Reduction

When reading the assigned chapters from Idhe's work, I found myself wondering why sovereignty of the perception of reality was reserved for our senses. The "human" part of Idhe's equation never alters, even as tools pass from present-at-hand to transparent. What about our senses makes them the best judge of reality? Our sense of sight can be faulty. Tiny variations in photoreceptive cells from eye to eye lead to subtle, yet different, realities for each person who looks through a telescope or microscope. Idhe considers the translation of audible sound into visual waves to be reducing its dimension - but perhaps it isn't so much "reducing" as "exacting" or "refining." No longer are a person's inner ear bones or nerves responsible for interpreting sound, it is displayed with precision in digital format. Anyway, that was what went through my head when we discussed tools and their place between humans and the world. Our own senses, which phenomenology seems to reguard as sovereign, are hermeneutic. Where does that lead us?

Spring Break!

I really enjoyed seeing everyone's presentations. Well done all! They were cool, funny, and thought-provoking. There isn't a lot more to say about class this week. If you want to post and tell me about your spring break, feel free! I'm sure you'll all have a more exciting time than I. :) Have fun and be safe! See you all after break.

On Breaking the Fourth Wall

Lexia to Perplexia reminds me of a text adventure game without the game. As well, the idea of merging human grammar with computer grammar reminds me of breaking the fourth wall, especially in the context of video games. That is the mental analogy I used to try to make sense of what I was experiencing: I was the avatar in the digital world, but the veil had been lifted and I could see what was going on behind the clean-skinned representation of the world and into the code working under the hood. (Sounds like The Matrix, probably - I've never actually seen The Matrix.)

There's an interesting article about immersion, postmodernism, and breaking the fourth wall with a lot of focus on Metal Gear Solid in "Press the ‘Action' Button, Snake! The Art of Self-Reference in Video Games". It is an interesting, if a tad superficial, examination, but doesn't seem to include much about Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. That's a rather glaring omission, as MGS2 is one of the few games I've played that I would consider postmodern. For example, at the end, the player's usual sense of control is completely subverted. It's one of the few games where you feel you personally are being forced to do things you don't want to do. It's different than the understanding most gamers have that they must fulfill specific criteria to achieve a winning, endgame condition.

One of the central themes of MGS2 also ties in, I think, with our discussion of modes of communication, and how we interact with them and how they manipulate us and our understanding. The main character (spoiler, not Snake) is a study in how much of a "self" actually exists in a person, and how much is externally dictated. How are our beliefs shaped by the external world, and do we have any choice in what we believe? This carries over to how we interpret messages: how much of the message is dictated by the medium? Quite a bit of it, I think Hayles is arguing.

Anyway, the MGS series is famous for referencing the system that the human player is interacting with, much like Lexia to Perplexia highlights the system that the reader is interacting with, to point out the materiality of the message medium.