and interface, with the former demanding a reciprocal engagement that extends beyond the simple machine processing of human stimulus.
EBP: Interface suggests a plane at which a transition between two worlds occurs -- but in ~Ghosts in the Machine~ there is no membrane but an intermingling of two worlds at the atomic level. The interface in ~Ghosts in the Machine~ references an ongoing unexhibited work, ~Permeable City~, looking at micro interfaces between skin and world. The interface in ~Ghosts~ is a sort of bio-noosphere in which machine and body are lost in the generative system. The work itself is actually invisible -- seeing only in its shadow: the flickering of pixels, the shapes of faces. The invisibility for us was occasioned by some ideas we had about the hypermorphic or prestomorphic -- the movement from one state to another at such a rapid rate that objects had neither form nor substance. In filmic terms this might be the gaps between the frames, but extended into a new space developing out of the movement towards non-linear modes of recording that allow the development of a completely fictive space wrapped in a non-solid and invisible moment.
CTHEORY: This is a wonderfully complex counter to some of the more aggressive theories of technology, such as those of Paul Virilio in which technology harvests and co-opts and, ultimately, renders obsolete the human face of data through its philosophy of "more, better, faster" -- suggesting that life, rendered informatically, cannot keep up to its technological potential. Yet, what interactivity demands, and what works like ~The Sound of Silence~ and ~Ghosts in the Machine~ deliver is a more human side to these same technologies. It's potentially a point of reversibility, where in a certain way technology cannot keep up to the simple question of human inadequacy. As a result the human experience is enriched as well -- or frustrated, depending on one's comfort level with these states of rendered invisibility -- rendered non-experience, perhaps.
[Figure 3: Ghosts in the Machine 2008 1]
EBP: The works to which you refer, ~Ghosts in the Machine~ and ~The Sound of Silence~, contribute to the conscious awareness of the perceptual process. Brian Massumi talks about this process with real depth, comprehension and clarity. In his essay "The Thinking-Feeling of What Happens," clarifying Susan Langer's notion of semblance, Massumi concludes:
A semblance takes the abstraction inherent to object perception and carries it to a higher power. It does this by suspending the potentials presented. Suspending the potentials makes them all the more apparent, by holding them to visual form. The relays to touch and kinesthesia will not take place. These potentials can only appear, and only visually. The event that is the full-spectrum perception is and will remain virtual. A life dynamic is presented, but virtually, as pure visual appearance. [3]
~Ghosts in the Machine~ and ~The Sound of Silence~ are works that create conditions for observers to consciously experience the potentiality of their own visual process and create a situation in which they are able to question the fixity of the world in which they presently inhabit -- to begin to discover the phenomenal world and its equivalences. The work is neither didactic nor demonstrational. What is important and interesting for us is that the participant in the work senses a series of contingencies, as if he or she is always on the threshold of being transformed -- its as if the work is able to create an feeling of anticipation within the viewer that exists within the work in another form.
CTHEORY: Indeed, there is something poignant about these works that frustrates the attempt to reduce them to demonstration -- perhaps it is as simple as to privilege the act of perceiving over any assumptions about the fixity of what is seen. Here, most obviously, you suggest that machines might be made to perceive information where there is nothing but their own internal processing mechanisms to witness. One might even go as far as to say that, in these works, you make the machines hallucinate, subjecting them to an absence of stimulus but insisting that they perceive anyways, and in turn harvesting this technological imaginary for its potentially recognizable patterns. Despite the fact that there is nothing to see, there are still images that appear and consequently processed experiences of one sort or another that, despite their errors, were nevertheless witnessed in one way or another.
EBP: Thomas Metzinger's theory of the phenomenal self-model is applicable to the work at a very elementary level. Metzinger's central notion is that no self exists, saying that all that has ever existed are conscious self-models that are not recognized as models, they are what he terms the phenomenal self. The phenomenal self is not a thing but a process. The subjective experience of being someone derives from a conscious information processing system. You are such a system, although it is transparent and you don't see it. But you see with it. Metzinger's central claim is that we confuse ourselves with the content of the self-model currently activated by the brain. According to Metzinger this conscious self-model allows an organism to conceive of its self as a whole and thereby to causally interact with its inner and outer environments in an entirely new and integrated and intelligent manner. This notion is reminiscent of V.S. Ramachandran's idea of the phantom body. What we seem to take on as our body is an image, derived from the body, that is projected to the brain in all its phenomenal hallucinatory qualities.
