Thursday, October 7th 2010

Real and Virtual Media

•   Bourdieu, “On Television” (MCS)

•   Poster, “Postmodern Virtualities” (MCS)

•   Huxley, Brave New World (handout)

•   Film - Matrix Clips

•   Welles, Citizen Kane

Questions to Consider in Week 5

 Speed, and our obsession with it, seems to be an obvious attraction to virtual reality—speed’s ability to generate ongoing pleasure without interruption. Discuss the present and future problems with humans’ desire for speed; or is speed, once a desire, now a need?

Are we witnessing just another evolutionary shift in humankind; if so, nothing to worry about, right?

Technology, as envisaged, helps facilitate the everyday ongoings of human affairs. Beyond the perfunctory aspects of everydayness, do you see humans using technology in more radical ways (e.g., sociological, political, religious, biological)?

To what does technology serve?