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What’s real

October 21, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

Conversation overheard between an ambitious grad student and a simpleminded process-relational philosopher . . .

 

      Jake Wanano-Everton:   Sir, where do you draw the line between what’s real and what’s not real?

      Prof. Noah Fewthings:   The only things that are real are the moments of experienced reality — drops of experience, let’s call them — pulsing through the vector stream of the universe right now. There are lots and lots of them, too many to count: what you and I are experiencing right now are only two, or more accurately some, of billions and billions unfolding at this moment. And this one. And this one. They are all that’s real; and they are irreducibly real.

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Say what? (going solar)

October 15, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

Nothing like a bit of good news* to make us feel that the fight against fossil-fuel gangsters is worth continuing…

“We’re actually winning the fight against climate change, but most people don’t know it yet.”

And this:

“Within eighteen months . . . solar will be able to compete in three-quarters of the world’s electricity markets without subsidies.

See Will Solar Save the Planet? | The Nation

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Posted in Eco-culture | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Realism & Peirce

October 14, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

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Levi is out swinging (in the most entertaining way possible; I love it when he gets on a roll, and I do agree with him on much of it).

Of course, there’s not much new in what he says (that hasn’t been said by Left-realists for the last few decades, and by Latour more recently). But of course it still needs to be said (in some circles, like to Left anti-realists) and it’s better said by constructivist realists (like Bryant, Latour, et al.) than by anti-constructivists (on the Right or Left). Constructivist realism — a realism that avows the constructedness (enactedness, emergentness, historicity) of everything, from quarks to civilizations to universes — is where things are at. (Which is why I appreciate Levi’s philosophizing so much.)

The comments that follow his post include some rejoinders from Peircians (like Mark Crosby and Matt Segall), who don’t like Bryant’s seeming characterization of Charles Sanders Peirce as an anti- or non-realist. In response, Levi writes that “we never really see Pierce employed outside the humanities.” Here he needs to be corrected.

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Posted in Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Objectivity 2.0?

October 14, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

Continuing on the “sciencey” thread from this post… (I’ll come back to the “14 billion years” issue, since it’s been pointed out to me that my criticism of the concept of measuring time would only apply — if the scientists are correct — to the first few seconds or so of the universe.)

 

http://normangalinsky.com/images/large/ImplicateOrder.300f.jpg

 

Here’s a question for all of you:

What does the universe look like to an objective observer?

Let’s unpack some of the assumptions and traps hidden inside this question.

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Posted in Philosophy, Science & society | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

Under Western Skies CFP

September 18, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

Under Western Skies: Intersections of Environments, Technologies, and Communities

September 9 – 13, 2014
Mount Royal University
Calgary, AB CANADA

Under Western Skies is a biennial, interdisciplinary conference on the environment. The third conference welcomes academics from across the disciplines as well as members of artistic and activist communities, non- and for-profit organizations, government, labour, and NGOs to address collectively the environmental challenges faced by human and nonhuman actors.

The conference is held on the Mount Royal University campus (Calgary, Alberta, CANADA) in the LEED Gold-certified Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning.

Keynote speakers for the 2014 conference include:

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Posted in Academe | 1 Comment »

Mosaïcultures

September 16, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

Some pictures from the Mosaïcultures international exhibition of horticultural arts at Montreal’s Botanical Gardens. The exhibition continues until September 29.

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Lise Cormier’s Mother Earth

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Posted in Eco-culture | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

“14 billion years” (a pet peeve)

September 13, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

http://www.antheapolsonart.com.au/images/61.jpg

When people say “the universe began 14 billion years ago,” do they realize that this is not true in the slightest?

It’s not true not because they aren’t measuring things accurately. Rather, it’s not true because the standards of measurement cannot have possibly remained unchanged over such a time period.

To put it crudely, this is because Continue Reading »

Posted in Philosophy, Process-relational thought | Tagged , , | 7 Comments »

EMI online course

September 11, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

Cross-posting from e2mc:

I’ve begun teaching a course on film and ecology and using my book Ecologies of the Moving Image as the main text.

Since the topic is related to the theme of this blog, and since I’ll be creating reading guides and posting links to film clips and related materials for my students, I thought I might as well share those publicly here.

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Posted in Cinema | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

Digital environmental humanities

September 8, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

It’s the second day of the Digital Environmental Humanities Workshop at McGill University. Yesterday was devoted to the environmental humanities, today to the digital. One of the main goals is to bring the two together in new and productive ways.

Many exciting developments… Geoff Rockwell has been posting his notes from the conference. His list of links to digital humanities tools is particularly useful; scroll down to “Sunday Sept. 8th” on that page.

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Latourian inquiries

August 22, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

Bruno Latour fans will know that the French anthropologist’s long-awaited follow-up to 1991’s game-changing theoretical provocation We Have Never Been Modern was released in its English translation just a few weeks ago. The book is called An Inquiry Into Modes of Existence (and is becoming better known by its acronym “AIME”), and it provides a state-of-the-art summation of Latour’s project of producing an “anthropology of the moderns” — that is, of us.

Most interestingly, it does this as a multi-phase exercise in “interactive metaphysics,” which includes a participatory online web site intended to fill in the details and elicit commentary, debate, and refinement.

Hard-core fans will also likely have heard about Adam Robbert’s online AIME research group, which will be conducting a group reading beginning next week. The group currently involving several dozen participants (including myself — so you will be hearing about it here), but it is open to the public.

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Posted in Philosophy | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments »

Let the hobbits live

August 6, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

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Glandwr councillors, don’t do it. It’s a beautiful, sustainably designed home. Let them live there.

See Couple lose fight to save ‘hobbit house’ eco-home from demolition. And Charley and Meg’s Facebook page for updates.

Then sign the petition.

More pictures here.

 

Posted in Eco-culture | 2 Comments »

First after-thoughts…

July 30, 2013 by Adrian J Ivakhiv

EMI-shot

It arrived a few days ago. Feels good to grasp in the hand: thick, solid, “capacious” (as Steven Shaviro says in one of the cover blurbs). And Tarkovsky has rarely looked as green as on the cover.

But I’ve already found an indefensible oversight: Continue Reading »

Posted in Cinema, Philosophy, Visual culture | Tagged | 5 Comments »

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