In reference to our work, it is in the process of experiencing technological hallucination that we construct our own bodies as hallucinations or, better still, as phenomenal. Yet, there is the desire for a light body, an immaterial body -- a body that doesn't necessarily carry a lot of baggage, that is not weighed down with knowledge -- a body that is ready to act, a bodily potential. This is what Metzinger suggests with his notion of the phenomenal self-model of subjectivity. The title of his book _Being No One_ evokes the invisible. As an aside, Paul used to use Mr. Invisible as a pseudonym -- even though he might have been joking. So when you pose the question of interactivity as symptomatic of an emergent form of subjectivity it seems to make sense. However in current thinking about technology this type of interactivity doesn't seem to be widely acknowledged, as you point out in your initial statement.
CTHEORY: Is it possible then that what is hallucinated is ultimately secondary to the momentum responsible for hallucination? This strikes me as quite a new way to think the question of phenomenology -- not grounded in the tangibility of the senses, but grounded exactly in their potential for making mistakes. The concept would have precedents in things like Ramachandran's mirror treatment for phantom limb syndrome -- in which the mind is conscientiously "fooled" into seeing a limb where there is none -- or, in a strange technological twist, a remix of the Situationist concept of psychogeography as, in this context, a re-claiming of the urban environment through experiential psychoses. One might speak here of a technological psychosis that is less a demonization of technological subjectivity and more an acknowledgement that the mind on technology sees the world differently -- hallucinating or making mistakes in advance, so to speak.
This is what I meant also with the idea that your work refuses to let subjectivity off the hook -- namely for the invisibility that informs the horizon of encounter. I think the pseudonym Mr. Invisible is great -- and all the more provocative when mentioned in conversation. It becomes necessary to cast doubt in order to preserve the accuracy of the situation.
EBP: The idea that what is hallucinated is secondary to the momentum responsible for the hallucination is appealing. You are suggesting that there are these continuous flows that do not end up separating themselves as objects, but are potentialities that are on the threshold.
The notion of the potentiality of making mistakes is very strange. We have written about identifying something as something it is not. It's like the question of what is a proper hallucination. At the level of everyday life we are always involved in the construction of partial identities even with someone we know, because at the time of interaction we seem to want to use what is necessary as per the outcome of the interaction. We don't summon other data, even at the level of memory, when we engage in social interaction -- we can say that many of our actual dealings are with the currency of the virtual. When we are afraid to do something or feel it might be against the law, who is it we are addressing? It seems to be related to the notion of our own identity as being phantom. The example of being consciously fooled (in Ramachandran and the phantom limb) is reminiscent of Gibson's "consensual hallucination."
CTHEORY: In a sense, it might be seen as setting the machines up to fail, and harvesting from them the images of technological failure. Here, you have found a way to make the machines imagine -- and to turn this into a spectacle for the human witness. It is an exact reversal of the way the question is typically thought -- and it is both a humanization of the machines and a poignant insistence on the spectacle of failure. Here not only do the machines begin to hallucinate, but there are established protocols for understanding how they do so, and how to filter such hallucinations -- generally called noise -- out of the picture. Except that you have factored it into the picture instead -- pre-empting proper optical data in favor of that which requires machine interpretation.
EBP: If we want to be a bit more extreme, we could even ask the question whether machines possess a phenomenal self-model, and how it might be constituted? It would have to be a self-model without a consciousness. And of course it couldn't be something that machines possess on their own -- this wouldn't make any sense. However if we look at machines as not being independent from their operation, being (existence) and configuration would include a relation with humans -- then it is possible to think about this question in another way: the consciousness of machines comes from their relations to humans. Is this just another form of the cyborg, but reimagined with your thoughts on the "body as that which extends technology inside of itself" in mind -- a reverse cyborg?
