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> What if Picasso had had Snapchat? What if Hemingway had spent half the afternoon writing Yelp reviews of his favorite bars? Is the author suggesting that gre

by vosper 10y ago

> What if Picasso had had Snapchat? What if Hemingway had spent half the afternoon writing Yelp reviews of his favorite bars? Is the author suggesting that great art and writing can no longer happen, because of Snapchat and Yelp? Because I'd argue that we've never lived in a time when it's been easier to create art, of all kinds, and there doesn't seem to be any shortage of great literature being published, either. I find this endless bemoaning of the unrealness of "digital" quite tiresome.

imgabe 10y ago
Hemingway could have, if he wanted to, spent half the afternoon writing reviews of his favorite bars. You don't need Yelp for that. Just like Picasso could have spent his time taking pictures of food or whatever the author imagines people do with Snapchat. This all seems more like an excuse. "I could be Hemingway if only that dastardly Yelp weren't distracting me all the time!". Yelp isn't the one to blame here.
- sanderjd 10y ago
  Also, both Picasso and Hemingway spent lots of time socializing, especially with other artists. At the most distilled level, that's what people use all this new-fangled technology for.
  - throwawaycopy 10y ago
    Did you read the article? The author addresses and counters this notion that digital socializing brings us together. See, you've put all of your spiritual and ethical eggs in to your technologic worship so you are completely closed off to the notion that smartphones might actually be really horrible. You're basically just defending your own thinly veiled insecurities about how you give your own life meaning.
    - sanderjd 10y ago
      Woah, calm down - I was just expanding on the single comment I replied to. I'm an old fogey who isn't young or cool enough to have all my eggs in that basket. My eggs are far more in the sitting-around-reading-books-and-newspapers and hiking-in-the-mountains baskets. But I do think this hysteria is pretty overblown, as your comment demonstrates.
    - idanoeman 10y ago
      That's a very uncharitable assumption about P's comment.
- dwaltrip 10y ago
  The 1800s called and would like their willpower moralizing argument back. Less snidely, ignoring the context in which actions take place is not reasonable. We are immensely shaped by the environment that we are a part of. The trickier question of how to balance such realizations with the concept of individual responsibility? It seems the jury is still out on that one. My guess is that the most productive efforts will be those that produce better outcomes from a systemic perspective, through more harmonious alignment of underlying incentives and a developing understanding of human nature.
throwawaycopy 10y ago
Cool story, bro. This article is about the increasing rejection of the flood of digital information. You're clearly still addicted to your devices. An increasing number of us are playing acoustic guitars, going camping, playing board games, listening to vinylr records and mainly enjoying each other's company without any intermediary consumer device. This forum is filled with technocratic mutants who cling to some half-baked theology that the digital revolution will save our souls, so I'm not expecting to change any minds. Hell, this forum is basically designed to halt any notion of discourse and to amplify the pro-tech rhetoric. Best of luck!
- mustacheemperor 10y ago
  Why must it be someone is either on the enlightened side with you or "addicted to devices?" I go camping and play board games with my friends, but on my last long flight (for a trip where we left our devices off entirely) my partner and I played civ v the whole time on my tablet. You're at least as guilty of an extreme rhetoric as this specifically tech-oriented forum, and while I certainly agree there are people who spend too much time in front of the TV I don't think your message will change their habits. I also don't necessarily believe they would have been super-productive contributors to society if only the lcd screen hadn't been invented.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
anigbrowl 10y ago
we've never lived in a time when it's been easier to create art And art that is created without effort tends to deliver only superficial pleasure and is accordingly treated as a disposable commodity rather than the product of a singular vision allied with patient craft. You might enjoy reading Walter Benjamin's essay The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction. While this was written in the 1930 it remains very readable and its observations are easily synthesized with the distinguishing features of digital technology.

by vosper 10y ago

imgabe 10y ago

Hemingway could have, if he wanted to, spent half the afternoon writing reviews of his favorite bars. You don't need Yelp for that. Just like Picasso could have spent his time taking pictures of food or whatever the author imagines people do with Snapchat. This all seems more like an excuse. "I could be Hemingway if only that dastardly Yelp weren't distracting me all the time!". Yelp isn't the one to blame here.

sanderjd 10y ago
Also, both Picasso and Hemingway spent lots of time socializing, especially with other artists. At the most distilled level, that's what people use all this new-fangled technology for.
- throwawaycopy 10y ago
  Did you read the article? The author addresses and counters this notion that digital socializing brings us together. See, you've put all of your spiritual and ethical eggs in to your technologic worship so you are completely closed off to the notion that smartphones might actually be really horrible. You're basically just defending your own thinly veiled insecurities about how you give your own life meaning.
  - sanderjd 10y ago
    Woah, calm down - I was just expanding on the single comment I replied to. I'm an old fogey who isn't young or cool enough to have all my eggs in that basket. My eggs are far more in the sitting-around-reading-books-and-newspapers and hiking-in-the-mountains baskets. But I do think this hysteria is pretty overblown, as your comment demonstrates.
  - idanoeman 10y ago
    That's a very uncharitable assumption about P's comment.
dwaltrip 10y ago
The 1800s called and would like their willpower moralizing argument back. Less snidely, ignoring the context in which actions take place is not reasonable. We are immensely shaped by the environment that we are a part of. The trickier question of how to balance such realizations with the concept of individual responsibility? It seems the jury is still out on that one. My guess is that the most productive efforts will be those that produce better outcomes from a systemic perspective, through more harmonious alignment of underlying incentives and a developing understanding of human nature.

throwawaycopy 10y ago

Cool story, bro. This article is about the increasing rejection of the flood of digital information. You're clearly still addicted to your devices. An increasing number of us are playing acoustic guitars, going camping, playing board games, listening to vinylr records and mainly enjoying each other's company without any intermediary consumer device. This forum is filled with technocratic mutants who cling to some half-baked theology that the digital revolution will save our souls, so I'm not expecting to change any minds. Hell, this forum is basically designed to halt any notion of discourse and to amplify the pro-tech rhetoric. Best of luck!

mustacheemperor 10y ago
Why must it be someone is either on the enlightened side with you or "addicted to devices?" I go camping and play board games with my friends, but on my last long flight (for a trip where we left our devices off entirely) my partner and I played civ v the whole time on my tablet. You're at least as guilty of an extreme rhetoric as this specifically tech-oriented forum, and while I certainly agree there are people who spend too much time in front of the TV I don't think your message will change their habits. I also don't necessarily believe they would have been super-productive contributors to society if only the lcd screen hadn't been invented.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

anigbrowl 10y ago

we've never lived in a time when it's been easier to create art And art that is created without effort tends to deliver only superficial pleasure and is accordingly treated as a disposable commodity rather than the product of a singular vision allied with patient craft. You might enjoy reading Walter Benjamin's essay The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction. While this was written in the 1930 it remains very readable and its observations are easily synthesized with the distinguishing features of digital technology.