Last week a few of us organising the exhibition met for
dinner. Here are some of the points that came out, plus some indications as to
how we want to carry on this work from now.
Why?
The first important point to keep in mind is why we want to
do this exhibition, so that it doesn’t become just a sociological comment on
society today. Taking into account the theme of the London Encounter, we want
to understand how technology helps us to live the real intensely and where it
hinders us in this. But what does it mean to live the real intensely? Here I suggest
everyone to re-read the last section of chapter 10 of the Religious Sense. To
live the real intensely implies living all of reality, forgetting nothing,
until the point where we begin to know the mystery. My interest in doing the
exhibition is so that I can be helped to live reality in a way that opens me to
the mystery behind it. Without this perspective the work for the exhibition will
soon become boring.
Related to this, the question came out “Does technology help
to answer my need or does it define my need?”. We want to help each other in
this awareness.
What?
There are many aspects of technology that we could look at
in this exhibition. We have identified a few main categories that we see as the
principal ones we found interesting to look at. In each category we wish to
bring out the positive benefits, while helping each other to recognize the
challenges. These are by no means finalised, but are just a structure to help
us start working. The categories are
1.
Development of technology in recent years (20-50
years?). Look at how technology has developed and the great benefits that that
has bought.
2.
Relationships – Technology allows us to keep
relationships with friends at long distances. However it also affects the way
we live those relationships. An example given was how WhatsApp provides a great
way of keeping in touch with friends in Italy, but is not the method that you
would use to talk about something serious. In what way are relationships
influenced by technology?
3.
Knowledge – Technology provides access to a
great wealth of knowledge and is a great tool in our desire to know the world.
However, it can also make knowledge superficial, for example if we think that
it is sufficient to have 100 books stored on our phone but never read any of
them properly. Does storage become identified with knowledge?
4.
Social media – Again a great tool for building
relationships and our desire to communicate, but clear challenges when it
becomes an end in itself.
5.
Education – Two aspects to this. First, in order
to face the challenges our freedom needs to be educated. How does this happen?
Second, how does this affect the way we educate our younger people, so that their
freedom can also recognize and face these challenges?
How?
We need to start gathering material and defining the scope
of the exhibition very quickly. We will have another meeting on 17 December in
London. Before that I ask everyone to contribute as much as possible in the
following ways:
1.
Find any relevant articles of interest or other
material and post links to them on the blog. As far as possible please write a
couple of sentences as to what the article is about and why you think it is of
interest, rather than just saying “this looks interesting”. There is also the
possibility to add labels to your posts (right hand side of screen). Please try
to add one or more of the following labels, corresponding to the above 5 categories
Development, Relationships, Knowledge, Social Media, Education.
Development, Relationships, Knowledge, Social Media, Education.
(Add other labels if you think it useful). This will help us to identify
the main themes coming out of what we find.
2.
Add posts with your own thoughts or experiences.
Again try to add labels to categorise them.
3.
Comment on the posts of other people. If you
think something is particularly useful, say why. If you disagree with an
article, say why. The blog is a possibility for us to discuss the different
issues without us all having to meet together, so let’s start discussing!
I think these topics are great and cover a wide range of things to talk about relating to technology. I think in the 'development of technology' category we should consider the future of technology; so many developments have happened in the last 10 years. In another 10 years our lives could be completely different because of technology.
ReplyDeleteAlessandro showed me this photo (http://petapixel.com/2013/03/14/a-starry-sea-of-cameras-at-the-unveiling-of-pope-francis/) and I think it is something that should be mentioned or used in someway because it is a really striking photo that links into the development of technology.
Rebecca
Thanks Rebecca. I think it is good point to also think about the future, since so much has changed in the last few years. It may be hard to predict exactly what the technology will be, but we should at least address the issues bearing in mind that the form of technology is likely to change.
ReplyDeleteAle showed me that photo as well. It really illustrates the point. Would be great to use it if we can.