Subject: Re: Lyotard on the "here-and-now".
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 13:04:31 -0500


I think he is making the simple point that technology has connected distant
places and thereby disturbed our sense of distance and place.  It used to be
that "here" meant "not there."  But now something can be both "here" and
"there" at the same time.

Where is this conversation occuring?  Is it where you are?  Is it where I
am?  Is it where all of our readers are?  When is it?  The conversation is
dispersed in a way that a conversation couldn't be before.  It doesn't occur
in a "place."  This is just an extension of questions Plato raised about
writing.

mal


----- Original Message -----
From: hbone <hbone-AT-optonline.net>
To: <lyotard-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 10:04 PM
Subject: Lyotard on the "here-and-now".


> Dear All,
>
> In nt notes on "The Inhuman", I found the following quote:
>
> "The question raised by the new technologies in connection with their
> relation to art is that of the "here-and-now".  What does 'here' mean on
the
> phone, on television, at the receiver of an electronic telescope?  And the
> 'now'?  Does not the 'tele'-element necessarily destroy presence, the
> 'here-and-now' of the forms and their 'carnal' reception?  What is a
place,
> a moment, not anchored in the immediate 'passion' of what happens?  Is a
> computer in any way here and now?  Can anything  _happen_ with it?  Can
> anything happen  _to_  it?"
>
> I read "The Inhuman" sometime ago, but the above never grabbed my
attention.
> Now, I find it intriguing, for I don't understand it.
>
> Since it is one of the works most quoted on the List, I'm sure some of you
> have studied this passage, and would appreciate comments.
>
> Thanks,
> Hugh
>
>
>
>