culture

Geek As Citizen: Disrupting Disruption

by

Planetary Collision

We hear about disruption a lot, especially in techgeekery. Disrupt this. Disruptive technology. Disruptive disruption. If by now you’re anywhere in technology and aren’t sick of hearing about it you have an issue that probably needs to be disruptied because the buzzword is everywhere.

I’m getting a bit concerned about it actually and its use – or frankly misuse. The term “disruption” is getting a bit omnipresent, and that’s a bit of a warning flag that having hammers and seeing nails is starting to happen – and in the case of the hammer of disruption, I’m not sure everyone even agrees what it is.

So since this is part of the technosphere of geek culture,it’s something I’d like to address because it’s something that affects how we relate to our work and what we do.

Because I think it’s distorting our perspectives – disrputing them if you will, and not in the cool-innovative way.

In fact, I wonder if we’re even all talking about the same thing . . .

Read more

Geek As Citizen: Imagine There’s No Heaven

by

Sky Clouds Heaven

When discussing Geek Citizenship and our involvement in communities, there’s something that comes up again and again – and not just in geek citizenship. It’s an issue that pops up repeatedly when you’re dealing with issues of people being part of society versus cutting themselves off.

The desire to Get Away To Where Everything’s Perfect.

It’s the idea that we’re going to someday be rich enough nothing will bug us (even if some things should bug us). It’s the idea that we can get away from those people or maybe even, you know, get rid of them or isolate them – and then the world is perfect. It’s the idea that there’s something out there that can solve everything and make everything great forever, and if we just keep at it and give up everything else we’ll get there.

It’s an idea of Heaven, and it’s not so much a theological concept as the idea that somehow we’ll reach a perfect state where it’ll all be OK.

This idea is not just B.S. on many levels, it’s pathological because it leaves us always running and manipulating and cutting ourselves off. In short, I’m saying Heaven is a pretty terrible idea, even when we gussy it up with economic talks and technology dreams. In fact, it makes us worse citizens, and I’d like to think we can do better.

Not Perfect of course. Perfect Is The Problem.

Read more

Way With Worlds: Culture And Civilization

by

Culture And Civilization - One is the Foundation of the Other

[Way With Worlds appears at Seventh Sanctum at at MuseHack.  It focuses on worldbuilding as a writer or setting designer and is included here to help our readers who craft fictional settings]

Thanks to heavy worldbuilding you’ve got your setting, and in that setting you’ve got intelligent life (probably). Now that you’ve got sentient species in your universe,it’s time to work on their Culture and probably Civilization.  I’m capitalizing deliberately, by the way for when I’m getting abstract.

Culture and Civilization are something we talk for granted because we’re used to living in them all the time. But they’re also huge elements of world building because of what they are – and taking them seriously is important because they are massive definers of intelligent life.

Read more