Ahhh, where to begin?! This week’s transition from focusing on gender to information was a very demanding one for me. Thinking about binaries, gender identity and their relationship with technology feels more natural to me compared to making abstract philosophical debates regarding the processing of information. Both class and the Rowe, Grobstein and Hayles readings have given me a headache. (in a good way)

Before talking about other forms of information, it is important to notice that daily conversations have been the most prominent form of information throughout the history. Secondary forms, other than communication between humans, have changed significantly over time. Before the development of computer technology, primary form of information was presented as a form of writing. Art and music definitely existed and some people might claim that they were forms of information as well, but the abstract definition of information makes it hard to judge if they count as forms of information. It is still not doubtable that writing was the most prominent form. After the development and wide spread of computer technology, most of the forms of information are acquired thru computer.

 “Problems in science are sometimes made easier by adding complications.” (Dennett, p.38) 

 Something interesting Dennett points out in Darwin's Dangerous Idea is that while Darwin did not point out specifically a 'creator' as the cause of variation or evolution, he does rely on the idea of a 'mechanism' pushing the process forward.  The parallel to Hume was actually quite striking, who wrote of a grand 'mechanic' who tried and failed until he got the world right, "Many fruitless trials made: And a slow, but continued improvement carried on during infinite ages of world-making" (Dennett 31).  Though Hume did not his own idea seriously and was merely musing for the sake of argument, it is certainly interesting.  Hume did not imagine that there were nothing at all behind the evolutionary process, and to a certain extent, neither did Darwin.

Last thought for the night....our discussion today of the distinctions Hayles makes between "deep" and "hyper" attention, and between "close" and "distant" reading, put me in mind of the famous line coined by the ancient Greek poet Archilochus: "the fox knows many little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." We were talking about this idea in the evolution class last week.

A really interesting example and test case for our discussion, today, about what information is, was provided by tonight's Jeopardy. If you have been living in a cave, be sure to check out

On ‘Jeopardy!’, Computer Win Is All but Trivial
 

I wanted to record a coupla' things arising from our class conversation today about "information."

First, I'd promised you some signage. I got interested in this question when I was on the Transgender Task Force a few years ago, and we were talking about (what else?) single use and gender-neutral/flexible bathrooms: