Search Engine Syntax

All pervasive, at least on the internet, the Search Engine has begun shaping the way we think. Search engines are special websites that act like indexes for the world wide web, and the first place most people go when looking for information on a specific topic. But does this mean that they're shaping our thinking?

To get what you're looking for with a search engine, it helps to have the end in mind. If you're looking for a list of famous baseball players, type in "'Babe Ruth' 'Hank Aaron' 'Joe Dimaggio' and 'famous baseball players' list". It's bound to give you at least those three, and is probably much closer to the result you wanted in the first place. And this is only one way that our thinking has to adjust to communicate with machines.

In his Atlantic Monthly article "Is Google Making Us Stupid", Nicholas Carr describes several ways that the internet affects our thinking. There is a chance that repeated interfacing with 'Google', trying to get an answer, creates neural pathways specific to that search-engine. The amount of available information, alone, makes us dependent on a search engine to filter through it for us.

Having the ability to use Google isn't the end-all-be-all of operating on the internet. A majority of web content is inaccessible by Google. The ability to adapt to new ways of thinking is enhanced by using that ability, and NOT falling into a comfortable routine of reading. One research summary points out that we're developing parallel thinking skills and perhaps losing our talent for sequential thinking skills.

On the other hand, McLuhan's book "The Medium is the Massage" (1967) points out that sequential thinking is due to sequential writing, and that the parallel www makes us think verbally again. (Here's a really annoying video that summarizes much of that book.) The change is happening, and it will affect us.

20 year Rule

Why does Hollywood and pop culture seem to revolve on a 20 year cycle? I saw 1970's fashion try a comeback in the '90's, the show "I ♥ the 80's" hit starting in 2002, and now the V miniseries has me thinking about the original V miniseries. It's as if there's a holding pattern for our culture's growth. People try selling us our nostalgic feelings, and we buy them.

I suppose there's another angle here. The makers of pop culture are people, just like the rest of us. They are packaging their own nostalgic feelings. "Oh, remember that show I liked when I was a kid? Why don't we do something like that?. . ." So what if it's not new? The general population will buy it because it's familiar. It's no wonder "It takes any really new idea about 20 years to reach the public." Chuck Wagner, HHS Teacher.

Early Morning

This post is on the need for productive industry in the Spokane area, as there are to be several unemployed or under-employed individuals this coming winter.

My idea--and this isn't entirely original--was to have a pottery center for the homeless, where they would be able to come and get some work when they wanted it...all sorts of problems there.

Maybe if it were something people needed--like pens, or food...no, wait.

I wiggle as I walk through life.

I might be ADD, or bipolar, or some other undiagnosed disorder. I say disorder because I find it hard to keep my life in order, like other people I see.

I have lots of stuff organized into disorganized piles around the room. If there is a project I want to do, I can get it done if I work on it for less than 3 days, because after 3 days my initial creativity has changed shape, and is unwilling to

follow through. If I organize/structure my initial project to accommodate a longer time investment, I still may fall "out of love" with the idea and want to scrap it and start over...or quit.How can I succeed for myself? Just set attainable goals, or else change how I view success. (my Grandpa Benson--'You've gotta invent something, and keep your body strong as well as your mind'; Lee Ayars- 'become a famous potter/ceramicist') I see success as an intermittent reward for creative productivity, which is why I'm always making stuff and showing it to people...or the instantaneous gratification of their response. But lately I've seen my success-seeking taking on a more difficult edge: Long-term success that can pay the bills and "achieve" something lasting or monumental.

I wiggle as I walk through life, kind of making this path which has lots of (emotional and destinational) backtracking and doesn't get much beyond my self.

This path, I think, would have been more deliberate and I would

have gone further with less confusion.

One side note here.

My goal hasn't always been personal success in the capacity it has taken as of late. It has often been to strengthen others to their goals and my path has, in combination with other paths, looked something like this for which I am proud.

Q: How do you assess if a goal is worthwhile? Beyond $in < $out. I ask this towards sustainability, to a purpose over time. It could even help others get to the promised land you see but will probably not enter. Hmm. I sense a long term commitment coming on...

Glitter

I
do
not
have
space
actually
Idonothave
aspacebarand
spIhavetohitenter
toseparateoutthoughts

Goal in Art

We take in the world and store it symbolically
in our heads. Creating art allows other people
to see the world we see, or how we see it.
It's a very exposing process.
Unfortunately, once the artwork is created
the interpretation is entirely up to the receiver.

My current thought is that the goal in making art is
to create "archetypal" images that register
as pure tones in the symbolic visual brain
and that deliver meaning more directly,
allowing the sender and the receiver
to resonate more strongly.

Need to find a message worth sending.

Anchor Poem

My leaping stone
I cling to you for strength and self assurance
Tether myself around the waist, the other end around you
like some umbilicus
Gather confidence and leap off into the deep wet unknown
Struggling bravely through whatever learning experience I'm in
And pull myself back onto you to recharge.

Is it bravery, stupid stubbornness, or some innate desire driving me
to loosen my tether and drift away
through uncertain abyss--to strike out on my own--?
Beyond that which I knew are familiar seeming shadows
Recognizable but not actually comforting
Ghostly forms and reedy delights, but really I miss having
Stable earth and stone and grass under my feet.