Posted 23:22 by Mark Federman permanent link


Does anyone else see the tremendous ironic humour that is emanating from south of the border (the 49th parallel, that is) lately? There has been all of the foofarah about the Jayson Blair affair, in which a journalist from the New York Times was sacked for making it up as he went along. Much hand-wringing ensued. Contrast this with the unabashedness of White House and Pentagon who are now shown to have made it up as they went along. How bad has it gotten? Well, it seems as if there remains some professional pride among the Intelligence folks when they cry, "Save Our Spooks!"

" "The American people were manipulated," bluntly declares one person from the Defense Intelligence Agency who says he was privy to all the intelligence there on Iraq. These people are coming forward because they are fiercely proud of the deepest ethic in the intelligence world - that such work should be nonpolitical - and are disgusted at efforts to turn them into propagandists."

Remember that great Presidential gaffe? "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says fool me once... shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again." Well, I've got news for you, Georgie...
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Posted 22:02 by Mark Federman permanent link


We recently had some fun with those pesky Nigerian email scams. But what if you are a legitimate Nigerian mass-email businessperson? How can you learn to improve your business effectiveness? Never fear - just invest some of your hard-earned wire-transfers and attend the 3rd Annual Nigerian EMail Conference. "This conference is an investment in your future. Learn to take advantage of modern technology, and make a great deal of money with very little effort. If you have any question, please contact me and I will send you a proposal that may be of interest to you. I await your response by return while assuring you that the transaction is absolutely risk free... Write better emails. Make more moneys!"
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Posted 11:04 by Mark Federman permanent link


I may be biased, but in my view Marshall McLuhan numbers among the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. The effects that we experience in our world as we know it today were foreseen by "the sage of Aquarius" over forty years ago, and, aside from using a crystal ball and tarot cards, that takes tremendous insight. What we do here at the McLuhan Program is to continue the legacy of awareness, insight and playful thinking across many diverse disciplines. His thinking does not only apply to our conventional notions of technology and mass-media, but to everything we conceive and create. Every idea, every invention, every policy, organizational decision, institution... everything we do and think is a Medium and can be analyzed with new awareness using McLuhan thinking.

One of the things that is important, both in academe and in "real life," is to expand the number of minds thinking and number of voices participating in discourse. To limit or control participation is to enforce one point of view, something that McLuhan was dead set against. He emphatically maintained that a point of view was not useful when one was interested in understanding the complete nature and effects of any Medium, that is, anything we conceive or create.

Thus it saddens and troubles me significantly to learn that Jason Sherman, one of Canada's leading playwrights, has been prevented from mounting his new play about Marshall McLuhan, called The Message. And who is preventing Jason from expanding the range of discourse about the Media Master? Ironically, it is the McLuhan Family, under the direction of their literary agent, that has threatened to sue Jason and Toronto's Tarragon Theatre if the play is shown.

I sympathize with the family's desire to have Marshall McLuhan's memory treated with the utmost respect. I have also seen an early workshop reading of the script in development, and the heart-warming portrayal of Marshall McLuhan by actor Richard McMillan. Yes, the play shows the great "media guru" during his post-stroke aphasia. Yes, it fictionalizes some incidents and interactions with various characters from his life. And at the same time, it brings forward the charm, humour, tremendous intellect and, perhaps most important, the deep spirituality and faith of the man, who was a devout Catholic throughout most of his adult life.

Discuss

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Posted 19:03 by Mark Federman permanent link


"I'll quit when I can no longer hear the laughter." "That never stopped you before!" Thanks for the memories...
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Posted 01:21 by Mark Federman permanent link


We noticed an abstract for what looks like an interesting article that is forthcoming in the California Law Review Journal. The Laws of the Virtual Worlds examines some of the legal issues regarding our digiSelves' property and individual rights. Regular readers will recall this earlier article that observed the phenomenon of how digiSpace impinges on our physical world, reported by Julian Dibbell.

