Culminating discussion of Everything is Miscellaneous

[AlexReid]

Here are some key thoughts from the end of Weinberger's book:

Planets are chosen by arbitrary characteristics that are less clear-cut than we'd thought and don't matter anyway. This isn't to say that there are no differences between men and women, that we need never consider race, that puppies are the same as potatoes. Rather, which differences we attend to has everything to do with our history, our language, and our intentions... and even then, the divisions are unlikely to be as clean as essentialism assumed they should be. (221)

What Weinberger is suggesting here is that knowledge is cultural and historical. That means that knowledge is also political and sometimes the site of struggle. This doesn't mean that knowledge isn't "true" in the sense of being accurate or useful. Knowledge is power, as we like to say.

In the world after Enlightenment, the cultural task was to build knowledge. In the miscellaneous world, the task is to build meaning... knowledge is now not our only project or our single highest calling. Making sense of what we know is the broader task, a task for understanding within the infrastructure of meaning. (222)

It's not who is right and who is wrong. It's how different points of view are negotiated, given context, and embodied with passion and interest. Individuals thinking out loud now have weight, and authority and expertise are losing some of their gravity. (230)

I want to comment on these two quotes together. To me they suggest our ethical responsibility in the face of the deluge of information that we face. The second quote gives a sense of the broader task referenced in the first. it is, in my view, a rhetorical task. That means that this work requires artful communication, tactical persuasion, audience awareness, and so on. In a world of endless media, we will compete heavily to get others' attention and shape the communities in which we participate: rhetorical skill is the centerpiece of the attention economy.

A topic is not a domain with edges. It is how passion focuses itself. (230)

I particularly like this final quote. Note how "passion" acts on its own here. It acts through us. Desire is integral to order, even as we recognize that desire often clouds our objectivity. If we think about this in terms of information theory, maintaining order requires energy. Newton's second law of thermodynamics states that the world tends to move toward entropy and chaos. Just think about keeping your room organized. It takes energy, right? Desire is energy. It is will and force. Whether you imagine it originates in your conscious mind (as with free will), in your unconscious (in some psychological scheme), in our culture (as some cultural theorists would argue), or some combination of these, we see here that knowledge not only is power but is also the product of power.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on these ideas or other points of interest in this week's reading.

[Bwhisman]

Knowledge is power! This is an amazing concept which I feel is not taken seriously today. Going to college is such a privilege and I sometimes take it for granted. There are so many things one can do to gain knowledge. With the use of technology, the amount of information and knowledge we can gain is enormous.

I think that school has become a state of distaste only because it is "the cool thing to say". But I believe that our education is what separates us from other countries. We have the freedom to learn and it is amazing. We can learn from history and from past events. We can learn from peers and professors. I think my generation does not take advantage of all the knowledge out there today.

I want to gain as much knowledge as I can in my life time. Sometimes I think that learning from others than in a class or learning from experience is beneficial as well. No matter how we gain knowledge it is always better than not applying yourself.

[Taylor]

I agree with you completely. I am guilty of taking my education for granted, and really the education we receive in this country puts us above all the rest, or as you say "separates us from other countries." It is unfortunate that many act like they do not like school because they believe it is cooler to say that than actually tell their friends they love it. I am guilty of doing this as well sometimes, yet I know it is ridiculous. Also, I am one that does not take advantage of all the knowledge that is offered today because to be truthful I am lazy. After a long semester I feel drained and always vow to not pick up another book until i absolutely have to, but really I should be taking advantage of the knowledge that is offered me in this wonderful country that we live in.

[Deanna]

I can relate to you! I think that we, as Americans, are taught to be lazy by our school system. I know for me, all throughout high school, I never really was forced to work to my full capability. Unless i was in an AP class, or trying to take the SATS, high school was more of social network rather than an educational institution. I feel thats why many of us don't take advantage of everything that is available in this country. We take our education for granted and don't really even think twice about it. We are really not pushed by anyone to try to take advantage of all the knowledge that is out there. After a semester is done, the last thing i want to do is pick up a book and read for fun..(unless of course it is a book which has absolutely no relevance to the real world haha). I just wonder if this is actually our fault, and is it something we can change? Or- is it a way of life which has been beaten into our brains by the education system, that doing the least you can do and still getting by is okay.

[Brooke Alden Hoffman]

I agree. High school, for me, was also just a really great place to go and see people that you like....just a 6 hour hang out session that had some academic downfalls. I tried to do well to impress my parents and to get into college. I was disinterested in most of my classes because my teachers were disinterested in me. The only classes that I really enjoyed were the ones where I would get feedback, positive or negative, from my teachers. No one wants to disappoint anyone. If I was doing poorly in a class and no one brought it to my attention I really didn't care. It seemed as though my teachers were putting in as little effort as I was. Passionate teachers always made me feel like I should work harder for them, because they were putting so much in for me. But if I am going to bust my ass on a paper or a test and the only feedback that I am going to get is an A on the top of the page, I am not going to be motivated enough to put in the time and energy.

[Tim]

Yeah, college certainly opens you up to a whole new world. Although I don't know if it's cool to say that college sucks. Hating school is popular among high school students, which is certainly no surprise because high school sucks. But college students chose to attend college. I don't know if college students would put themselves in an uncomfortable situation for 4 years. Yes, some courses suck. But the fact remains that college isn't required.

Although you might be right. As much as I hated high school, I never really worked that hard. No, let me rephrase that--in high school I didn't work hard at all. I guess having teachers hold your hand through every step for 12 years is a cake walk compared to college. College students are forced to fend for themselves, study on their own time. If you don't want to attend class.....then don't. College is just such a different world from high school and I can see why some would come to loathe it. I guess if you thoroughly enjoyed the babysitting mentality of high school, college may seem like a smack in the face.

But overall, I agree with you. Applying yourself is the most important part of life. Well, one of the most important parts.

[Vinny Thide]

"Individuals thinking out loud now have weight."
This quote I found to eye-opening. If you really think about it, when we are twittering, blogging, writing on our wiki page or whatever internet based discussions we get involved in, we are actually putting our thoughts in writing. We are thinking out load, something they used to send out the "white-coats" for if we did this in the past! All kidding aside, being able to think out load has given us an amazing power. Using the knowledge we have and sharing it with others broadens learning experiences for anyone who cares to participate. This knowledge does educate us and it does give us strength in helping us become who we want to be. This knowledge and learning is lifting us up, forcing us to think more, causing audiences to be very aware, and thus our "weight" in society is heavier, making us strong.
The huge task of making the miscellaneous available anywhere on the internet gives us even more power. As third order organizing on the internet attempts to classify the miscellaneous, more knowledge becomes available, giving us even more power. Yes, knowledge is powerful, participation is powerful, the internet is powerful - it's almost surreal to think what the future holds for us.

[Will]

Vinny, I never read that much into that line of text. I'm glad you elaborated on it because it opened my eyes a bit too. When I read that line the only thing I could think was, "The squeeky wheel gets the oil".

[Taylor]

This quote says to me that everyone is different and miscellaneous because of where they come from and how they define themselves as an individual. Weinberger writes that “Planets are chosen by arbitrary characteristics that are less clear-cut than we'd thought and don't matter anyway.” To me, this says that we did not choose the planets or what was on them, but we live on the planets and choose how to live on the planets given to us. So, this means that the “differences we attend to” is what makes up an individual’s history, language, and intentions, which all form to make everyone and everything different and miscellaneous in our world. Everything is miscellaneous simply because every person is unique, and has a different way of organizing their life as they know it.

[Jacob Martinko]

I agree with Taylor. i think that everyone is the way that they are because of society's impact on that person. The experiences that someone has had and the life that someone has lived will define that person. This creates individuality. How our lives are lived are determined by us, thus determining our personalities and how we are defined by ourselves and other people.

How we settle our differences and how we go about interacting with everyone are the most important aspects in defining ourselves. everything is about communication. i went to a lecture the other day by John Edwards, a motivational speaker.He talked about success in the workplace and how communication is the single most important thing that will lead to success.

[Alyson Best]

I feel like the first 2 quotes from the book can relate to what is currently going on in our society. With the election in like 2 days, things are going to change and knowledge about things is going to be extremely powerful.

“Rather, which differences we attend to has everything to do with our history, our language, and our intentions... and even then, the divisions are unlikely to be as clean as essentialism assumed they should be.” Knowledge is power and the more we know right now the better off we are. The problem with the election and the way people attack things is people are going to say whatever they want to get other to believe their side. Therefore, keeping everything in a sense miscellaneous. With all the attack adds it is hard to figure out who to believe and who not too. You hear opposite sides of everything. Everything stays miscellaneous because even though you may be able to figure out what is true and what isn’t, the constant different information makes it hard to believe.

[Steven Richmond]

I understand this post in that with the upcoming election knowledge is essential in the process of choosing a candidate to become president. The more knowledge you gain the more powerful you feel. With this power you have the ability to bring about change in that you can cast your vote to elect a new president. This is a huge action of power. I also understand how the more knowledge we gain the more we understand what is going on. This makes us better off in making our decision rather than going into it blindly. Politics does have that sense of misleading and attacking. It makes it hard to figure out who to believe in the end as you have stated above. In the end you have to go with who you trust the most.

[Steven Richmond]

I also liked the final quote above. It is simple but direct and a way of describing a topic that I had never heard before. I agree that a topic is not a finite structure that cannot be changed or added to. With passion from a person anything can become more focused and organized. You need desire to create that focus. Maintaining order and focus also require energy. Without it anything could slip into chaos. Through passion and energy this is controlled. I agree also that knowledge is a product of power. To gain knowledge you need to put forth some sort of power or energy the same as you do to give knowledge. I also liked the quote from page 222. I agree that building meaning is greater than building knowledge. Without meaning knowledge does not exist. It’s more important to understand rather that to form useless knowledge.