One wonders whether all technology is an adaptation to human input -- as in the end it serves human purposes. But you are really talking about something else that has to do with essential humanness and perception. Think about the brain's capacity for recognition of the human/animal physiognomy -- faces. Looking for faces in technological data says something more about the function of the brain than the constituents of electronic signals. Searching for pattern in randomness has many implications.
Your notion of harvesting the technological imaginary is engaging and conjures up a new breed of farmers -- new crops, new tools, new food.
CTHEORY: The idea of the processed metaphor reminds me of what you have called the "prestomorphic" -- which I may have misinterpreted, but I think may still be worth following-up. It seems that discussions such as these, at a certain point, begin to reverse on themselves. The machines are made to hallucinate but their hallucinations are on purpose and with logic if not reason, yet no less substantial for their explanation. I want to say that the concepts become quickly about a logic of failure, except that I don't know that the concept of failure applies anymore in the system you have created -- which turns it immediately into something else.
At stake, perhaps, is the logic of pareidolia -- a logic that can never be self-evident because its very evidence relies on a transgression of logic. It is an improper hallucination that presents itself as a hallucination -- instead a hallucination must mistake itself as real -- making the mistake, rather than the image, the mechanism of the phenomenon. But this, again, just to confess in advance that I'm caught in the prestomorphic imagination of these dialogues -- catching up in retrospect to a conversation we've already had.
EBP: The pareidolic impulse, particularly in ~Ghosts in the Machine~, is one that is predicated on a mistake -- an identification of something as something it is not -- i.e an index of something. This is not to our minds a hallucination proper but rather some sort of withheld or withdrawn revelation -- something on the point of being revealed, but immediately lost, through its very appearance, leaving only a felt event. The subject as a maker of meaning is compromised by the role that the subject is assigned. The subject is subjected to a flow of information that can never settle into any sort of coherence. The machine is lost in a machinic reverie, abandoned by the very means of its reverie -- a kind of psychotic break occasioned not by the interpretative capacities of the viewer, but simply by her presence or absence.
CTHEORY: But even the psychotic has momentum -- perhaps in this case the momentum of what you referred to as the "white hole" -- an intriguing concept. I'm not quite sure what to make of such an idea -- it is not quite a black-hole in rewind, yet the difference, if I understand, is temporal rather than directional. In some ways, perhaps, this is not unlike Walter Benjamin's angel of history, blown forward forcefully into the future by the wake of the accumulation of time. Here the wake comes first, followed by the historic accumulation -- as if to suggest that material history simply tags along, surfing the waves of momentum it will eventually cause. At some point before one reaches the future, the past catches up -- the event horizon is the condition of attraction, but attraction is the wake in advance -- defining the event horizon itself. I can understand why you alluded to this as a rapture, but if I understand correctly it would be a purposefully ambiguous rapture -- one of which one cannot quite be certain but within which one nevertheless is immersed?
EBP: The white hole enables some ideas about a constantly receding event horizon. In this system events are atemporal, but still spatialized, with no past or future -- but an imagined future past that reconstitutes itself as the present. Like frames of a film, the images in ~Ghosts in the Machine~ have disappeared before they are seen. The images are always receding, never quite disclosed, never quite seen -- but still persistent. The local becomes a distributed local -- n-dimensional, alocal and atemporal. Just as there isn't really a now, just sense that it is neither past nor yet to be, so there is an equivalent loss of here, just a sense of an impending there. Now these are synthetics displayed in all too substantial galleries and spaces, but this is where the work becomes most interesting for us. The constantly receding event and its connection to an invisible past, reconstitutes these spaces as n-dimensional, as rapturous.
