Perception (n) versus perception (v) ⊗ An ontology of havoc ⊗ The unraveling of space-time

Perception (n) versus perception (v)

Andrew McLuhan explores the dual meanings of “perception”—the act of sensing and the resulting opinions or beliefs shaped by that sensory experience. He emphasises that our identities, preferences, and values are deeply influenced by how technologies shape our senses, highlighting that “any culture is an order of sensory preferences.” He argues that understanding these sensory changes is foundational to media studies as seen from the McLuhan perspective.

His argument is, in part, expanding on the writings of his grand-father, none other than Marshall McLuhan, and in so doing he revisits the real meaning of “the medium is the message,” and shares an unpublished expanded definition, not to change its meaning, but rather to clear up misunderstandings stemming from the very succinct original.

I’m not going to say much more, there is such a volume of thought and analysis on the elder McLuhan’s work, so many interpretations, and it seems like such an important lens on today, that I’m not going to venture more synthesis. Also, I’ll have to revisit the piece and you should give it a read. Finally, I’m interested in any insights from readers on this, especially articles connecting this family’s thinking to technics à la Mumford, Stiegler, et al.

This is why when considering the effects of the form, content doesn’t much matter: because content is really the delivery mechanism for the changes which occur as a result of the impact of technology on us on a cognitive and sensory level, rippling out to have cultural and social changes. […]

This understanding of the nature of our various senses and how they are formed and re-formed by our technologies is really the foundation of media studies from the McLuhan perspective, the base unit of understanding and operation from which everything else flows. […]

We have yet to confront the role of technology in shaping our senses and our perception, or understand how deeply changes of this nature affect us. It goes to the core of our being, our identities and cultures.

An ontology of havoc: the disruption of generative AI

I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything by Julian Stodd, not recently at any rate, but I’ve just subscribed to his blog based on this post. The first paragraph (first quote below) is probably a good encapsulation of the whole, and also shows my reticence. I think he’s directionally correct but either slightly too optimistic about speed or too enthusiastic of the impact (maybe?).

The thesis is good though, as he reflects on the profound impact of generative AI on our relationship with knowledge, suggesting it unleashes curiosity and re-contextualises meaning creation. He identifies key features of this evolution, such as Dialogic Engines that enable solo exploration without social judgement, and Agentic Retrieval that broadens knowledge boundaries. Stodd argues that transdisciplinarity then becomes the norm, challenging traditional taxonomies of knowledge shaped by legacy systems. Another one to revisit.

I will be the last. Of this I am sure. But my cohort feels it too. I will be the last to really read books. The last to really write for myself. The last to be confused and lost in thought. The last to make connections as I walk. The last to be assessed as human alone. I am the last in a landscape of havoc and fracture, looking on as we cling to the past as if it is our answer. […]

Today I think it is almost impossible to disentangle elements of Generative dialogue, social collaboration, and community, from the evolution of the work itself. […]

The latest GenAI tools are Engines of Synthesis, reflection and contextualisation, leaving us in a radically broadened landscape of sense making as individual and collective feature.

More → Over the last few days I’ve been reading some of Vaughn Tan’s writing on meaningmaking (I’m considering a synthesis article soon), reading some AI articles like the one above, reading Ethan Mollick’s book, and wrote a post for members about what I called “the generalist syndrome.” I’m not sure which part of all of that triggered it, probably this by Mollick, mixed in with the rest:

AI is trained on vast swaths of humanity’s cultural heritage, so it can often best be wielded by people who have a knowledge of that heritage. To get the AI to do unique things, you need to understand parts of the culture more deeply than everyone else using the same AI systems. So now, in many ways, humanities majors can produce some of the most interesting “code.”

That started me thinking that we might want to start looking at AI as a game changing tool specifically for generalists, and I’m not sure yet in which direction. My initial thought was that, like it’s being said of humanities majors, perhaps generalists are uniquely placed to use LLMs in a more varied set of domains where they have workable skills. I.e., leverage AI in a wide swath of uses, where one is able to create good prompts and critically judge output. Over the last two days I’ve started wondering if instead it doesn’t make more people into generalists, since LLMs could help someone to level up their knowledge quickly in multiple domains, something that would have usually taken a while. What do you think? (You can simply reply to this email or comment on the website.)

The unraveling of space-time

I don’t often link to things in the featured section without having thoroughly read them, but this special series at Quanta Magazine seems fascinating enough to do so and it only arrived last Friday. The quotes below are taken from “The thought experiments that fray the fabric of space-time”, a series of scrolling animations which I’ve read through. Those should already explode your brain quite thoroughly for a Sunday morning. There are also interviews, deep dives, an 18 minute video, and explainers. Personally, my next read is “If the universe is a hologram, this long-forgotten math could decode it”.

