relentless feedback

Zay writes about the origin of dramatic conflict and I immediately begin thinking of networks. The idea of a networked reality is beginning to feel a little empty to me. Porphyre suggests creating a kind of neo-futrist forum to discuss matters of networks and futurity. But I am wary of its potential efficacity. Talking of networks and the future does not bring them about. Or perhaps that is the future, endless dialogue about a subject we have long forgotten. In the same way that only when the moment of spiritual enlightenment has ended do we begin ascribing words to the situation.

In the discussions of dramatic competition, Alison takes issue with my dualistic reading of Greek dramatic structure pointing out that there are three characters necessary for the drama. And there is the network. Complexity borne of mutual relationships. The dualist line of thinking came as an extension to Zay's initial post, but I think it still has some significance. Within the duality is an already present, waiting to manifest, third. The synthesis. The cathersis. The being changed from force in opposition to unified whole.

In Ajax, the moment is found not even in death, but only later in the allowance for burial. Unity delayed. While it does not have the efficiency of the more famous Oedipus it is a more staid and extended meditation on this notion of catharsis. Death is not enough. Death must find social and legal sanction before its impact may be felt.

By extending the moment of transformation it makes visible the always existing third party to the dualistic conflict. The madness of self righteous fury shoves one into the harsh light of day and there we must watch, relentless, the destruction of a man's soul. Slowly. Painfully. His dignity and right to die withheld. Revelation is not enough for this tragedy. Fate must continue to toy with his soul like cat with its half dead mouse.

The failure of dualistic thinking is that the synthesis always already exists in potentia before a first encounter. Here we can see this kind of dualism in action. While watching arguments can be fun at times, one can also step back and see the whole thing as a kind of metalinguistic ironic joke on the meaning of irony.

Networks rely upon various actors exerting force upon each other through the exchange of information. This relational system becomes a kind of feedback loop. Yet, there is very little room for release in the system. Human relationships are often resolved through encounter with another being. In a digital space this is not necessarily possible. One can not simply go out for drinks and talk it over. The discussion must continue, fragmented over shards of the network never quite resolving. Tristan und Isolde without the Liebestod.

Shortly after moving to New York five years ago I remember going to a number of noise parties. The music and indeed overall ambience of these events was like being trapped between a microphone and a speaker as they fed information back to one another. What fascinated me about these events was when I left, the musicality of the city became heightened. I can not say that I actually had any fun at these events, but they were quite powerful in that moment of cathartic transformation when an ending becomes a beginning and the building tensions are allowed for a moment to release.