In This Reality...

While the format may have changed I don’t believe that will prevent me from taking my jaunts down the rabbit hole. Let’s see:

For the Borges article, The Garden of Forking Paths, I’d like to point out a marriage between this idea of forking through time and the concept of a rhizome presented in the Deleuze and Guattari article, A Thousand Plateaus. In this tale that Borges forges we see, through this literary labyrinth, the possibility of different paths, different realities or even dimension created through the effect of our choices in time. Our current position in time, in our lives, is the result of the path we’ve chosen to travel and along this path, at any given turn, we may have well become someone else entirely.

There are many beliefs, many of them coming from an eastern origin, that suggest that we are all linked with a singular unifying force and through it we are not individuals but extensions of this idea and of one another. This is not so unlike this concept of a rhizome. We see this in the networks that connect us, each to one another in these various degrees of separation.

Is it possible then that we are not singular entities but extensions of the myriad of possible outcomes from a singular source? Perhaps we could be linked to a spiritual force that is neither sentient nor judgmental but experiencing the infinite possibilities of existence through us, through our unique view of the world. I would forge ahead but I don’t believe the spiritual path here is in direct context with this class. Despite this we can see that were this the case this rhizomatic connection of various possibilities through time is directly linked with our articles.

As for the Ascott piece, The Construction of Change, we see again the role of the artist and scientist challenged again. As a game developer I found some quotes that I would like to share. “Art for me, is largely a matter of freely developing ideas and creating forms and structures which embody them. Whatever ideas I may pursue, and in the art the entire universe is open to investigation and reconstruction.” This is an example of the growing trend where video games are beginning to be accepted more than mere toys but an extension of art.

In games we developers create entirely new worlds. In these worlds we are allowed to follow the laws that adhere to our current world of choose to break them entirely. Additionally we are allowed to investigate, through these stories that we forge, the myriad of possibilities of real life moments in history not so unlike the labyrinth mentioned before.

Symbols:

Time – It’s too bad that we’re confined to static images in this endeavor but were I to choose an image here it would be the round face of a watch without the hands to tell the time. Because it is relative, linked to so many personal experiences, we have the personal symbol of a watch without the hands so that the wearer sees what it is he/she wants.

History – Here, I think, would be a fantastic place for an ever circular library not so unlike the one we read about in the Borges article in class. It is a symbol for the infinite record of memories, an endless circle of recollections.