Noticing the ground shift - which is distinctly different from noticing the earth move - is another interesting aspect of this discussion. Whereas our conventional notion of cyborg deals with the extension of our physical selves by means of technology, we are now faced with the reverse consideration: What are the effects of our digiSelves being extended into the physical world? "Avatars, the user-controlled entities that interact with virtual worlds, are a persistent extension of their human users, and users identify with them so closely that the human-avatar being can be thought of as a cyborg. We examine the issue of cyborg rights within virtual worlds and whether they may have real world significance."
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Posted 18:31 by Mark Federman permanent link


We had a movie star who became President; now here's the President who became a movie star. Well... not quite. But this Globe and Mail story describes a made-in-Toronto-for-TV revision of history that features George-the-Younger as Tough Guy Terrorist Hunter. " "If some tinhorn terrorist wants me, tell him to come and get me! I'll be at home! Waiting for the bastard!" His Secret Service chief seems taken aback. "But Mr. President . . ." The President brusquely interrupts him. "Try Commander-in-Chief. Whose present command is: Take the President home!"

Powerful stuff, and sure to play well down on the farm. But what is the effect of turning the Prez into art - not particularly high art, but art. We know that when a medium becomes art or recreation, it is a strong indication of its obsolescence. But we are also seeing a reversal being forced relative to the image of GWB as ineffectual and bumbling, the former frat boy who loved to party. However you observe it, and it will always be relative to some set of ground effects, the quadrant it occupies is definitely toward the right side of the tetrad. From this observation I would suggest that the notion of "W" as leader - a position that he and his team worked hard to achieve since the end of 2001 - is now finished, one way or another. It is certainly telling that the "loyal Republican writer-producer is a Canadian citizen best known for his adaptation of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz:" From an essay by Emily Cho: "Cunning though he is, Duddy Kravitz fails to learn the tricks of his trade and, consequently, fails to become a whole person. In Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy’s peers succumb to his antics, thereby becoming deficient as Duddy’s teachers. Duddy’s amoral business associates are masters of ruthlessness and deceit, and his family members are enfeebled by the society they live in. Trained at the hands of these cripples, Duddy Kravitz is unable to complete his apprenticeship."
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Posted 11:31 by Mark Federman permanent link


Those who remember March's DECONcert: Music in the Key of EEG (and especially the second set) will know that it was a funky and trippy scene. Since then James Fung has been refining the underlying research and algorithms. He has teamed up with musician and PhD candidate Corey Manders to create a jazz performance with the audience again acting as instruments as part of a biofeedback collective. DECONcert2: Regenerative Jazz takes
place this Thursday evening, May 29th at 7:00 p.m. at Deconism Gallery, 330 Dundas Street West in Toronto. (entrance directly across the street from the entrance to the Art Gallery of Ontario). Tickets are $10 at the door.
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Posted 23:36 by Mark Federman permanent link


More thoughts on the connection between weblogs and journalism. Many people think of blogs as nothing more than personal webpages gone wild - like the dandelions in Toronto after the no-pesticides bylaw was passed - and dismiss them as vanity and self-indulgence. The absence of editors and editorial oversight is what distinguishes journalism (fanfare) from mere blogs (raspberry). But we must remember that the conventional press, and even television journalism is relatively one-way. Opinions from the audience are in the form of letters to the editor, that, true to their name, are mediated by the same editor (role) that edits the stories. (Yes, I know that many Letters pages have a separate editor from the news and editorial editors - that's why I said, "role.")

Contrast this situation with weblogs, given the insights of the Dynamics of a Blogosphere article in the following blog entry. Blogs that come to be noticed are those which are cited, that is linked-to, interestingly mirroring the best academic tradition. This is the highest form of editorial oversight - peer review. Those bloggers who establish a reputation for themselves by virtue of their insight, wittiness and general wisdom gain attention, which, after all, is the most valuable commodity in a world of instantaneous communications. The community edits itself; those whose contributions merit mass distribution via the unique dynamic of the blogosphere will see such distribution. Those whose contribution remains in the realm of navel-gazing and news-about-their-cat will be "modded down" in the best tradition of Slashdot, a site whose membership dynamics is a major archetype for community moderation.
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If you like the thinking in this entry, why don't you visit today's What is the Message?
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Posted 00:47 by Mark Federman permanent link


