Essays?

>>8988159
Eh the best I got is undergrad history papers

The Virtual-Age Art Abstract

Whereas western literature is traditionally organized within a school of thought that emphasizes continuity, the function of art as catharsis, internal coherence, and citational wisdom, as the prime modes of literary knowledge, advances in the past century and the present have moved toward entirely different directions. If the past achievements are within the realms of development as the elaboration of single, specialized topics, new art forms, including those in literature, and including those in popular entertainment forms such as advertising, and even newly implanted tendencies in common speech and daily communication tend towards a space that is not so much organized upon the lineal tendencies of our richly visual culture, but upon the tendencies of a “muscular” society that organizes all activity, thought, and wisdom and perception upon the traits of impulsivity, stimulation, contraction and 'l’esprit du moment.' That is merely to say that, where past western thought focused on mechanism and lineality, with all its corollaries—logic, sequentiality, development, etc.—the new cultural tendencies advance towards a means of organizing experience that is mostly immersed in the present, with little reference or use for past achievement as a means of wisdom. Thus disposed, “virtual space” and “cyberspace” might still intrigue most who try to study it under the visual conditions of scholarly habits. But the point is that this virtual space, being “muscular”, is more something to be felt than to be seen; it necessarily entails an emphasis on subjectivity, participation, since the whole action occurs with you.

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>>8988373

The new conditions render us rather insensitive to narrative, development. They bring the very notion of “development” to bear its significance as something that merely occurs sequentially. The man who holds long trains of thought is devalued; our age sees the intelligent man as the man of quick wit who can immediately and accurately balance a whole situation within his own self. Buck Mulligan’s remark of Dedalus’ ability to prove by algebra “that Hamlet’s grandson is Shakespeare’s grandfather and that he himself is the ghost of his own father” is a great clash of the two emerging and opposing views of intelligence as Joyce soon perceived them. The new conditions focuses of impulse, contraction, that to many is seen as a need for thrill, vitality. Such a statement on Shakespeare’s ghost is a direct parody of the tendency of academies, felt as soon as in Joyce’s time, to seek for electrifying premises, ideas, novelty,—however absurd—as opposed to the citational habits of old academicism. On the other hand, the expression “by algebra” reveals the older image of intelligence, or rationality, as the man-as-machine who can follow undisturbed and coldly long trains of thought with clinical precision. These opposing views of intelligence are the basis of the artist vs. scientist, artist vs. the bureaucrat dichotomies. But they also bear a significance in the Impulsive-criminal vs. Holmes, and the Hannibal vs. Graham, Continental vs. Analytic, etc. dichotomies.

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>>8988377

The perceptual shift toward the present renders both the traditional artist and the scientist obsolete, and makes us all men-of-action. It seems to render theatre and mimesis as the only valid art-forms; the rest reserved for those who can’t quite cope with living-in-the-now. For the virtual age is one that depends directly upon participation and subjectivity, much as the computer will not do much without your pressing its buttons. Multiply that by billions, you get the internet. Instead of tending this vast information environment into a democratic information service of erudite encyclopedism, we have long tended it towards the direction of a stage, a “place” for action, reaction, mutual irritation. The virtual environment is thus a non-visual environment of contraction of each and all of us into a singular force. Religion has always dealt within this space. Our habits and values of individualism, privacy and fragmentary space have rendered us unprepared for the new conditions.

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I've only written undergrsd Literature essays. They are not bad, some have even gained me the praise of my professors and classmates, but I doubt people here would like to read them.

>>8988373
>the new cultural tendencies advance towards a means of organizing experience that is mostly immersed in the present, with little reference or use for past achievement as a means of wisdom. Thus disposed, “virtual space” and “cyberspace” might still intrigue most who try to study it under the visual conditions of scholarly habits.


Interesting

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>>8988159
A View of Mt Fuji from 2013

The first time I saw Lucien Coutaud was at a gallery downtown. The owner, Perry Meyer, has several of his pieces, and I visit to gawk and geekout. The very very first Coutaud I saw is hanging by Perry’s desk. It is of some oddly shaped, seated woman. Her proportions are bizarre; she is a mix of delicate lines, twiggy and angular, but also a rotund mass with exaggerated curves – so contradictory, but without seeming impossible. A visual identity to my imagined future for humanity – where science and culture have allowed us to keep what we need, and play with the rest. Coutaud’s “erotomagic” universe isn’t simply a surrealist’s dreamworld, it is tempered by intellectualism and disparagement over humanity’s capacity for cruelty. This tethering gives his work a poignancy and power. Instead of emotionally-driven caricatures of humans, I see humans of the future – possible outcomes depending on the paths we live today. And our very near future depicted in Coutaud’s Proche du Mont Fuji. Tame in comparison to most of his work, Proche du Mont Fuji is exceptional in its familiarity and concreteness. I postulate the deliberate uniformity and clearness of Proche du Mont Fuji is derived from the direct influence of Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji.

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>>8988657
When writing about Hokusai’s Fuji series earlier in the course, I commented on the unique colors used in his series; in particular the green so prevalent in the twenty-sixth print: Mt Fuji from Hodogaya. Bothered by the green used by Hokusai seeming neon and unnatural, I finally attributed this to the materials available plus degradation, image digitization and monitor variation, and then decided not to deliberate any more on the biohazardly-green tinged world of Hodogaya. Whatever color Master Hokusai chose, must have been the right color.

Until Lucien Coutaud’s Proche de Mt Fuji, that is. The green is so alike that I was immediately reminded of Hokusai’s twenty-sixth print, and had to position the two aside one another. Once pulling up Hodogaya, the relationship of these two pieces deepened, and my imagined trajectory of humanity’s evolution started to have visualization. Without going off on too great a tangent, my life has been deeply impressed by science, and my imagination by science-fiction. The theme of humanity’s future is one I contemplate often; and I am incubating a theory which describes the current climate of gender insecurity and transgenderedness as a precursor to a humanity who reproduces through means of technology, rendering males reproductively obsolete… anyway, I’m too insensitive to correctly parse the words, but the point is: biologically, it is unlikely that humans will physically morph fast enough to solve these problems by way of evolution, therefore it is only natural that we will evolve through means of science and culture.

I see Hokusai’s Mt Fuji from Hodogaya and Lucien Coutaud’s Proche de Mt Fuji as being on the same timeline. Humanity in the recent past, and humanity soon. The similarities of these two pieces being numerous and obvious: foreground of five-to-six Japanese figures in movement, awesome Fuji in the background, land stretching into the horizon. The differences between the two pieces, however, are what compliment my theory. In Hokusai’s piece, all the figures are men. They are divided by class, as evidenced by the difference in clothing, and their respective placements (riding on a horse versus carrying a seated figure). The land in Hodogaya is lush and the air is clear. Humanity and their culture are present through the people, and through the taming of the land, by way of retaining walls. In contrast, Coutaud’s Japan is very different.

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>>8988159
. All the figures are recognizable as women, except for one bizarre shadow in the background, center right. This figure is clothed differently and lacks in the grace with which Coutaud painted the females. It seems like a savage in comparison to the cultured beauties of the foreground. While Coutaud’s Japan distinctively shares green in common with the Hokusai’s image of the past, it is the sky which glows green; the ground is now barren. It is possible that trees and plant matter exist in the background, but it is also possible that the mounds are ruined cities and piles of rubble. Here, the lack of life seems to highlight man’s presence. The naked land, combined with the toxic-looking sky could be the aftermath of some Earth-decimating event, but Coutaud’s cyborgish, bionic women, and their disciplined, uniform depiction help to generate the impression that things will be fine. Women will survive, therefore humanity and culture will also.

Interestingly, while the men in Hokusai’s past are depicted in a respective Eden, they are seen struggling; a life of toil. Coutaud’s women, by contrast, are quite gay. Lively in garb, they are shown chatting and strolling. Our bionic future is nigh! Human evolution will not be controlled by biological accident any more. It will be augmented by science giving us intelligent design instead of glacial, biological serendipity. Eventually, whether by necessity or cultural revolution, humans will begin to slough our organic-ness, and with it, limitations. Eventually humans may look like the seated woman near Perry’s desk, who likely lives on a different planet where humanity has biologically evolved to survive without the need of external equipment.

The final thought belongs to majestic Mount Fuji. As astronauts now send us pictures of Fuji from space, I wonder if Hokusai ever imagined about the view of Fuji from above the clouds. Or about Fuji in the future. Hokusai would have made an incredible surrealist, being imaginative and erotic, and I imagine he would have approved of Coutaud’s ukiyo-e-like painting. A View of Mt Fuji from 2313.

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>>8988377
>new conditions render us rather insensitive to narrative, development.
I'd have to agree with this.

>>8988377
>man who holds long trains of thought is devalued;
on

>>8988377
>man who holds long trains of thought is devalued
only by morons

>>8988377
>f intelligence are the basis of the artist vs. scientist, artist vs. the bureaucrat dichotomies
I'd say it's even worse that that! The opposing views are the thinking versus non-thinking

>>8988385
>ur habits and values of individualism, privacy and fragmentary space have rendered us unprepared for the new conditions.
I'd say only individualism is what will save us.
Enjoyed your piece! Thanks for sharing!

>>8988159
ill look through my word documents

>>8988377
>prove by algebra

That the level of goodness is irrelevant, simply because being good is enough. And then is the only reason we judge unlawful acts because there is utility in judging them? (To efficiently dole out judicial decrees.) This would mean then, in a land with no legal system, murder should not to be deemed worse than j-walking.
I kind of see this like an algebra problem. If you perform an operation on one side of the equation (judge bad acts), you need to do it to the other side (judge good acts). This is how the rearranged-equation maintains a true statement. Aristotle’s model of virtue - as a middle point between extremes - would support this. How is one to find the middle, by only focusing on one side?

All that being said, I appreciate utility, logical thought and rational behavior. I can see how over-analyzing a person’s virtuousness is a waste of time. They don’t break the law, or cheat or whatever, isn’t that good enough? Yes, it is enough to be lawful, but I claim not enough to be moral. Not-bad doesn’t mean good. The good must be proven. Now, if individuals would just be the judge of their own virtuousness, that would probably be enough for some beneficial changes, of massive scale.
Most people possess inflated perceptions of their own morality. Imagine some advanced, alien technology which allows a person to see their TRUE virtuousness. This reflection accounts for all the variables and complexities of morality, and paints a true picture of what that person’s moral value is. I think most people would be shocked, and probably ashamed, of their results. This disparity is created by being accustomed to thinking, “I’m a good person because I’ve never been to jail,” or “I’m a moral person because I go to church.” The danger of failing to judge virtuousness, is a world full of people who feel content and superior in their morality, without reasonable basis for their claims, or any motivation to strive for greater morality.

>>8988685
>I'd say it's even worse that that! The opposing views are the thinking versus non-thinking
True

>I'd say only individualism is what will save us.
It keeps us out of sync with current bias, and at the same time, it's likely the only antidote against it

Thanks for commenting

>>8988695
>The danger of failing to judge virtuousness, is a world full of people who feel content and superior in their morality, without reasonable basis for their claims, or any motivation to strive for greater morality.

Not an easy topic to consider today.
"I am good because I'm not bad enough to be bad."

Only thing I can think of is: global culture asks for universality in everything. Local values weren't a problem when cultures were not in constant dialogue. But the arrival of the Internet provoked all sorts of global idealisms that are now finally flipping into a multilocalist, relativist awareness.

If the global culture really is to become a reality, it can't be through a melting pot of human cultures into a Peter Pan Master Culture of sorts, but rather through clever harmonising of cultures; seeing it as an interface that allows balanced communication, preserving the qualities of all involved.

>The danger of failing to judge virtuousness, is a world full of people who feel content and superior in their morality

I just don't know where you'd take that standard of "virtuousness" from. The most obvious thing in common with a buddhist and a christian or a muslim is that all are human. So, probably the noblest path to take would be learning to see humans as highly weird cerebral monkeys with great inventive powers. Perhaps, then, one would isolate "virtue" as if it were a common human spiritual sense, that in some cultures is used to the colour blue, in others red, but it's always the same sense modality.

>>8988159
The only one I can think of was a twelve-minute speech against circumcision which I wrote at that morning. Some of my points were fallacious but I knew I wouldn't be called on them.