After reading Part 1 of "You Are Not a Gadget", it really had me thinking about how much the internet has really changed our identities. We live in a world where our identity has become a dual-standard, meaning that we not only have a "human" identity, but also a "virtual" identity. Our "human" identity defines who we are as people and how we interact with one another in our daily lives, and our "virtual" identity involves how we communicate with one another via social networks and through other forms of media.
Lanier discusses this idea of changing technology that changes people when he states, "Our identities can be shifted by quirks or gadgets." I feel that instead of our identities being "shifted", our human identity has been integrated into our "virtual" identity, instead of being replaced. In addition, these technologies, including mobile phones and gadgets, have made us become even more dependent on them as they change, so I agree with Lanier when he states that altering something on the web changes an individual's behavioral patterns.
Another idea that I found interesting about Part 1 was this process of MIDI. Of course, with me being a Music major and all, it was a must to have reflected my ideas about this development. I agree with Lanier about MIDI being a breakthrough in musical expression, and that the musical note had transformed from a "bottomless idea" to a "mandatory structure". However, to answer his question about digital artists accepting this finite idea of a MIDI note, I don't believe digital artists really have a choice to not give in to"lock-in". In today's society, the main way to for an artist to actually progress in this industry is to submit to this idea of "lock-in", due to digital purchasing of music, along with the development of new musical software programs that are designed to work with MIDI.
Lanier's other question that I would like to take a stab at is when he asks how can a musician appreciate the "broader, less-defined" concept of a note that came before MIDI, although we use MIDI in our everyday lives and interactions. I feel that a true musician should appreciate all types of musical concepts, but never forget where the idea of MIDI came from: the original notes and scales from a piano. And yes, MIDI has allowed musicians without any prior engineering or production training to create their own music, but at the same time, we cannot simply neglect what has set the standard for developing music. Similarly, we cannot neglect our "human" identity, and trade it in for our "virtual" identity.
how do you think Lanier would respond to your point that musicians have no choice but to submit to lock-in?
ReplyDeleteyour points on human identity in the first paragraph are interesting. they seem to me to expose a potential problem in Lanier's thinking, namely, too strong an opposition between what is human and what is technological. if our technologies are extensions of and supplements to who we are, then can we really think of who we are without them?