Here's an interesting piece from Microdoc News that examines the Dynamics of a Blogosphere Story. How does a story hit the big-time, and why aren't I famous yet? The most interesting comment in the article is the conclusion: "Blogs cannot be read in isolation from each other. Blog stories are understood and appreciated in aggregate and not in isolation. On the other hand, mainstream media stories tend to be read in isolation rather than read and compared. This is the key to understanding why blogs provide the most appropriate form of journalism in a world of instantaneous communications, and the fundamental difference between conventional mass-media and a journalism formed of connectedness. Well worth the read, both for would-be famous bloggers, and those who would criticize the blogs as trivial.
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Posted 22:39 by Mark Federman permanent link


The pop television show, American Idol drew a peak of 40 million viewers for its climactic ending. 24 million of these viewers cast online or telephone ballots to select Ruben Studdard over Clay Aiken by a slim margin of just 135,000 votes.

And I'll bet you're wondering why this particular blog is covering such a story.

First, there is the wonderful retrieval of the last U.S. Presidential election, that was tainted by suspected vote counting irregularities. Just prior to the announcement of the winner, the margin changed twice, from an initially reported 1,350, to a revised 13,500, to the final distance between the two singers of 135,000. Some fans were calling for a recount to determine which of the two was the actual winner. Like the race for the White House, determining which finalist performs best on television is the key criterion for millions of Americans; the "error" and suspicion of malfeasance adds the requisite drama to life as conditioned by television.

The premise of the show itself - average Americans from across the country becoming involved in a democratic selection of their pop idol - is entirely in line with our "theme park society" in which we actively participate in fantasy extensions of what otherwise would be normal and mundane experiences. However, the twist added to the current incarnation of this immensely popular show provides a fabulous extension.

In the first version of American Idol, the winner's prize was a recording contract. If Kelly Clarkson, the first Idol, is able to successfully navigate through the treacherous waters of CD marketing, she may indeed come out ahead. But what to do about all those pirates?

American Idol 2 came up with a fascinating solution that extended the premise of the show. Both Studdard and Aiken were awarded recording contracts, and both singers' debut CDs are being released on the same day. Were you a supporter of Suddard? Buy his CD. Do you think Aiken should have won? Buy his CD. Thinking of finding rips of their music on Kazaa? Sorry - your vote won't count.

By understanding and playing to the effects of the Experience Economy, the producers and recording companies are counting on our new conditioning to participate in an experience to drive album sales. Who will be the ultimate winner of American Idol 2? Perhaps the recording industry, as they find a new way to add the value of "the experience" to the plastic disks that form the basis of their business.
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Posted 14:53 by Mark Federman permanent link


"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Bullshit, responds Immigration and Naturalization Service officials at Los Angeles International Airport. Six French journalists were detained on arrival, "treated like criminals - subjected to several body searches, handcuffed, locked up and fingerprinted," and deported back to France.

The Reversal of America is an all too familiar theme for readers of this weblog. But is there evidence that the Reversal is having negative effects on America itself?

In recent weeks, the American dollar has weakened considerably compared to other world currencies, and in particular, relative to the Euro, and even the Loonie. Domestic fiscal mismanagement could be to blame - with all that effort going towards looking for weapons, Saddam, Osama, and garden-variety terrorists, who could blame GWB and company for not paying close attention to something as boring as day-to-day accounting. But perhaps there's something more afoot? Could it be that those who would be "punished" for not falling into line with the Coalition of the Billing... err... Willing, are meting out some fiscal punishment of their own? International traders set the value for international currencies. Would it be so difficult to shun one country's money if, collectively, the world thought a certain superpower needed to feel a little reversal... perhaps as a precursor to obsolescence?
A Penny for Your Thoughts
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Posted 19:39 by Mark Federman permanent link


Microsoft has missed the boat, and they haven't even realized it. Remember when "whoever controlled the browser controlled the Internet?" This engendered the bitter "browser wars" between Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape, that ultimately led to the U.S. Government's anti-trust suit against Microsoft. It was Microsoft's intention to gain predominance over the access point to the Internet, and thereby, rule the world, more or less.

