an alternative gospel

*in some ways, parenting is first about teaching a child about the material world—the things we believe to be solid and fixed, literally and figuratively. “parents” “mom and mom” “dad and dad” “mom and dad” etc.

the transition into adulthood seems to be one of uprooting the foundations of what people believe to be the material world. adultness or maturity is often understood by a person’s capacity for open-minded thought, but how does one become open-minded? it comes from being lied to, learning that not everything people tell you is “true.” having an open-mind is a polite way of reframing a filter/censor that, over time, becomes more adept at hearing ideas, then organize them, then articulating why something is “shit” or “not shit.”

representing the self

<shower thoughts>

i spend a lot of time thinking about videogames in relation to representations of the self.

who is the self, what is the self?

is the self an algorithm that reactions to cross-cutting concerns?

selves and their utility, success, agency are contingent on structure, placement.

is there such a thing as re-imagining the self,

or is our time better spent reshaping structures that value and anticipate all possible selves?

</shower thoughts>

unbind the book

wouldn’t it be cool if, when you loaded a webpage, all of the words appeared as floating objects on the page? and you could organize them however you liked? frequency would determine size, and words could be categorized by color in terms of their document hierarchy. menu items could be red. story copy could be black, and headline/subhead/byline copy could all be purple.

the mouse cursor could be used to move words around like slippery objects on a table top, which would obviously be an optimal interface for tablet users. an overlay menu would provide users with default organizational structures. instead of dictating hierarchy and categorization, the user could map their own consumption of the content. place all the ads in one place. all the pictures and videos in another.

like food on a plate.

intersectional // dimensions

my mind is swimming.

algorithms, algorithms, algorithms

patterns found in nature.

identity is not tangible, a navigable sea

materiality is simply the third dimension

but what of creativity?

no answers

Reduction plays a particular part

in elevating the emotional arc.