DISQUS

Ethan Bauley · 1 year ago

Hey mang

I thought your comment on AVC in which you compared Umair Haque to "a snake oil salesman" was one of the funniest things I've ever read. Really, really hilarious.

Sarcasm aside, you should peep Bruce Sterling's "Shaping Things" if you haven't already:

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.as...

"The future will see a new kind of object that will be sustainable, enhanceable, and uniquely identifiable. Sterling coins the term "spime" for them, these future manufactured objects with informational support so extensive and rich that they are regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system."

Marinate on that last bit for a sec...and then:

"Spimes are designed on screens, fabricated by digital means, and precisely tracked through space and time. They are made of substances that can be folded back into the production stream of future spimes, challenging all of us to become involved in their production."

www.spimeco.com

;-)

(btw, Umair is intentionally opaque, it's part of this whole "thing")

Philippe Bradley · 1 year ago

It was unfair of me to be so critical - Umair does make some very good points occasionally, and does substantiate them with logic sometimes - guess I was just having a bad day. Glad the only consequence was to make you laugh, and not start a vendetta!

I'll definitely check out that book. If I may return the favour, read Ivan Illich's "Tools for Conviviality" - it's not long but it's incredible stuff given how long ago it was written - predicting the internet/wikipedia, freedom of the amateur from his reliance on professionals, etc

Ethan Bauley · 1 year ago

Cool, I was just teasin' ;-)

I goog'd illich when I saw another of your references to him...adding to the ever-lengthening AMZ list now...

But ya, you should really peep "ST"...it's amazing and very short...more of a long essay...but a useful [and often hilarious] framework