Tuesday, October 2, 2007

During the artefact we watched on Thursday with Hakim Bey, I took down some notes, and when I looked back at them, I remembered a statement of Bey's. He said, in more words or less, that the isolation of one sense, that sense being eyesight, is potentially sickening. He says this in reference to the discussion of whether or not a temporary autonomous zone can exist in cyberspace. A TAZ needs "spirit" cyberspace cannot offer. A group of people with a common ground can exist in cyberspace, even a certain level of community can be among them, but online, through reading and writing alone, TAZ cannot exist. It is impossible to achieve the harmony that TAZs demand in cyberspace. A TAZ is something that just happens, without a specific plan but with a commonality all groups share. I don't think Bey's stance challenges that of McLuhan's in regard to medium as an extension of the body. Bey may not disagree with McLuhan, but he would argue that it should not be just one part of the body which is extended. One aspect should not be singled out to excel above all others and be prioritized indefinitely.

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