A ONCE-A-WEEK (or so) LIST OF WHAT I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT. WITH 10 = MOST IMPORTANT; AND 1 = NOT SO MUCH
QQ : 1 ALGORITHMS AND BLUES
Zuckerface said , ‘A Squirrel Dying In Your Front Yard May Be More Relevant To Your Interests Right Now Than People Dying In Africa’”
When algorithms define our individual reality; and those algorithms dictate our exposure to content based on our behavior; then the end result is a downward spiral. We do not necessarily behave well.
As we react to this algorithmic ‘democracy,’ the level of our exposure to a diminishing universe becomes more and more closed in. We narrow our scope, and ultimately behave and react accordingly.
As our universe becomes smaller and smaller, culture and ultimately society and civilization, follow a negative path and we are sucked down the drain to ultimate destruction.
There should be a law.
QQ : 2 QAPEK’S LAW OF A SHRINKING UNIVERSE
Human society will collapse in direct proportion to the degree that algorithms increasingly narrow our individual universe.
This process has collapsed the recorded music industry, the newspaper and magazine industry and network television. These are the lesser evils.
This process has put blinders on the political process and desensitized society to the most fundamental issues relating to survival. Algorithms have no ethic and no morality. This is a fundamental evil.
This process promotes the rule of the mob; the promulgation of ignorance; and basic, primitive reactive behavior.
There should be a law.
QQ : 3. THE BORGIAS VERSUS PLAYSTATION
The two opposing forces in art and culture can be defined as:
1. Algorithmic democracy
versus
2. A patriarchal system of patronage.
Both forces have negative connotations. However, the results of these opposing forces are quite remarkable.
There are over 500 million downloads of the Angry Birds game. The number, 500 million, equals half a billion. 500 million is one fourteenth of the population of planet earth. This number means that one out of every fourteen; man, woman, child or dog on the planet - has a copy of Angry Birds.
This might be an indirect result of algorithmic democracy. This phenomenon can be considered benign, or possibly, satanic.
The ceiling of the Sistine chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV.
"Hey dude, Michelangelo, I like your stuff". " Paint me a ceiling".
SYSTEM 1: We get Angry Birds.
SYSTEM 2: We get Timeless Art.
Is it possible that the arts are, and always have been, the subject of patriarchal, egotistical patronage?
Were John Hammond, the Ertegens, Clive Davis and Chet Atkins, simply patrons who exercised their financial and executive power to fulfill their personal taste?
Was Peggy Guggenheim making educated decisions, or simply fulfilling her own artistic fantasy because she could?
Thank the Universe and Civilization for Peggy.
QQ : 4. BOB DYLAN
In 1961, John Hammond heard Bob Dylan playing harmonica on a session and signed him to Columbia. Hammond kept Dylan on the label despite the protests of executives, who referred to Dylan as "Hammond’s folly". Hammond produced Dylan's early recordings, "Blowin' in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."
Was that Hammond's ego trip or an inspired plan of a visionary?
When Mary Martin conceived of the combination of Bob Dylan's musical evolution with a bar band from Toronto who were the backup musicians for Ronny Hawkins, was this her ego trip, or an inspired plan of a visionary?
Poll after poll designates "Like a Rolling Stone" as the number one, most popular song of all time. I doubt that an algorithm would confirm this designation. Trending on Twitter at this moment is a tribute to penile girth by Rihanna
QQ : 5. HUFF 'N PUFF
Is the Huffington Post the Napster of News?
The word "Aggregator" has horrifying cultural implications. The art form of "collage" has always seemed to have a secondary position relative to fine art. It's an interesting exercise, but more of a path than a statement. The mix and remix phenomenon has similar effect.
Those who cannot compose, compile, sample and remix
Those who cannot paint, collage.
Those who cannot write, aggregate.
QQ : 6 SEX DRUGS AND ROCK 'N ROLL
It used to be that a guy would take up a guitar and join a band to get chicks and get laid.
Now all of that has changed.
Now a guy gets into politics; finds an agenda, joins a party and gets in line behind Cain, Weiner, Spitzer and Clinton. Getting laid is a slam dunk.
Unfortunately, for this band of merry men, the Twit-verse is ever-present and sends out those algorithms in underpants.
Go for it Gloria Allred
I can't wait to see the Sugar Cain video on You-Tubify
QQ : 7. CROWD-SOURCING
Crowd-sourcing is a lovely word. This is the new nerd-speak for an economic model that pretends to be democratic. Here a corporation redefines the whole concept of copyright in a feudal sense. The King sends out crumbs to the serfs for their labor and their loyalty.
Send us your T-shirt design and the mob will vote. When the crowd is sourced, democracy reigns and we'll send you a penny or two. Our Twenty- million dollar T-shirt business is none of your business. That's our business. Crowd-sourcing......you create, we profit. It’s interactive, web 2, sharing, user friendly, social networking and viral. Have fun while you gather pennies and we profit.
QQ : 8. SEND IN THE CLOWNS
Surely we live in an era of Clown Culture. The resulting question that remains is : Does serious matter?
When Dickless Perry, Sho-U my Wiener, Bunga Berlusconi and Grope-me Cain entertain us, do we care?
When the highest rated clown of all Tubby Limbugger dominates the Party that abolished slavery and when little Johny Stewart, his mother's pride and joy, brings us the "News", does it matter?
Clowns rule!
I vote that they should all wear oversized shoes, button noses and baggy pants.
Oh, I forgot....Rush already does.
QQ : 9 MISSISSIPPI
50% of African American children in Mississippi live in poverty.
Mississippi rates #50 or last in Health Care on every level.
Mississippi ranks #50 or last in life expectancy
Mississippi ranks #50 or last in quality of life.
Mississippi ranks at or near or at the top for crime and corruption.
Mississippi citizens recently voted on Initiative 26, a constitutional amendment that would declare human life to begin “at the moment of fertilization.” The amendment would ban abortions even in pregnancies conceived through rape or incest, which would be the most stringent such standard in the country. Contraception could also be on the line based on re interpretation.
I look to Mississippi as my #1 moral compass on all things.
QQ : 10. OZ SPEAK
Despite her annoying artful accent, Julia Gillard is to be commended for plowing through with her ground- breaking legislation instituting a carbon tax and other environmental guidelines.
Australia actually has a Ministry of Climate Change in the sitting government.
The forthcoming 2012 elections in America will likely install a Ministry of Climate Change Denial.
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