CTHEORY: It's almost as if you're suggesting an answer to the question of whether a tree falling in the forest makes a noise if there's nobody there to hear it -- in this case the paradoxical answer is that one does not have to be in a forest to hear a tree fall. It's not a ~trompe l'oeil~ but a ~trompe logique~ -- perception that goes beyond telematic or non-local to become hyper-local -- so specific to context that its context has been internalized in advance. This is what I take you to mean with the term "prestomorphic" as well -- part physics part magic, but with perceptual effects that are immediate enough to demand acknowledgment, even if their status remains open to question.
EBP: Presto refers not only to the quickness of the metamorphic process, but also to its sleight of hand. Unseen, unheard, but present. Imagine a simple shape generated from the rapid oscillation between a cube and a sphere. Imagine that this happens at random speeds and at random intervals. At any one moment the shape is caught between two states -- total cube-ness and total sphericality. But if the noticed moment is always in the past, as it must be, then the object no longer occupies any space at all. It exists as a future presence (really a prescience), but not as a thing. The prestomorphic is a way to spatialize the irrational. We can imagine a past, a future past and a future, but not a present. The present, such as it is, is comprised of moments yet to come or already gone, constituting a never-now and never-here.
CTHEORY: The idea of the irrational is one we haven't really touched directly, but is really important to your work. This is perhaps the place where the question of interface returns as a framing of the rational or irrational -- from a human perspective these questions look quite different than from a technological perspective, even if the actual images we see are identical. I find it fascinating how your work extends this interpretive difference. You speak at some length about how the aim is to provide not only an event, but a context for the viewer and for the machine -- a situation of unbalanced potentialities that, perhaps, is intended as allegory for our own acts (or failures) of subjective processing.
EBP: The link with technologically induced states of mind is increasingly common -- technology is a state of being in which we partake. It's part of a flow that requires both subject and object in a continuous looping, stretching, expanding, contracting. As we have suggested before it's difficult to know exactly where one ends and other begins -- or even if there are beginnings and endings rather than just states in motions. When we talk about pareidolia as something being revealed and at the same immediately lost, one can see it as an index of uncertainty. This happens at the level of the image. If we consider painters like Rembrandt -- creating images to be seen at a distance, which upon closer examination transformed themselves into material, or Monet's Rheims cathedral series -- when approached dissolve into globs of paints. Can we say this about earlier television when the objects of our own perception disappear in a haze of projected light and pixels? Are not these images material hallucinations?
It is interesting that you speak of the machine's subjectivity, but difficult to begin to understand what you mean by the spectacle of failure -- unless you are suggesting that the noise factor is a subversion of the machine's function. There has been lots of creative use of techno failure in the in the 90's -- glitch music for example -- and more recently a whole host of experiments in authenticity revolving around ideas of sonic hauntology.
CTHEORY: That's a really interesting comparison that hadn't occurred to me -- but yes, isn't there something "glitch" to these works of pattern recognition? Your works are different in that they include an interrogation of agency and processing -- they are not reducible to an aesthetic formalism -- but still there is something similar in the project of rendering "something from nothing" so to speak. Perhaps the big difference has to do with the connotations of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) -- your work raises the possibility that there is actually something there -- that the machines "see" something in the darkness that is not only noise, if only because the pattern recognition software in fact recognizes a pattern. It's almost as if this whole series of conversations could be summarized into a theory of consciousness as EVP -- subjectivity as that which translates noisy data into plausible patterns of recorded image and voice.
EBP: With the search for hallucinations in noise there are many possibilities for interpretation -- and a subjective component is always present. Another way of looking at noise is to see it as a bodily characteristic -- as energy. Also another factor is to be found in the way the brain operates -- formation and matching -- these are two fundamental actions, two flows that produce meaning, but it's always a fluid process. What you have said about potentiality and a new notion of phenomenology is really interesting -- it seems that what you are talking about is the introduction of time as a more vital component -- not time as space, but time as duration -- so you can have probability as well as indeterminacy. But there is a place for the senses, in terms of sensation -- the thinking/feeling, or feeling/thinking.
