Dani Day
Critical Aproaches to Digital Media
Instructed by Trace Reddell
March 10, 2007
Biological Channel Surfing
Reflective Statement
This assignment was theoretically a critical and academic look at digital media. The specific topic was not defined by the assignment and left to the discretion of each student. Using texts and other sources from the curriculum of the class, we were to establish a discussion of digital media theory and practice incorporating technical influences and current and historical studies and theories to add credibility to our own ideas.
The essay requirement of 18-20 pages was not difficult to execute. On the contrary, I found myself struggling to condense the myriad bits of information into a concise and thoughtful paper. Somewhere along the process, I had to whittle it down from over 40 pages of scattered information, all pertinent to the subject but not necessarily the key information to make the point of the essay. I also found myself struggling to convert the information into my own rendition and vocabulary and ultimately decided to create a mash or remix of information pieces tying them together with my own thoughts. In a way, I used the texts of others to create new thoughts much like a Turntablist uses beats to create a new sound. To some degree I feel as if I finally understand the concept of Detournement. I used the essay format to detour the information I found on many other subjects to create a new message.
I think somewhere in the mix of information I found on antennae grounding in saltwater and brainwave activity and response to stimuli and neurobiology and its relation to consciousness, I got lost in a catacomb of deceit and potential misuse of technology that really made it difficult to see the specific picture I was originally looking at in my minds eye. The plethora of possibilities for direction and semblance was at times overwhelming. I ultimately decided to channel the information into a container for the reader to either hold or throw away. If each of the pieces I put together made any sense to the reader in the same sense they made to me, then I have truly accomplished my goal. Maybe someone will make other connections I didn’t see and will come up with a new mix based on their own agendas and predispositions.
I really wanted to focus on the potential use of the human body as a radio frequency transponder. There is some research on the subject from various technological standpoints, but I was not able to find any in the exact conceptual frame I have been thinking. There is a great deal of research in the realm of radio frequency and animal implantation, but nothing I found directly connects RF to biological function in the sense of using the human body or brain to transmit or receive information directly through use of RF. There is however a large base of information dealing with sound and light as a way to transfer information to a human or animal brain. There seems to be something missing in the information based on my understanding of the science of light and sound. Radio, television and satellite communication is all based on the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes visible light and sound. It seems logical to me that the study of direct frequency manipulation should be in the minds of the researchers as they look for new ways to help or hinder mankind.
Maybe some of the conspiracy theories I investigated through this project were not too far fetch and the research IS being done, but at a level of secrecy for the protection of the governing bodies in charge of the research. It would make sense that if this were indeed a valid quest, the people responsible for the studies would not want anyone to know they could potentially be subject to involuntary manipulation via brain wave changes.
We are constantly being subjected to radio waves by the inundation of cell phones and other devices. The research in how those technologies could potentially harm the human body is very much a visible entity. I thought this availability of current study would make my research easy. I had a preconceived idea of what the connections would be and though I found no definitive corroboration to my theories, I found enough circumstantial evidence to make me want to look further into the possibilities.
Much of the paper is based on connections I have made in my own mind to the various pieces of information. I am not sure even now, after the hours, days and weeks of research if my thoughts are truly worthy of further review or evidence that I need to commit myself to the local mental hospital. I find myself re-reviewing many of the pieces of information even as I write this reflection and I fail to see the logic in not studying this concept further.
As for the way I presented the information, I wish I had focused more energy toward the idea of surfing as a metaphor for the voice of the paper. I used a few small references to the sport, but didn’t take it as far as I could have. I continually see ways I could have incorporated more of the ocean surfing sport into the concept of the paper. From the idea of channel surfing in the ocean sport meaning riding in the deep spot where the waves don’t break to using the ocean as an antennae ground for better reception to the idea of riding a RF wave and hanging on the lip of it into the brain of the unsuspecting hodad meaning non-surfer.
I have been contemplating the idea of RF transmission and what potentials it may hold for many years. I think that was a primary reason I worked in television for so long. My fascination with television and the burning question of “how does the picture and sound travel across a city and end up on this box in my house?” has been an integral part of my psychosis since I was a small child and watched Guilligan’s Island with my eyes and ears glued to the “Professor” as he rigged up a radio transmitter with bamboo and coconuts and powered by the ever bumbling Guilligan.
My influence for this paper has a little to do with reading Andy Clark’s Natural Born Cyborgs. Along with my infatuation with television as a child, I have always been tuned to the idea of the Cyborg. Long before the term was coined there have been references to the combining of entities whether ancient ideas of human-animal combinations like the Sphinx in Egypt or human-machines since the dawn of the Industrial age or the chemically altered state of being as in Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. As much as science fiction has captured my attention, I think I am also influenced very much by science documentaries and research I read daily on everything from the current state of global warming to the mating rituals of ancient beasts.
The way the brain functions is still very much a mystery to the science world and the study of it is ever growing and changing course. I truly hope to see some new innovations in technology related to brain function over the next few years and will continue to look for avenues of interpretation for solidification of my own views as the research unveils new sources for study.
Digital media is only in its infancy and has not been fully expressed at this point in time. I think the implications for digital transmission of information within the Internet and between people and computers via the Internet and instituted through radio frequency is a viable research opportunity and could potentially alter the way we not only store information and retrieve it, but the way we are directly affected consciously and subconsciously by the transmission of the media.
My hope for the future is that we will, as a governing body and a reciprocal entity use the technology in a manner to advance humanity rather than control it. I believe Andy Clark was correct to suggest that we as humans have an intrinsic natural tendency toward the Cyborg as metaphor and as actual biological and mechanical union. I agree, “Our most significant technologies are those that will allow our thoughts to go where no animal thoughts have gone before. It is our shape-sifter minds, not our space-roving bodies, that will most fully express our deep cyborg nature” (Clark 2003: 198).
Clark, Andrew J. 2003. Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc