[Reader-list] Response: The recombined manifesto

[VAIbhaV]

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20040827/2f20fb3f/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
Dear everyone,
This is the first time I'm on the list and I apologize to some of you for the late reply. I only checked mail today.

Sunil quoted:
<quote>
Woah. So should I stop working to put Linux on refurbished computers?
</quote>

No that’s certainly not what i am trying to say and I do realize that the statement is very open ended for various interpretations. Infact Sunil, having refurbished computers running microsoft would be ill! Your act of "reconfiguring" the machine by installing linux makes perfect sense and duly complies with the manifesto ;-) ha! This is exactly what I am trying to say but I think I don’t say it very well. 

I had anticipated a response such as yours but went ahead by keeping that statement in. Here is part of another response that I received from Pallavi Raina and I think its also on these lines that I made that statement:

<quote>
Technology in and of itself isn't a bad thing.
Technology in the hands of a global economic system
hell bent on destroying everything and everyone in its
path and turning us into a Third World full of serfs
certainly is, but technology isn't.
</quote>

So i guess it's all about whose "hands" it is in or rather whose hands we are ready to submit our work to (the community or the "vested"). In many ways it is also about every individual working with ICT and social development being his/her own evaluator of his/her work and the implications that arise from it.

But i do agree that this manifesto is full of jargon and comments on territory I haven't fully explored (who has?) but should that stop me from searching and expressing?
If yes, then what would you call a "process of learning" or "discovery” or "iteration"? 
In response to Pallavi: Yes i would certainly want to read the book you have recommended but would also add that I will never know "enough"(i dont know about you though! :) ). It's only that i have to keep working at it. Thanks a lot for the mail it has helped me think further.

I apologize if this sounds extremely preachy but i dont intend to. Do let me know if i have done a good job on PR considering that this is my first post on any of the lists (in case I annoyed some people with the manifesto)  :)

For now the only other :) thing i would like to say is that this working document is amendable and infact it would be great to see other versions or further "recombinations" of it (i.e if you find it worth the effort). 

Thankyou all
Vaibhav Bhawsar
Student of Communication Design
Srishti, Bangalore
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The recombined manifesto 12:58 PM 8/20/2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this world every individual has been coded, encrypted and protected.
He is so because he has been immunized. Immunized so that he is
complacent, acquiescent and private. He fears what rules him. This
manifesto and the acts arising from it intend to be malicious and
malignant to that very individual's codification.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are artists, craftsmen, designers, musicians, writers, engineers,
lawyers, philosophers and  economists, and are essentially dreamers. Our
acts arise from the dream space and notions of a perfect world. We
believe its necessary to operate from such notions and spaces that are
non-rational, poetic, and irreducible because we believe in the
transitory state of both the world and its ideas.

We believe in the subjective individual over the objective and
complacent one. We believe ones personal feelings and opinions can have
profound influences on the community and also bring temporariness to
ideas and beliefs floating within the community by challenging and
debating over the consensus.

Whatever code we hack, be it myths, cultures, traditions, rituals,
beliefs or language - we hack the new out of the old. With the old we
produce new worlds or new things that are not always great things, or
even good things, but new things.

We believe division and distribution of information is a fundamental act
of extending knowledge and we situate such acts and their preservation
in open and unconditional frameworks.

We continuously hack our path thorough existing flows of information and
topography created by the institutions, the state and establishments to
embrace such spaces with our acts that produce alternative processes of
knowledge creation and exchange.

We reclaim the information space by providing autonomous free platforms
and networks for communication. We liberate information itself.

We reclaim the public space as a place of choice and expression through
fearless speech. We reconstruct the idea of the chowpal, the piazza and
the agora as a place for the people and by the people.

We disown all efforts that propagate technology specifically ICT in the
name of social development across developing nations. We consider such
efforts as pretentious and having vested interests. We are not an
economy for the refurbished.

We camouflage using contradiction. We visit both the sides, we walk
black and white through the grey. We constantly reconfigure ourselves
through contradiction and contradistinction.

To us originality is a far gone concept. There is no individual creator
today. We all are part of the remix machine called globalization, a meme
in itself. We are the remix culture. We copy, recombine and re-present
memetically.

***