Earlier we talked about "the machine being lost in a machinic reverie abandoned by the very means of its reverie -- a kind of psychotic break occasioned not by the interpretative capacities of the viewer, but simply by her presence or absence... " The way into this is to think of the machinic reverie as a series of flows between the viewer and the machine, but the nature of these flows are marked by their intensities. This ties into the notion of the flows receding. There is a wonderful sentence in Bergson's _Time and Free Will_: "we shall see that time, conceived under the form of an unbounded and homogenous medium is nothing but the ghost of space haunting the reflective consciousness... "[4] This seems to connect to the white hole -- the notion of time as a fleeing ghost of space, and the use of terms like prestomorphic are entirely bound up with spatial formations. It seems like a version of Zeno's famous paradox where you are always half-way there, as if to ask the question of what is the dimension between 0 and 1.
CTHEORY: Well this is probably a very nice note to end on -- the prestomorphic note of a conversation caught between its catalyst and possible modes for continuation. A prestomorphic imagination, perhaps, as that which best represents what might be called an emergent theory of pareidolic subjectivity growing obliquely -- or rendered as machinic instantiation -- under the sign of the Einstein's Brain Project. Thank you both again for what I think has been a provocative and engaging conversation.
Notes ----------------
[1] Alan Dunning and Paul Woodrow, "Body from the Machine: the spectral flesh," _Proceeding of the Digital Arts and Culture Conference_, 2009, University of California, Irvine, 2009. Available online at:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7hm6h6q2.pdf
[2] Ibid.
[3] Brian Massumi, "The Thinking-Feeling of What Happens," _Inflexions_ 1.1 "How is Research-Creation?" (May 2008) www.inflexions.org
[4] Henri Bergson. _Time and Free Will_, New York: Dover Publications, 2001, p.99.
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THE EINSTEIN'S BRAIN PROJECT was formed by two artists, Alan Dunning and Paul Woodrow in 1996, out of a common interest in an expanded field of art practice that included science and technology. The science was focused upon the brain and an investigation of consciousness. Dr. Morley Hollenberg, a pharmacologist and inter cellular communication expert, joined the collaboration perhaps a year later, bringing a knowledge of scientific methodology, theory, and research practices to the collaboration, that resulted in refining the Project's ideas about the possibilities of art and science as distinct yet symbiotic modes of inquiry.
The project's work is featured in several recent books, _Transdisciplinary Digital Art: Sound, Vision and the New Screen_, (Springer, 2008), _Art and Electronic Media_ (Phaidon, 2009), _Acting Bodies: Embodying Computing Power. Bodies, Memory and Technology_, (University Press of America, 2009), _New Realities: Being Syncretic_, Consciousness Reframed (Springer Wien New York, 2009) and _Art and Science_ (Thames and Hudson, 2010)
Additional information and samples of past projects can be found at: http://www.bodydegreezero.org
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Alan Dunning has been working with complex computer supported installations for the past two decades. He has exhibited widely including group and solo shows in North and South America, Europe and the UK and is represented in many collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He has received major research awards from the Canada Council, La Fondation Daniel Langlois, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and the Marion Fund. Alan Dunning currently teaches in the Media Arts and Digital Technologies at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, and is an Adjunct Professor in Computing Science at the University of Calgary.
Paul Woodrow has been involved in a variety of inter-disciplinary and multi-media activities since the late 1960s, including performance art, installation, improvised music, painting, and video. He was a co-founder of W.O.R.K.S., the internationally recognized performance group and has collaborated with many artists including Iain Baxter (N.E. Thing Co.), Herve Fischer (The Sociological Art Group of Paris), Genesis P. Orridge (Coum Transmissions, England), and Clive Roberstson (W.O.R.K.S., Canada). His more recent work consists of multi-media installations, using video projection and sound. He has exhibited extensively since the early seventies, including at the 4th St. Petersburg Biennale (Russia) where he exhibited a version of the interactive VR work Einstein's Brain, the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm (Sweden) the Tate Gallery (London), as well as in Japan, Belgium, Spain, France, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United States, and South America. Professor Woodrow has received numerous awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and currently teaches Art Theory and Studio at the University of Calgary.
