Com 520 - Philosophy of Communication - Week 05

The Cybernetic Metaphor compares human existence against simulations, but it also asks if simulations are forms of life or contain the essence of reality.  Nichol’s observations mirrors folk stories of Paul Bunyan viewing man against nature, Casey Jones viewing man against machine, and movies like IRobot and the Matrix viewing man against simulations. 

The metaphor reflects existing cultural comparisons as to the nature of being, what is the nature of reality, and how does technology reposition our relationship to being human.

It is human tendency to dismiss artificial intelligence because it’s not human.  However, I’m not convinced the dismissal is quite so easy.  I think Commander Data from Star Trek the Next Generation can illustrate this point.

Data is an android that simulates human traits and behavior.  In the episode “The Measure of a Man” he is put on trial to determine if he is Property or if he is his own being.  Captain Picard successfully argues the case by demonstrating Data is aware of himself, he can reproduce and his physical existence is limited.  The key argument, that could not be answered, was if data was alive. Did he exist in being?  The possibility of data having a being was ruled more important than his value as property.

The audience is compelled to feel for Data.  Data instills trust and is not judgmental in his conversations and explorations of the human condition.  Data’s unique approach and demeanor opens a space for people to examine their notions with great freedom.   Although a fictional character, Data represents simulacra that liberates people from culture views and fosters considerations that transcend conventional perspectives.  

Heidegger (n.d.) believed art is not in the art-object, but in the relationships that the art-object forms with people.  I believe the same holds for communication.  The function of communication is realized in the relationships they ultimately form in our mind, and not the messages themselves.  It is the distinction between meaning and base information.  I think reality also functions in the same way.  Reality is not the objects that surround us, but the mental relationships we form with them.  In this context, it’s not people or objects that form reality, but how we perceive and integrate them with our being. 

These thoughts also address notions of mechanical reproduction and simulations as groupings of algorithms.  They are mediums used for expression and exploration.  Heidegger (n.d.) viewed work as an element associated with the creation of a thing.  Upon completion the work still remains, but it becomes invisible as the object manifests and becomes it’s own world.  Simulations are created by people, but the work is not recognized as the simulations manifest their own worlds. 

In this fashion the medium becomes transparent, belief is suspended and the mind becomes one with the simulation. Simulations can manifest realities in which people can compare their existence against broader themes.  We are a long way off from the sophistication of a Mr. Data, but the chasms between physical reality and simulations are only as wide as our ability to relate to them. 

Information systems parallel the notions we’ve discussed on transmission theory.  It reduces our messages to signals and channels that transport information.  It doesn’t speak to the formation of meaning, but it isolates transmission theory as one aspect of the communicative process.

I think it’s critical that Radford identified information as additive.  The unique trait of the imagination is to take one experience and place within in a new situation (Spender 1985).  We empower our minds when we actively add experiences.

References

Heidegger, M. (n.d). The Origin of the work of art. Tiffin, OH: Tiffin University.  

Nichols, Bill. (1988). The Work of culture in the age of cybernetic systems. Tiffin, OH: Tiffin University.

Radford, G. P. (2005). On the Philosophy of Communication. South Bank, Vic., Australia: Thomson Wadsworth.

Snodgras, M.M (Writer), & Scheerer, R. (Director). (1989). The Measure of a Man. In James. R (Producer), Star Trek: The Next Generation.  United States: Paramount Pictures. DVD.

Spender, S. (1985). The Making of a poem. In G. Brewster (Ed). The Creative Process: A Symposium (pp 113-126). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.