Foretelling the Arrival Of Change

The seasonal changes are often foretold by subtle visible shifts in our most immediate environmental patterns. Upon close scrutiny, it is possible to read the vocabulary of change and become adept at recognising this cyclical language. However, many mystics and prophets have confined themselves over time to the study of minutiae in the natural world, casting yarrow sticks, reading bird-droppings or tasting the blood of a freshly sacrificed okapi.

But cycles, by there very nature are not static and consequently one has an obligation to update ones toolbox, sharpen ones axe, or download the latest version - so to speak.

One such audible clue is the subtle tonal change in bird song, or the sudden presence on our streets of imbeciles driving quad-bikes along pedestrianised paths. Another - somewhat more pleasant clue - is the presence on the air waves and digital platforms of other cultural sounds - in particular the sudden presence of Brazilian Samba fused with American Jazz - the ultimate and immortalised representation being The Girl from Ipanema by Getz and Gilberto in 1964. Summer is here.

The Video is from the now - rather comically titled film from the same year - Get Yourself a College Girl. Worth watching for no other reason than to marvel at the sheer variety of cardigans present, and the blue hair style of the woman 1 minute in.

Thanks to Kisco for the inspiration for this post.

The Search for Vulnerability

The Confirmation Bias

We all have bad habits. Some of us smoke, or drink too much. Some of us scratch our bottoms whilst shaking hands with the mayor and others spit unconsciously when they get excited about a subject, and you find yourslef ducking under flying saliva and placing a protective hand over your glass of wine.

But that is not the real problem. The problem with bad habits lies in our tendency to look to corroborate them in the world that we construct around us.

For example, in our arguments we always seek out others that can corroborate what we already think - as opposed to go looking for those arguments that may disconfirm our long-held ideas. Consequently we build up a list of corroborators that back up our beliefs and further entrench us in dogmatism. This is called The Confirmation Bias by scientists.

By Tai Chi exponents it is called Push Hands.

Push Hands is a partner exercise that involves constantly searching for the vulnerable in your partner. This is not so that you can then topple or unbalance s/he. It is so that s/he can then learn from such exposure and gradualy improve their technique over time. It is not an easy exercise, and many students resent the repetition of the movements. But it is often in the study of slow repetition that bad habits come to the surface.

The difficulty is we all have a tendency to want our egos stroked and therefore as much as we can we tend to avoid such scenarios. But we can learn from vulnerability and exposure, it is a powerful method for finding the truth and avoiding the old patterns that infect physical and intellectual routines.

Questions and Answers.

Q: How do we know that this post is not an example of such bias? Perhaps you have written this to confirm and already exisiting tendency.

A: That is a fine point. However when shaking hands with the mayor I always - as a matter of course - scratch my bottom first.

Q: What happens in Push-hands if you don´t go for vulnerability? What if you go for the jugular of your opponent.

A: There is no opponent. Only yourself.

Q: Yes OK. I get the Zen bit - One-handed claps and stuff. But what if someone does go for your jugular?

A: Then in the act of - going - they expose themselves and become tense with anticipation and muscular tension. Consequently you relax and move. You learn to stay calm under stress - and they learn not to telegraph their moves. Generally though, we do not practice jugular attacks during Push-Hands, this is generally confined to visits from local politicians.

Billy Braggs about File Sharing.

Just to finish off this thread, here is an interesting post over at TorrentFreak that quotes Billy Bragg on the issue of file-sharing. Its an interesting piece as we generally only hear from those that condemn the technology and the attitude of music file sharers.

Yet here is someone who can see beyond the name calling and the deeply entrenched interest of the music industry and offer some useful comments as to the long- overdue direction that the industry needs to take. And all this from someone still with an investment in recorded music.

OK - no more on file-sharing. Back to Uncarved approaches now...

Entering the Ring Alone

¨Another trumpet blew and El Chanti carefully folded his cape away, picked up two brightly adorned sticks and re-entered the ring alone. He raised the sticks out to his side, arched his back and then began a suicidal run at the bull from the other side of the ring. The animal waited, watching and then chose its moment to charge. Suddenly, El Chanti was swerving, leaping, twisting and then he was gone leaving the two spikes hanging limply from the hide of the confused bull. Blood ran down its flank as the Matador was handed the next two sticks.¨

An excerpt form the novel: Sand Sea and Sky.

