T R A N S C R I P T THE SOUNDTRACK OF NOW: A SOJOURN IN SOUND™ WITH CHRISTINE BUSH CHAPTER SEVEN: HOLD THE MAGIC IN YOUR PALM. WRITTEN, PRODUCED, AND HOSTED BY CHRISTINE BUSH. PATREON RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 26, 2021 PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: MARCH 5, 2021 CC‐BY‐SA 4.0 =============================== THIS CHAPTER OF THE SOUNDTRACK OF NOW: A SOJOURN IN SOUND, IS RELEASED UNDER AN ATTRIBUTION, SHARE‐ALIKE, FOUR POINT ZERO, INTERNATIONAL, CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE BY CHRISTINE BUSH, PERCHANCE MUSIC AND DIGITAL MEDIA, SERVICE MARK: 2020. ATTRIBUTION DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT NOW.PERCHANCEMUSIC.COM. HOLD THE MAGIC IN YOUR PALM (ENGLISH LANGUAGE HAIKU BY JONATHA CHANCE) ================= GLOWING PIXELS CALL HOLD THE MAGIC IN YOUR PALM AND BE BORN AGAIN. A1. GREETINGS. THIS IS CHAPTER SEVENOFTHE SOUNDTRACK OF NOW: A SOJOURN IN SOUND(TM). I'M CHRISTINE BUSH WITH MORE FROM MY COGNITIVE MEMOIR EXPLORING HOW LISTENING INFORMS OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE WORLD . AND HOW THE WORLD WE EXPERIENCE INFLUENCES HOW WE LISTEN. A2. THIS IS THE FIRST SHOW OF 2021 AND I'M PLEASED TO WELCOME MY FIRST UNFORGETTABLE FIRE TIERSPONSOR: PIPA CUDAHY FINE ART IN CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA. PIPA CUDAHY IS A VISUAL ARTIST WHO WORKS IN ACRYLICS, PASTELS, AND CHARCOAL TO CREATE WHAT SHE CALLS "INTERPRETATIONS OF NATURE'S MYSTERY." I INVITE YOU TO DISCOVER AND ENJOY HER WORK ONLINE WHERE ORIGINAL CREATIONS, REPRODUCTIONS, AND GIFT CARDS ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE AT PIPAFINEART.NET(P‐I‐P‐A FINE ART DOT NET). A3. I WILL BEGIN WITH A CAVEAT: I WILL BE SPEAKING IN THIS CHAPTER ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA AND OFFERING MY OWN SUBJECTIVE, BUT HONEST, CRITIQUE OF IT. YOU MAY FIND THAT MY THOUGHTS RUN AGAINST THE GRAIN.THIS IS A FEATURE, NOT A BUG. FOR THIS REASON, I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA PRACTICES IN THE THIRD PERSON WHENEVER POSSIBLE. SOME OF THE QUOTATIONS I HAVE INCLUDED DO NOT. IN A WAY, IT IS ENTIRELY APPROPRIATE THAT THE NATURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA SHOULD BE CONTESTED SINCE ONE OF ITS HALLMARKS IS DISCURSIVE HURLY BURLY. EVERYONE SEEMS 1 TO HAVE THEIR OWN HISTORY WITH VARIOUS PERMUTATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA. IN THE PAST, I'VE HAD A FEW MEANINGFUL SOCIAL MEDIA ENCOUNTERS. I HAVE HAD MANY MORE FRUITLESS, AND SOME RATHER PAINFUL ONES. A4. THAT BEING SAID, IT IS UNEQUIVOCALLY DIFFICULT TO AVOID “SOCIAL” PLATFORMS COMPLETELY. THE REACH OF SOCIAL MEDIA EXTENDS FAR BEYOND THE STOCK MARKET DARLINGS. YOUTUBE, LINKEDIN, AND NEXT DOOR ARE MAJOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS THAT, UNTIL RECENTLY, HAVE NOT BEEN PLACED ON THE SAME SHELF WITH FACEBOOK PROPERTIES, TWITTER, AND REDDIT. NONETHELESS, THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE: ONLINE PLATFORMS WHERE TRANSACTIONAL BEHAVIOR IS THE PRODUCT. AS LONG AS CRITICAL THINKING IS EQUATED WITH #CANCELCULTURE, THE SOCIAL AND THE CIVIL WILL BE AT ODDS. A5. IN THIS CHAPTER, I'M GOING TO SITUATE SOCIAL MEDIA WITHIN AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL FRAME TO BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE PRODUCTION, DILUTION, FABRICATION, AND DESTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE. I WILL SEEK OUTTHE INTERPLAY OF MAGIC, RELIGION, AND TECHNOLOGY WHILE CONSIDERING SOCIAL MEDIA AS PART OF A CONTINUOUS TRANSFORMATION DESCRIBED BY MARSHALL MCLUHAN. I WILL EXAMINE THE DYNAMICS OF THE ATTENTION ECONOMY AND CONSIDER ITS IMPACT ON JOURNALISM AND MEDIA POLICY. I WILL CONSIDER THE ROLE OF SOCIAL TECH IN THE EVENTS OF JANUARY 6. I WILL MUSE ABOUT TWO FILMS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TOUCHSTONES FOR THE DISCOURSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA. A6. IN SO DOING, I WANT TO UNMASK THE SECRET, UNSEEN SORCERY AT WORK WHEN ONE CHOOSES TO “SHARE” OR “LIKE” OR “FOLLOW” OR “TAG” OR “RATE” WITH A GOAL OF ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS: WHO (OR WHAT) IS LISTENING WHEN THESE ACTIONS OCCUR . AND WHY? I WILL ENLIST THE AID OF A WELL‐WORN PHRASE FROM SHAKESPEARE TO SHAPE THIS EFFORT. A7. THE SOUNDTRACK OF NOW CONTINUES. B1. SCENE 1. "A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT..." B2. THE SCIENCE FICTION WRITER AND FUTURIST ARTHUR C. CLARKE FORMULATED THREE LAWS, THE THIRD AND MOST CITED OF WHICH STATES THAT A SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IS INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM MAGIC. THIS SAME IDEA HAS BEEN TRACED BACK TO 2 EARLIER SOURCES, INCLUDING ONE BY VIRGINIA WOOLF IN THE 1920s. PUT DIFFERENTLY, MAGIC IS JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR IGNORANCE AND TECHNOLOGY IS A KIND OF GOD. B3. THE ENTANGLEMENT OF MAGIC AND RELIGION WITH TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION GOES ALL THE WAY BACK TO OUR ORIGIN STORIES AND CONTINUES THROUGH THE EXUBERANCE FOR TECH STOCKS TODAY. MYTHOLOGICALLY, IT IS FROM THE GODS THAT TECHNOLOGY CAME. FIRST AS A GIFT, THEN AS A CURSE. A QUICK TIMELINE OF TECHNOLOGY REVEALS ITS TENDENCY TO HAVE MYSTICAL ASSOCIATIONS, PROFOUND RAMIFICATIONS FOR SOCIETIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT, AS WELL AS UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, SOMETIMES BENEFICIAL . SOMETIMES NOT. B4. PROMETHEUS AND THE GIFT OF FIRE; PANDORA’S