Ted Hiebert is a Canadian visual artist and theorist. His artworks have been shown across Canada in public galleries and artist-run centres, and in group exhibitions internationally. His theoretical writings have appeared in, among others, _The Psychoanalytic Review_, _Technoetic Arts_, _Performance Research_ and _CTheory_, as well as in catalogues and exhibition monographs. Hiebert is a member of the Editorial Board of _CTheory_, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell.http://www.tedhiebert.net
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* * CTHEORY is an international peer-reviewed journal of theory, * technology and culture. Articles, interviews, and key book * reviews in contemporary discourse are published weekly as * well as theorisations of major "event-scenes" in the * mediascape. * * Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker * * Editorial Board: Paul Virilio (Paris), Bruce Sterling (Turin), * Siegfried Zielinski (Academy of Media Arts, Cologne), Stelarc * (Nottingham Trent University), DJ Spooky [Paul D. Miller] (New * York City), Lynn Hershman Leeson (San Francisco Art Institute), * Stephen Pfohl (Boston College), Andrew Ross (New York University), * Timothy Murray (Cornell University), Eugene Thacker (The New * School), Steve Dixon (Brunel University), Anna Munster (University * of New South Wales), Warren Magnusson (University of Victoria), * Paul Hegarty (University College Cork), Joan Hawkins (Indiana * University), Frances Dyson (University of California Davis), Mary * Bryson (University of British Columbia), William Bogard (Whitman * College) Andrew Wernick (Trent University), Maurice Charland * (Concordia University). * * In Memoriam: Jean Baudrillard and Kathy Acker * * Editorial Assistant: Aya Walraven * WWW Design & Technical Advisor: Spencer Saunders (CTHEORY.NET) * WWW Engineer Emeritus: Carl Steadman
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To view CTHEORY online please visit: http://www.ctheory.net/
To view CTHEORY MULTIMEDIA online please visit: http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/
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* CTHEORY includes: * * 1. Electronic reviews of key books in contemporary theory. * * 2. Electronic articles on theory, technology and culture. * * 3. Event-scenes in politics, culture and the mediascape. * * 4. Interviews with significant theorists, artists, and writers. * * 5. Multimedia theme issues and projects. * * * The Editors would like to thank the University of Victoria for * financial and intellectual support of CTheory. In particular, the * Editors would like to thank the Dean of Social Sciences, Dr. C. * Peter Keller, and the members of the Department of Political * Science. * _____________________________________________________________________ * * (C) Copyright Information: * * All articles published in this journal are protected by * copyright, which covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and * distribute the article. No material published in this journal * may be translated, reproduced, photographed or stored on * microfilm, in electronic databases, video disks, etc., without * first obtaining written permission from CTheory. * Emailctheory@uvic.ca for more information. * _____________________________________________________________________ * * Mailing address: CTHEORY, University of Victoria, PO Box 3050, * Victoria, BC, Canada, V8W 3P5. * * Full text and microform versions are available from UMI, Ann Arbor, * Michigan; and Canadian Periodical Index/Gale Canada, Toronto. * * Indexed in: International Political Science Abstracts/ * Documentation politique international; Sociological Abstract * Inc.; Advance Bibliography of Contents: Political Science and * Government; Canadian Periodical Index; Film and Literature Index. * _____________________________________________________________________
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Posted by biginla
at 2:36 PM GMT
Egypt protests: Demonstrators 'face prosecution'
Topic: egypt, nasra ismail, bbc news, M
26 January 2011 Last updated at 07:26 ET by Nasra Ismail, BBC News Middle-East Desk, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla The BBC's Jon Leyne: "Tear gas and water cannon were used against protesters" Egypt is to crack down on public protest and has vowed to arrest and prosecute anyone found taking to the streets against the government. Public gatherings, protests and marches will no longer be tolerated, the interior ministry has said. The warning came as a fourth person died after nationwide protests, which were broken up with tear gas overnight. Medics said the injured person died in Suez, in the east of Egypt, where two protesters were killed on Tuesday. A police officer was also killed amid the violence in Cairo. Police used water cannon late on Tuesday as they forced protesters from Tahrir Square, a symbolic city centre location in the heart of Cairo. Continue reading the main storyAnalysisJon LeyneBBC News, Cairo The statement from the interior ministry indicates that the Egyptian government wants to tough it out. Which comes as no surprise at all. Technically all demonstrations are already illegal