Little England: Little Minds

In light of the recent ruling against the Pirate Bay Torrent site - typically British Telecom has jumped on what it interprets as an anti-file sharing bandwagon and blocked access to the site from all its mobile Internet providers.
The reason? According to EL Pais  this morning it is to protect children  - so BT claims - from offensive material on the site. How laudable. Yet Pirate Bay did not provide links to porn sites and everyone  - including my Great Aunt Gertha -  knows that using Google´s search engine it is possible to track material on any subject, whether it be a torrent file, music album or web sites on sadomasochism. Yet is BT blocking Google? Of course not.

If you see someone assaulting another person, what do you do? Step in to defend them? Voice your concern? Fetch help?

Or stick the boot in yourself? Nice one BT.
Little England: Little Minds.

Taking the Torrent Argument Out of the Bay.

As the debate rages about whether the Pirate Bay ship will now sink or just move to a quieter bay - An Uncarved Blog delves into the questions behind the notorious ruling this week. We ask, which of the following statements reflect the real underlying battle?

• It is about protecting and upholding the future of copyright.

• It is about defending the rights of the artistic community (The same one Home-Taping had killed off presumably.)
  

• It was about protecting the dwindling assets of an industry under threat from a new emerging, but as yet non-monetarised business model.

Now, let me see.....hmmm! Tricky questions.

Yet industries do change. The camera and film developing industry adapted to the swift evolution of digital media in the 90´s. They saw how their model had to change and so changed with it in order to survive. So how is it that the other industries have failed to pick up the gauntlet of this new - and exciting - torrent technology?
Whilst the publishing, music and film industries have been complaining about lost revenue, consumers at long last have taken control of the means of consumption. For too long they were subject to the whims of the industry as new means of recording, storing and play-back media were developed. And inevitably it was the consumer that had little choice to to re-purchase the same music again and again as it shifted format from vinyl to CD to MP3. But it was not just the music or videos that changed - it was also the players. The record deck, the 8-track, cassette player, CD Player, DVD player and - Blu-Ray and MP3/WMA etc . The list goes on and on. Money just streamed into the industry over and over again.

So how have they reacted to this new development of file-sharing, a development that does not come from them, but from the tired and exasperated consumer who has paid out repeatedly for the same music or film? Well instead of investigating and working with the new methods of distribution and promotion they have have diverted their dwindling resources into defending old practices and undermining the new ones.

But hope is on the horizon, for as these dinosaurs roar and stamp about in anger, new species are appearing in ever greater numbers that give insights as to how the digital world will evolve: Jamendo, Blurb, Scribd, Lulu are some early examples and off course basic torrent sites are encouraging this new model that - hopefully - will either speed up the death of the dinosaurs or convince them to mutate.

For a more established example, the i-tunes store offers quality media on demand for a set price. And the i-tunes Store is now the worlds biggest music seller. The interesting point here is that the music industry did not voluntarily enter into the world of on-line downloads. It did so with its arm twisted behind its back. So we shall the the other industries follow suit.

Meanwhile, lets play with a few of these ideas a moment and see where we go.

What if, for instance, a media label sets itself up and invited people to join it on a membership basis. The idea being that there was an agreement to share files between members. The more someone was prepared to share the less the media would cost to download in the first place. Media could then be downloaded via torrents in exchange for some form of payment by cash, advertising, promotion or reviewing:

For example - A film could be downloaded on a sliding scale of cost or participation -

Price X: View once.( keep the torrent file only active whilst in use).
Price - X:View once but review.
Price --X:View, keep but share ( keep torrent active and distribute forward - Seed).
Price ---X:View, keep, but seed more then once.
Price ---X:View, keep, share and review. ( Cheapest option).

Perhaps if time and money were invested in a fairly priced scheme that exploited the new sharing technologies, then a large number of people would be willing to participate in quality downloads with rewards for sharing. Artists do want their works distributed as widly as possible and at last we have the technology and incentives to do it. Why not encourage it rather than criminalise it. Why not work out a response that is not fused to an antiquated and clearly dying business model reliant on a prehistoric distribution and promotional industry.

Is it possible? Not if this week was anything to go by. Taking Pirate Bay to court was like taking a Hardware shop to court for selling crowbars.
Is it not time to move the argument on?

More Variety, Less Choice

My curious trip around the state of New York has delivered me from the eternal queues of Manhatten (with the most unpredictable billing system) to the cold emptyness of the north: grey skies, drammatic rain and ceaseless shopping opportunities in faceless disposable malls.



Coming from a small town in southern Europe where choice is defined not so much by asiles wide enough to drive an electric shopping trolly down, rather by the option of buying one carrot rather than a kilo, one decent small coffee rather than a bucket of hot flavoured milk. Undersize me please. Quantity is most definitely not quality. Variety does not necessarily increase choice.