BOX; AGRICULTURE; STONEHENGE; GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL; ALCHEMY; THE PRINTING PRESS; ELECTRICITY; THE AIRPLANE; COMPUTERS; ATOMIC ENERGY; SPACE FLIGHT; THE INTERNET; THE MICROCHIP; THE WORLD WIDE WEB; THE MATRIX; Y2K; NAPSTER; WIKIPEDIA; FACEBOOK; TWITTER; VIRTUAL REALITY, SECOND LIFE, AUGMENTED REALITY;CYBER WARFARE; PLAYSTATION, XBOX; PRISM; CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA; BLOCKCHAIN; BITCOIN; TIKTOK; BIG DATA/MACHINE LEARNING/ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE; SOLAR WINDS . B5. IN HIS 1921 BOOK MANHOOD AND HUMANITY, A FORERUNNER OF WHAT BECAME THE THEORY OF GENERAL SEMANTICS, ALFRED KORZYBSKI [kore‐SZHIB‐ski] ORGANIZED THE BEHAVIORS OF FLORA AND FAUNA THROUGH THE CONCEPT OF "BINDING," BY WHICH HE MEANT ORGANISMS' PRIMARY FUNCTIONAL INTERACTIONS. PLANTS BIND CHEMISTRY. ANIMALS BIND TERRITORY. HUMANS, ACCORDING TO KORZYBSKI, BIND TIME BY STOCKPILING EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE, PASSING ALONG WHAT HAS BEEN LEARNED FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT. KORZYBSKI WROTE: QUOTE‐01: "ALL HUMAN ACHIEVEMENTS ARE CUMULATIVE; NO ONE OF US CAN CLAIM ANY ACHIEVEMENT EXCLUSIVELY AS [THEIR] OWN; WE ALL MUST USE CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF OTHERS, SOME OF THEM LIVING BUT MOST OF THEM DEAD." B6. FAST FORWARD TO 2017: COGNITIVE SCIENTISTS STEVEN SLOMAN AND PHILIP FERNBACH WROTE A BOOK TITLED THE KNOWLEDGE ILLUSION: WHY WE NEVER THINK ALONE THAT RE‐FORMULATES KORZYBSKI'S TIME‐BINDING PREMISE FOR THE INFORMATION AGE, WITH AN INTERESTING TWIST. ONE RESULT OF TIME‐BINDING IS, PARADOXICALLY, A NEW KIND OF IGNORANCE. SOME OF WHAT PEOPLE HAVE COLLECTIVELY LEARNED OVER TIME IS STORED IN THE HEADS OF OTHER LIVING PERSONS, WRITTEN DOWN OR RECORDED, ARCHIVED OR PUBLISHED DIGITALLY ONLINE OR OFFLINE, OR SOME COMBINATION OF THESE. 3 B7. MUCH HAS BEEN LOST OR ALTERED. BUT THESE ARE THE EPISTEMIC HORIZONS, INCLUDING THE KNOWN UNKNOWN. THIS RESULTS IN FALLING PREY TO WHAT SLOMAN AND FERNBACH CALL THE ILLUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. THE ILLUSION IS THAT INDIVIDUALLY PEOPLE HAVE COME TO BELIEVE THAT THEY KNOW MUCH MORE THAN, IN FACT, THEY DO. AS MARK TWAIN SAID: “IT AIN’T WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW THAT GETS YOU INTO TROUBLE. IT’S WHAT YOU KNOW FOR SURE THAT JUST AIN’T SO.” B8. SLOMAN AND FERNBACH TELL US THAT THE HABIT OF LOOKING UP INFORMATION USING SEARCH ENGINES HAS NOT ONLY BECOME SECOND NATURE BUT RESULTS IN THE OVERESTIMATION OF WHAT PEOPLE BELIEVE THEY REALLY KNOW. NOT ONLY DO SEARCH ENGINES SERVE UP PERSONALIZED RESULTS, NOT ONLY MAY THOSE RESULTS NOT BE ACCURATE, BUT EXECUTING A WEB QUERY DOES NOT YIELD FIRST‐HAND KNOWLEDGE. IT YIELDS INFORMATION, A DISTINCTION THAT EVEN SLOMAN AND FERNBACH CONFLATE AT