Unfortunately, Microsoft's brain trust mistook the browser for the "access point to the Internet," by focusing on its function (i.e. accessing the Internet) as opposed to its effect - which was considerably different (and subject for a different essay.) The real access point to the Internet is search, and the winner is, of course, Google. Now before you say, "winner for now," and point to previous leaders in search, like Yahoo, Lycos, Excite and AltaVista, remember that all of these (but one) self-destructed when they attempted to become commercially-directed "portals." Google realizes that its power and influence remains not only in merely being the access point, but in being the manifestation of the effects of linkages and networking on people. In recognizing (perhaps instinctively) the true meaning of "the medium is the message," the true geniuses behind Google realized the importance of focusing on the effects (messages) of their technology (medium). By doing so, Google has attained the top MemeRank, and is now the most influential arbiter of what merits attention, and what doesn't, on the Internet. And as we all know, in today's world of instantaneous, multi-way communications, the most valuable commodity is attention.
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Posted 16:03 by Mark Federman permanent link


The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has renamed TIA from Total Information Awareness to Terrorism Information Awareness. In doing so, they have affirmed, " The Department of Defense fully complies with the laws and regulations governing intelligence activities and all other laws that protect the privacy and constitutional rights of U.S. persons. DoD has expressed its commitment to the rule of law in this endeavor and views the protection of privacy and civil liberties as an integral and paramount goal in the development of counterterrorism technologies."

Don't you feel better now?
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Posted 14:58 by Mark Federman permanent link


How do we get our news? A recent poll, for which I participated in some of the interpretation, found that of over 1000 Canadians polled, 63% of them get their news from television. Equal percentages - about 13% each - get their news from radio and the daily newspaper. Only 7% turn to the Internet as their primary news source - and this in a country that is among most wired in the world. So why do I bring this up? There has been a minor kerfuffle going on about the relative influence of Google vs. the New York Times. We mentioned this previously, but it came back to our attention via this posting on Dave Winer's blog. He was commenting on an opinion piece that appeared in the New York Times's Week in Review column by Geoffrey Nunberg, As Google Goes, So Goes the Nation. Nunberg's complaint originated with how the term "second superpower" was co-opted from the pages of the Grey Lady by masses of bloggers, noting that, " the Web is a tool that enables people who have a life to benefit from the efforts of those who don't."

Perhaps, but a churlish comment nonetheless. What Mr. Nunberg doesn't realize is the retrieval implicit in another of his comments. In describing how Google's rankings are scored, he reports, "Its algorithms rank results both by looking at how prominently the search terms figure in the pages that include them and … It gives a higher rank to pages that are linked to by a number of other pages, particularly if the referring pages themselves are frequently linked to." What does this approach retrieve?

In academia, the relative merit of scholarship, and the influence of a particular paper, is based on both how prominently the paper deals with the topic, and how many other scholarly papers cite the work in question. The greater the number of citations the more influential the paper is considered in the academic community. Nunberg may argue that, in academia, papers are peer-reviewed. On the Web, I would argue, the retrieval is quite parallel: Website linkages are indeed peer-reviewed, although Nunberg may not think highly of his online peers. Public moderation, trust and reliability are all factors in the online world, and so is the necessity for critical thinking - not basing one's argument solely on the basis of Google rank, for instance. But then again, the same holds true for the press, unless Mr. Nunberg considers the New York Times indistinguishable in credibility and respect from the New York Post.

But there is a larger issue at play here. The sniping at weblogs is an effect that is indicative of a latent fear of bloggers as the new journalists, potentially nipping at the heels of the "ink by the tanker" crowd. After all, a few short years ago, almost no one relied on the Internet for news, and now we’re up to 7%, closing in fast on the daily newspaper. Dave Winer suggests that the New York Times should make itself more accessible to the web community at large, and Google in particular. I tend to agree, if it wants to extend its influence and intelligent reportage and commentary among the 'net-oriented, in other than international syndication. But the intellect of both the press and thought-ful-and-provoking bloggers together are needed to balance the effects on our society of those who rely solely on hot television as the sole source of their "in-formation."
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Posted 12:00 by Mark Federman permanent link


Steve Mann and crew are up to it again. In conjunction with the beginning of the Subtle Technologies conference, Deconism Gallery is holding a World Wide Washdown. "Bring your own bathingsuit and towel, to Deconism, 330 Dundas Street West, Thursday May 22. Telematic Tubs against Terrorism begins immediately after the Subtle Technologies opening Keynote Panel that starts at 7pm."