If no measurements can be made below the Planck scale, perhaps space-time as we know it doesn’t exist there. […]

It might be impossible to define physical properties of objects in space-time, so perhaps there’s some other level of organization that is exact and true. […]

Perhaps black holes — and by extension all regions of space-time — are holograms of data living on a two-dimensional surface of an unknown nature.

§ Protopia: A new horizon for screenwriters. A call to action to write more protopia scripts. “And let’s face it, dystopias are a little lazy. An apocalyptic event wipes the slate clean, erasing our existing systems and structures. I’s easy to start from scratch, but it robs us of the creative challenge of imagining real change, the kind of change an audience wants to see.”

Recommendations are the lifeblood of Sentiers’ growth. A few people sharing it on social networks or by email can make a huge difference in expanding the audience.

Here’s just one example that you can copy, paste, and change as you like:
“I’ve been reading Sentiers—an ‘ambitious, thoughtful, and constructive’ weekly journey across technology, society, and culture. It helps me uncover signals of change and imagine new futures, you should subscribe!”

Futures, Fictions & Fabulations

• Collaboratively imagining the future can bring people closer together in the present. “We wanted to see how collaborative imagination might influence feelings of closeness. So in the first psychology experiment exploring this interactive process, we paired strangers to complete a collaborative imagination task.”
• A Futurist’s handbook for Hollywood. “I believe these futurist concepts, on the verge of becoming reality, should be interwoven into Hollywood storytelling of all genres: Murder mysteries, family comedies, yes, even stoner roadtrip flicks. Because stories are excellent information delivery systems. They hold a mirror up to society, and also light a candle to lead the way somewhere new.” (Linked in the protopia piece above.)
• Pact for the Future. “World leaders [last] Sunday adopted the Pact for the Future, a landmark declaration pledging concrete actions towards a safer, more peaceful, sustainable and inclusive world for tomorrow’s generations.”

Algorithms, Automations & Augmentations

• Gracious AI ethics. “This talk is an enlightening exploration of the intersection between artificial intelligence (AI), ethics, and ecological harmony … delves into the concept of the Amorphocene — a visionary future where humanity and technology coexist harmoniously with the natural world.” (Via Artificial Insights.)
• AI tool cuts unexpected deaths in hospital by 26%, Canadian study finds. “Working in the background alongside clinical teams, the tool monitors any changes in someone's medical record ‘and makes a dynamic prediction every hour about whether that patient is likely to deteriorate in the future.’”
• China’s biggest AI model is challenging American dominance. “The Qwen model has been attracting high-profile Chinese clients and gaining respect from analysts. The model still lags behind U.S. competitors like GPT-4, but excels in multilingual tests.”

Built, Biosphere & Breakthroughs

• Barcelona is turning subway trains into power stations. Love it! “Every time a train rumbles to a stop, the energy generated by all that friction is converted to electricity, which is fed through inverters and distributed throughout the subway system. One-third of that powers the trains; the rest provides juice to station amenities and a growing network of EV chargers.”
• Vaporizing plastics recycles them into nothing but gas. “Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have come up with a method of recycling [polypropylene and polyethylene] polymers that uses catalysts that easily break their bonds, converting them into propylene and isobutylene, which are gases at room temperature. Those gases can then be recycled into new plastics.”
• To build a happier city, design for density. “In his new book, architect Vishaan Chakrabarti makes a case for building bigger to create more social cohesion and joyful communities.”

Asides

• 😲 🦿 🥾 MO/GO Pants with Exoskeleton by Arc'teryx + Skip. “At the core of their innovation are motors at the knees and a carbon fiber exoskeleton that distribute force across the leg, allowing wearers to traverse difficult terrain with ease. The sleek design and thoughtful integration of technology make them far more appealing than traditional medical devices.”
• 🤔 🐠 🌿 ‘Eva’ indoor aquaponics furniture grows fresh vegetables from fish waste. “Mimics part of nature’s metabolic cycle; ammonia, which is the waste of the fish, is pumped up to the garden where the substratum of plant roots dispose it into nitrates and nitrites and takes it up to grow fast.”
• 🤓 👴🏼 📹 📼 🔈 🎚️ Radio Shack catalog archive. “The heart of this online archive lay in its collection of catalogs, spanning the years 1939 to 2011. For 72 years, RadioShack had meticulously crafted these catalogs, showcasing a diverse range of products that mirrored the evolving landscape of technology.” (Via NFL’s Discord.)