Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:04:57 -0400 From: NZ <pretzelworld-AT-gmail.com> To: deleuze-guattari-AT-lists.driftline.org Subject: Re: [D-G] sorcellerie capitaliste, democracy in Vth BC in Athens. I imagine what you are suggesting about ancient greece would make a fantastic episode of Dr. Who. The writers for that tv show were sometimes excellent and quite thoughtful (I believe Douglas Adams wrote several of the Tom Baker episodes) Dr.Who is one of those shows. Anyway, about your idea about going back in time and recreating the governmental dice games of ancient greece... to me it sounds kinda like Mao's idea of rotating jobs... sometimes refered to as "kibbutzism"... one day the mushroom hunter becomes the train conductor, the train conductor becomes the football coach, the coach becomes the airplane stewart, and the stewart becomes the lead singer for led zepplin... sounds like fun. It looks like one of the concepts that is central to both your idea and that of kibbutzim is the concept of the "whole person" and the "whole society"... that should function. Were citizens of this society conscious of their role (identity) in the absolute then such a system could exist outside of a Dr.Who episode. Many people have thought of the "whole person" quiet seriously... Bismark, Steiner, Nietziche, Mao, Moholy-Nagy, etc... but what happened to those people's ideas? Bismark used it to empower the Kaiser (who kicked him out), Steiner created a religious school (thank God), Nietz. was channeled through the National Socialists (Ouch), Mao created a society which today is resting on the success of its DVD market (more about China's E-DVD later... ). And then there is bauhaus' Moholy-Nagy. I happen to have his 1938 encylopedic "The New Vision" (co-edited by Gropius) right here next to me, I was just reading it, let me quote the intro and some random bits: [quote] Sectors of human development: A human being is developed only by crystallization of the sum total of his own experiences. Our present sysem of education contradicts this axiom by stressing preponderantly single fields of application. Instead of extending our milieu, as the primitive man was forced to do, combining as he did in one person, hunter, craftsman, builder, physician, etc., we concern ourselved with one definite occupation leaving other faculties unused. [diagram. showing concetric circles of the individual being trans-sected by various occupations] Tradition and the voice of authority intimidate man today. He no longer dares to venture into certain fields of experience. He becomes a man of one calling; he no longer has first-had experience elsewhere. In constant struggle with his instints, he is overpowered by outside knowledge. His self-assurance is lost. He no longer dares to be his own physician, not even his own eye. The specialists-like members of a powerful secret society - obscure the road to all-sided individual experiences, the possibility for which exists in his normal functions, and the need for which arises from the center of his being. [....] A "calling" means today something quite different from following one's own bent, quite different from solidarity with the aims and requirements of a community. One's personal life goes along outside the "calling," which is often a matter of compulsion and is regarded with aversion. [...] The future needs the whole man [...] A specialized education becomes meaningful only if a man of integration is developed along the lins of his biological functions, so he will achieve a natural balance of his intellectual and emotional power instead of on those of an outmoded educational aim of learning unrelated details. [...] All educational systems are the results of economic structerure. In the frenzied march of the industrial revolution, the indusrialists set up specialized schools to produce quickly the badly-needed specialists. [...] Our modern system of production is imposed labor, mostly a mad pursui, without plan in its social aspects; its motive is merely to squeeze out profits to their limit, in most cases a complete reversal of its original purpose. [...] The chase after rewards in money and power influences the whole from of life today, even to the basic feelings of the individual. He thinks only of outward security, instead of concerning himself with his inner satisfaction. [!] [end quote] I'll stop with that, but goes on for another 200 pages, with various chapters devoted to their incredible view of their pre-WW2 world, the pictures and layout are of course great, McLuhan-esque even. I am fascinated by the way they imagine the inner and outer nature of man, I think I disagree but I'm not sure. It kinda makes me wonder whatever happend to this great wealth of information, but then I realized that its here right beside me and all over, Bauhaus was a major success and the history of its appropriation speaks volumes about the philosophies behind it. (But why did it loose tempo? Perhaps it was marginalized.) Even the very idea of bringing such a consciouss to the realm of material construction seems bizarre to me and I say this as building contractor. People say I have an easy job, it is, but I don't treat it llike I'm taking some kind of "fantastic voyage" through life... cuz I know that basically, I stand at the butthole of society, and its my job to pile up the shit in an orderly manner and then collect rent. There is one particular part of my job that I doubt many people are aware of and I think it tells a lot about the way we are all asked to look at this crap pile. That is the concept of "nominal" and "actual" sizes of lumber. this is the best link i could find explaining it: (I will have to find a better one) "Why are 2"x4" planks really 1.5"x3.5" inches?" http://ask.yahoo.com/20001010.html With over 17 years in the business I know that the difference between the nominal and the actual has grown over the years. The growth is always positive, never decreasive, and it basically reflects an absolute measurement of timber supplies. (you sir must pay the difference) So the crap-pile has two-faces, one of them is basically created out of thin air, a false "unknown" that informs the yardstick of those bankers who've invested in the timber industry as well as in reality (renting). So this economy, similar to one that allows for Brockman's "3rd Generation" to flurish, is based on the profits that are gleened from the specialization of professional experience... like Moholy-Nagy was talking about..... so the survival of the differend becomes a priority for that side of the economy. Absolution, in the Bismarkean sense, is no more than a tool for economic control. Now that I am sufficently off-subject I should end, allthough I am tempted to get into Bismark... _______________________________________________ List address: deleuze-guattari-AT-driftline.org Info: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/deleuze-guattari-driftline.org Archives: www.driftline.org
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