For those who want to participate at a distance, you can "Setup a small wading pool, a basin, larger tub, or spa, together with a webcam and browser, and share in an evening of communal solitude, or come to an existing node. Those hosting a node are requested to set to a common water temperature, to provide a uniform worldwide bath. If you'd like to get your feet wet on the world wide web, and setup a tub, email deconism@eyetap.org with "Telematic Tubs against Terror" in the subject line, to coordinate the setup of your node in the war on terror."
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Posted 01:19 by Mark Federman permanent link


Those who ignore reversals, do so at their peril! Take Digital Rights Management (please!... sorry...) Its original intention was to prevent revenue "leakage" due to piracy. But piss off your best customers, and you won't have to worry about revenue leakage - it will be more like the revenue dam breaking. Intuit learned that lesson the hard way, as this Business 2.0 article reports. Despite solid results overall, Intuit fell about U$100 million short in its revenue estimate for its fiscal third quarter Why, you might ask? Customers rebelled at Intuit's heavy-handed DRM approach to activation, and rejected its flagship TurboTax 2002 software in droves. The article notes: "When Intuit launched the copy-control program, it predicted that revenue would increase, since customers who had previously purchased only one TurboTax program would have to buy a separate copy for each computer in the house. That assumption was dead wrong. Instead, the move triggered a consumer backlash the likes of which Intuit had never seen."

Remember the application of the reversal law: When protecting revenue leakage from supposed piracy via DRM is extended beyond the limit of its potential - by tacitly accusing your loyal customers of being pirates - protection against leakage reverses into the flood of lost revenue when your loyal customers walk the plank to a competitor! Hollywood and Redmond take note!
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Posted 00:32 by Mark Federman permanent link


We just returned from one of my favourite cool experiences: Victoria Day Fireworks at Ashbridges Bay Park. For those who do not know Toronto, Ashbridges Bay is a very large beach on Lake Ontario at the east end of the city, in an area called, appropriately enough, "The Beaches." It is the location of choice to see magnificent fireworks displays set to the music of live bands playing. A mild night, clear sky, light winds and the sweet smell of more or less legal marijuana in the air, our family, and several friends, joined a crowd of several thousand cheering people of all ages celebrated the birth of Queen Victoria. We were all amused!
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Posted 00:50 by Mark Federman permanent link


Tired of all those Nigerian money scam spams? So was I, until I decided to have a little fun with the spammers, and exercise my fiction writing to boot! Here's a short correspondence that I call The U.R. Afool Medicine Show.
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Posted 22:36 by Mark Federman permanent link


Iraq 404 - Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now this is clever! (Thanks David.)
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Posted 14:29 by Mark Federman permanent link


Iraq is in chaos, as the International Herald Tribune's William Pfaff describes. The image that is echoed by many reports is striking and vivid: U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad, situated in one of Saddam's former opulent palaces, while looting, lawlessness, no electricity, no water, and a black market economy reigns in the streets below. The Americans are placing their bets on former exiles - many who have become quite Westernized during the stay abroad - to bring Western-style democracy to the people. Tacitly, there is the hope that along with democracy, Western-style civil society will arrive in Baghdad, Basra and beyond. It is clear by the American administrators' support for people like Ahmed Chalabi that this is the case.