TIMES: QUOTE‐02: "THE INTERNET'S KNOWLEDGE IS SO ACCESSIBLE AND SO VAST THAT WE MAY BE FASHIONING A SOCIETY WHERE EVERYONE WITH A SMARTPHONE AND A WI‐FI CONNECTION BECOMES A SELF‐APPOINTED EXPERT IN MULTIPLE DOMAINS." B9. IN THE 1997 FILM THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, AL PACINO'S CHARACTER ‐‐A LAWYERNAMED JOHN MILTON ‐‐PAINTS A PICTURE OF THE FUTURE FOR HIS PROTEGE, RANTING: "YOU BUILD EGOS THE SIZE OF CATHEDRALS, FIBER OPTICALLY CONNECT THE WORLD TO EVERY EAGER IMPULSE...GREASE EVEN THE DULLEST DREAMS WITH THESE DOLLAR GREEN, GOLD PLATED FANTASIES UNTIL EVERY HUMAN BECOMES AN ASPIRING EMPEROR...BECOMES HIS OWN GOD, AND WHERE CAN YOU GO FROM THERE?" B10. MOVIE FICTION QUICKLY BECAME THE MAGICAL THINKING OF SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS PLANS IN THE HEADY DAYS ENVELOPING THE DOT‐COM BOOM AND BUST. WITH THE RIGHT DOMAIN NAME, SOME CASH OR ANGEL FUNDING (AND EVENTUALLY A SMARTPHONE), A NEW GENERATION OF DEMI‐GODS WAS BORN. EVERY TECHNOLOGY CONSUMER WAS SOLD NOTHING LESS THAN A SLICE OF GLOBAL AMBITION, THE ABILITY TO BE DISCOVERED NOT BY ANYBODY BUT EVERYBODY WITH ACCESS TO A WEB BROWSER. THESE INTOXICATING FUMES OF UTOPIANISM WERE THE TOAST OF THE BAY AREA'S VENTURE (AND VULTURE) CAPITAL CORRIDORS. THE VISION STATEMENT FOR WIKIPEDIA: "IMAGINE A WORLD IN WHICH EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET IS GIVEN FREE ACCESS TO THE SUM OF ALL HUMAN KNOWLEDGE." FOR GOOGLE: "ORGANIZE THE WORLD'S INFORMATION AND MAKE IT UNIVERSALLY ACCESSIBLE AND USEFUL." FOR FACEBOOK: "TO GIVE PEOPLE THE POWER TO BUILD COMMUNITY AND BRING THE WORLD CLOSER TOGETHER." B11. THESE GRANDIOSE VISIONS ARE STILL VERY MUCH IN VOGUE. YOUTUBE'S 2020 MISSION STATEMENT READS: "OUR MISSION IS TO GIVE EVERYONE A VOICE AND SHOW THEM THE WORLD." MICROSOFT IS STRIVING SIMPLY "TO EMPOWER EVERY PERSON AND EVERY ORGANIZATION ON THE PLANET TO ACHIEVE MORE." APPLE'S CORPORATE GOAL IS RATHER MODEST BY COMPARISON AND GETS A GOLD STAR FOR COMPLYING WITH GUIDELINES FOR MISSION 4 STATEMENTS, LIMITING ITS SCOPE “TO BRING THE BEST PERSONAL COMPUTING PRODUCTS AND SUPPORT...IN OVER 140 COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD.” B12. IN HIS 2018 PRIMER TEN ARGUMENTS FOR DELETING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS RIGHT NOW JARON LANIER CONCLUDES HIS CASE WITH A CHAPTER TITLED "SOCIAL MEDIA HATES YOUR SOUL." HE WRITES: QUOTE‐03: "USUALLY, GOOGLE HAS HAD A WAY OF COMING UP WITH THE CREEPIER STATEMENTS, BUT FACEBOOK HAS PULLED AHEAD: A RECENT REVISION IN ITS STATEMENT OF PURPOSE INCLUDES DIRECTIVES LIKE ASSURING THAT 'EVERY SINGLE PERSON HAS A SENSE OF PURPOSE AND COMMUNITY.' A SINGLE COMPANY IS GOING TO SEE TO IT THAT EVERY SINGLE PERSON HAS A PURPOSE, BECAUSE IT PRESUMES THAT WAS LACKING BEFORE.