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All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

- Richard Brautigan

I love the week between Christmas and New Year’s. For as long as I can remember it’s stood out as a period of reflection and hope. The nights are long. Business slows. But a new year is on the way! So there’s much to look forward to.

Here’s a quote I pulled from today’s NYTimes. The article is called “A Tale of Trigger.”

“Are you willing to own, that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness… to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings?”

- Heny van Dyke

This we know, all things are connected, like the blood that unites one family.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web,
he does to himself.

- Chief Seattle

Hello dear readers! Just a quick note to let you know I’m thinking of you. I spent the last month and half getting caught up on office biz, resting, celebrating and preparing for 2008. For me this means lots of READING (hence all the recent posts about the news). I look forward to expanding my scope in January once the busyness of Christmas and New Year’s settles down.

So stay tuned for… more images! More observations about honeybees; new information about a long-term project I’m bursting to share; general reflections on animal behavior, botanical art, filmmaking and encaustic painting. All coming in 2008.

Here’s something gripping. It’s an NPR story about an Australia based art collective called SymbioticA. They make art from living tissue. The image above is a replica of a human ear made out of human skin cells. Wow and gross and how’d they do that? I’m repulsed and intrigued.

Is this ethical? I don’t know. Lots of questions though… What value does a cell have when separated from its parent organism? Is a cell an individual being? Does a cell have feelings? Can it feel pain? Do we have the right to boss cells around this way? Or are we simply guiding them toward a new way of being?

Yay! Basel pics (plus a good story) at WashingtonPost.com. There’s some festive inspiration to be had here. Enjoy!

Back to Radiohead… There’s a good story about “In Rainbows” in the NYTimes this morning. It includes interviews with the band (including this uncharacteristically exuberant bit about bootlegging from Thom Yorke).

“The first time we ever did ‘All I Need,’ boom! It was up on YouTube,” Mr. Yorke said. “I think it’s fantastic. The instant you finish something, you’re really excited about it, you’re really proud of it, you hope someone’s heard it, and then, by God, they have. It’s O.K. because it’s on a phone or a video recorder. It’s a bogus recording, but the spirit of the song is there, and that’s good. At that stage that’s all you need to worry about.”

Hmm… I love the enthusiasm here. But do the pieces add up? At the risk of sounding change averse I can’t help but ask… Where’s the money? What’s happening to copyright norms? And who benefits from the shift? Established record companies? No. Not much sympathy there. But how about YouTube? Google? Any of the new content distributors with zero invested in creation? You bet.

It’s easy to see why artists love the internet. The ability to self-publish, maintain full control over a creative project and have a direct relationship with one’s readers/viewers/listeners is seductive. But, as money and power accumulate in the the hands of online distributors. As copyright norms shift in a direction that favors their interests over ours…

Well, we’ll see.

There’s a lovely story in this morning’s Washington Post about the gentle bloggers of Japan. Apparently, the Japanese blog differently than Americans do. Their goal is to fit in and get along rather than stand out.

My favorite bit describes a 43 year old women who blogs about her lunch. She observes tastes and textures of in fine detail. But never criticizes quality or service. She says “If I think the food stinks, I don’t write it. I don’t want to influence the diners.” There’s a lot of generosity there.