Like many of us, the Bush Administration's key leaders focus on figure and tend to ignore the ground. Witness, for example, the self-satisfaction demonstrated by "elaborate PowerPoint presentations on the military security situation [given in a presidential palace in Baghdad], irrelevant to the reigning lawlessness and disorder Baghdad's citizens experience," observed in Pfaff's article. Iraq's culture - or to be more precise, cultures - are not rooted in our notion of civil society that arose from centuries of European tradition. The indigenous cultures of the Middle East are rooted in a very different ground. If governmental administration is to be re-established in Iraq - and remember that Iraq was a functioning, although brutal, society prior to the war - the unnoticed-by-Western-eyes cultural effects must be carefully considered.

Americans in general are unused to cross-cultural considerations. Their own ground is that of "melting pot," - "give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," to become assimilated into the ideal of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Historically, those who are different, or who do not melt in, are discriminated against and persecuted. This ground is now being extended to the world via the so-called Bush Doctraine that effectively states that those countries who are different and do not melt in to America's conception of government should be persecuted... assuming, of course, that they have oil and do not demonstrably have nuclear weapons.

Facetiousness aside, America has never been very good at imposing a strong-arm rule on a formerly strongman-ruled country. Where the cultural ground is permitted to influence the formation of government and administration, there is a greater chance of success, stability and the people's acceptance of reasonable leadership. When self-interested autocrats pander to America's conception of installed democracy - essentially a fantasy world of figure sans ground - the effort is ultimately diastrous, both for the local population and the rest of the world.

Remember that Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein were once the best of... well, if not friends, at least business associates. Could Bush Administration's presumed choice for Iraqi heir-apparent, Ahmed Chalbi, for instance, become the next Augusto Pinochet? Or Ferdinand Marcos? Or Slobodan Milosevic? Alternatively, could we see a retrieval of the Shah's ousting from Iran and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini in the person of returning Iraqi Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim?

It's time for American administrators to shut down their PowerPoint presentations, leave the palaces, and connect with the street. Better yet, how about inviting some people who really know how to "win the peace," like the United Nations?
Discuss
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Posted 13:37 by Mark Federman permanent link


I suppose that the combination of the "all clear" for the SARS outbreak in Toronto and the "yellow alert" for West Nile Virus had me thinking of medical metaphors. Hence my associating antibiotics with this interesting article by Paul Krugman of the New York Times about President Bush's policies and actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. (By the way, the link is to the International Herald Tribune, whose layout and navigation is second to none among online newspapers.)

Krugman's article focuses on the deficiencies in the Bush Administration's actions in Homeland Security, post-war Afghanistan and now, post-war Iraq. He notes, for example, "the Bush administration's failure to follow through on overseas efforts once the television-friendly part of the operation has come to an end. The overthrow of the Taliban was a real victory - arguably America's only important victory against terrorism. But as soon as Kabul fell, the administration lost interest. Now most of Afghanistan is under the control of warlords, the Karzai government is barely hanging on and the Taliban are making a comeback."

The recent week's tragic events in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, not to mention yesterday's bus-bombing outside of Jerusalem, show that world terrorism is alive, well and returning literally with a vengeance. Weren't the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq intended to "cure" international terrorism?

When one takes antibiotics to fight an infectious disease, the doctor always instructs us to finish the medicine completely, even if the symptoms temporarily abate. There may be a few bacteria that survive the initial treatment, and return to reinfect, this time with a greater resistance to the medicine. It seems to me that international terrorism might follow an analogous course: The war in Afghanistan drove out the terrorists and eliminated both their geographic and ideologic base of operation. However, we stopped administering the medicine once the symptoms abated. In Afghanistan, this led to the Taliban and warlords becoming re-established, potentially stronger than before, to reinfect the world with their unique brand of terrorist activity, and human rights repression. The situation in Iraq is more difficulty. Think of a person attempting to balance many different, potentially conflicting, medications, while all the time growing weaker and feeling increasingly ill.
Discuss
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Posted 11:20 by Mark Federman permanent link