without government permission, which the opposition is rarely granted. But this does contrast with a statement from the foreign ministry, which claimed the country had an open environment of freedom of expression. There have been some calls for new demonstrations, but so far no substantial numbers have gathered and even the police presence is not overwhelming. Protesters had been inspired by the recent uprising in Tunisia, vowing to stay until the government fell. Small crowds had gathered in Tahrir Square on Wednesday morning, just hours after the last protesters were removed. But there were few signs of a heavy police presence. Unauthorised demonstrations are illegal in Egypt, which has been ruled by President Hosni Mubarak since 1981. The government tolerates little dissent and opposition demonstrations are routinely outlawed. In Washington, the White House urged the Egyptian government to allow protests to go ahead, describing the situation as "an important opportunity" for the nation. France's foreign minister said she regretted the loss of life in Egypt but said democracy should be encouraged in all countries around the world. Social protestingTuesday's event had been co-ordinated on a Facebook page, where the organisers said they were taking a stand against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment. Continue reading the main story“Start QuoteWe believe that the open exchange of information and views benefits societies and helps governments connect with their people” Official posting by Twitter They said that the rally would mark "the beginning of the end". The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Cairo, said that it had been unclear how many people would respond to the online call, but in the end, the turnout was more than the organisers could have hoped. Police were taken aback by the anger of the crowd and let protesters make their way to Tahrir Square near the parliament building, he says. Microblogging site Twitter also played a key part, with supporters inside and outside Egypt using the search term #jan25 to post news of the day. However, Twitter confirmed later on Tuesday that it had been blocked inside Egypt from 1600 GMT, meaning many were unable to post updates from the scene. "We believe that the open exchange of information and views benefits societies and helps governments connect with their people," Twitter said on its official account. There have been renewed calls for protest on Wednesday, but there is no indication yet whether they will attract large crowds. 'Mubarak the coward'The crowd's anger was largely focused on the president on Tuesday, with thousands calling for his resignation and "Down with Mubarak" scrawled on the walls of buildings. But at 0100 local time (2300 GMT Tuesday) police moved in, firing tear gas and driving protesters into nearby streets. There were reports that some people had been beaten by police. There have been suggestions protesters will try to gather for a second day "It got broken up ugly with everything, shooting, water cannon and [police] running with the sticks," one of the last protesters to leave, Gigi Ibrahim, told the Associated Press. Protests were also held out in other areas of the country on Tuesday, including the eastern city of Ismailiya. Thousands joined protests in the northern port city of Alexandria, some chanting: "Revolution, revolution, like a volcano, against Mubarak the coward." In Washington, the White House said Egypt's government had "an important opportunity to be responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people". In a statement, it said Egypt should "pursue political, economic and social reforms that can improve their lives and help Egypt prosper". "The United States is committed to working with Egypt and the Egyptian people to advance these goals," it added. 'Rudderless' oppositionThe Egyptian government said it had allowed Tuesday's protesters "to voice their demands and exercise their freedom of expression". It blamed the violence on the banned Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, although they were reported to have been ambivalent about the protests. One opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, had called on Egyptians to take part in the protests. Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted from power and fled the country earlier this month, after weeks of protests in which dozens of people were killed. Egypt has many of the same social and political problems that brought about the unrest in Tunisia - rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption. However, the population of Egypt has a much lower level of education than Tunisia. Illiteracy is high and internet penetration is low. There are deep frustrations in Egyptian society, our Cairo correspondent says, adding that Egypt is widely seen to have lost power, status and prestige in the three decades of President Mubarak's rule. Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here. Read the terms and conditions (Required)Name(Required)Your E-mail address(Required)Town & Country(Required)Your telephone number(Required)
Posted by biginla
at 12:57 PM GMT
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