Teletopia
Personally, I thought it would have helped immensely if we had a class discussion prior to this response essay.
"The Third Interval" dealt with the changing concept of time and space and examined the effects of that changing dynamics between human and time.
This essay examines many different relationships between time and human. The most interesting relationship was the changing concept of the "present" through the emergence of teletopia. Teletopia is essentially a paradox; you are not there but you are there. The concept of being "telepresent" was first introduced through various technologies that enabled the "instantantenous teleactions." It's basic concept is to be here and elsewhere at the same time. Tele- is the prefix for distance, as you know, so the representative phrases introduced in the essay are "Immediate teleaction, and instantenous telepresence."
One example that fits this concept was the "data suit" that was introduced in the essay. Essentially, this device had sensors attached on the suit that transferred the identical actions
to another device that was in another space. The same motions and actions could be
reproduced transcending space through this suit.
My dilemma was that if we could indeed call this telepresence another "presence." Through optoelectronics we are creating an illusion that merely resembles the present. Even if technology continues to develop and we arrive at a stage where we can perfectly transfer every action or even thoughts to this other entity of telepresence, (which indeed could end up as a clone) in my opinion it does not carry the siginificance and realness of the presence.
Telepresence is reproducing another reality, but in no way could this be considered an equivalent to the real presence, in my opinion. "You" as an entity only exist only once in this world, and I think that the claim that the telepresence adds another dimension to our lives is an overstatement.
I still have limited understanding of the text, I am still trying to understand on how the quote "To define the present in isolation is to kill it." contradicts or supports my claim.
"The Third Interval" dealt with the changing concept of time and space and examined the effects of that changing dynamics between human and time.
This essay examines many different relationships between time and human. The most interesting relationship was the changing concept of the "present" through the emergence of teletopia. Teletopia is essentially a paradox; you are not there but you are there. The concept of being "telepresent" was first introduced through various technologies that enabled the "instantantenous teleactions." It's basic concept is to be here and elsewhere at the same time. Tele- is the prefix for distance, as you know, so the representative phrases introduced in the essay are "Immediate teleaction, and instantenous telepresence."
One example that fits this concept was the "data suit" that was introduced in the essay. Essentially, this device had sensors attached on the suit that transferred the identical actions
to another device that was in another space. The same motions and actions could be
reproduced transcending space through this suit.
My dilemma was that if we could indeed call this telepresence another "presence." Through optoelectronics we are creating an illusion that merely resembles the present. Even if technology continues to develop and we arrive at a stage where we can perfectly transfer every action or even thoughts to this other entity of telepresence, (which indeed could end up as a clone) in my opinion it does not carry the siginificance and realness of the presence.
Telepresence is reproducing another reality, but in no way could this be considered an equivalent to the real presence, in my opinion. "You" as an entity only exist only once in this world, and I think that the claim that the telepresence adds another dimension to our lives is an overstatement.
I still have limited understanding of the text, I am still trying to understand on how the quote "To define the present in isolation is to kill it." contradicts or supports my claim.
Labels: mike
posted by Mike Kim at
11:14 AM
1 Comments:
I really agree with your idea that ""You" as an entity only exist only once in this world, and I think that the claim that the telepresence adds another dimension to our lives is an overstatement."
In fact, I personally do not agree with his idea or even I do not think that his idea is that convincing. I think that the idea of "telepresent" is not relevant to the concept of time. This might be because of my limited understanding of the argument. Or this must be the author's frustration of new technology back then. By the way, don't you think that writer's use of language is disturbing?
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