Yesterday, I dropped in at the BioFinance 2003 conference that is being held in Toronto. Essentially, it is a high-end "meet market," in which biotech and pharmaceutical companies do their best mating dances before a willing audience of potential investors, money managers and consulting companies. In particular, I was interested in sitting in on the Nexia Biotechnologies presentation, done by their personable and enthusiastic President and CEO, Jeffrey Turner. Dr. Turner described his now famous transgenic goats. In his words, goats are "protein-making machines," capable of producing very high concentrations of protein in their milk. Nexia's Biosteel (tm) product is the result of a spider silk protein that is excreted in the goat's milk, caused by inserting a single gene from a spider into the goat's chromosomes. Once the initial breeder goats have been "created" in this way, all subsequent generations, born through natural, sexual reproduction, carry the altered chromosome and therefore, produce milk containing the requisite protein. Dr. Turner's plans include using Biosteel for microsutures, needed in ophthalmic and neurosurgery, and for ligament replacement in knee surgery, for which no synthetic materials currently exist. The medical use of Biosteel is an important one because of its strength, elasticity and biodegradability in medical applications. There are many potential industrial applications as well, to create safer, stronger cables, more resilient sails and even high fashion, as a replacement for silk.

Perhaps a more interesting use of the transgenic goats is to produce another protein, called butyrylchoinesterase, that forms the basis of Protexia (tm). " Protexia(tm) is Nexia's recombinant version of butyrylchoinesterase (BChE), a naturally occurring protein found in minute quantities in blood. Studies in the literature have used plasma derived BChE in animal studies and have shown that increasing BChE concentrations in the blood protect laboratory animals from the toxic effects of nerve agents. However, due to the inability to produce commercial volumes of BChE to date, it has been impossible to use BChE as a protective agent. BChE functions in the blood as a bioscavenger, like a sponge, to absorb the nerve agent before it can do its damage. Protexia will be developed to treat and prevent the toxic effects of nerve agents and other dangerous compounds."

While many people recoil in horror at the mention of bioengineering, as we have seen, for instance, with the world-wide furor that arose over genetically-modified (food) organisms, immediately labelling bioengineering as good or bad does our society a disservice. As McLuhan noted, "value judgements create smog in our culture and distracts us from processes." It is important for us to understand all of the potential effects - that is, the changes created in our society and culture - that arise from bioengineering of all types. We are hoping to engage some of the companies we met at BioFinance in explorations over the next year that seek to examine the nature of the messages - the effects - that we can anticipate emerging from their endeavours.

Beginning this process is the talk by Aniko Meszaros on plant anima that we are having at the McLuhan Program Coach House on Tuesday May 20, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Discuss
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Posted 01:46 by Mark Federman permanent link


Here at the McLuhan Program, we are concerned with such things as the unobserved or hidden effects of the things we conceive and create, and most particularly, the effect of the language we use. Both of these, when considered in the context of the public sector, look a lot like political commentary. I've been rather reluctant to delve into partisan politics via this blog, as it nominally represents the discussions among a number of people - researchers, fellows, faculty and hangers-on - here at the Program. But we're in at least one election year here in this geography - Toronto municipal elections - and possibly a provincial election too. So, without specifically indulging in partisanship, it may still be worthwhile to cast our McLuhan lens towards the candidates and their propagand... err... make that propositions. Hall, Miller, Jakobek, Nunziata, Tory: You've all been warned!
Discuss
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Posted 01:47 by Mark Federman permanent link


Ever wonder why new technologies have to have new names? The naming ceremony is among the oldest in tribal cultures. I talked a little bit about the power of name and identity here, but there is much more to it. In the tribal sense of our global village, the "naming ritual" for a new technology helps convey its power and provides it protection against evil spirits of the market. When a new technology has been tainted, a re-naming ritual often helps remove the power of the curse that has been put on it.

Some call it voodoo. Others call it marketing. From the ground of Medium and Message, it sure looks the same to me!
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Posted 01:09 by Mark Federman permanent link


You know you've been busy when you haven't even had time to record "what we've been thinking" on the blog! I'll try to bring you all up to date with some of the exciting stuff over the next few days. For those who are in, or close to, Toronto on May 20, the McLuhan Program is presenting a seminar by one of our Fellows, Aniko Meszaros. She will be discussing her research on plant anima, that examines the aesthetic of biotechnology. Never mind Roundup Ready Soybeans; Aniko's work looks at using bioengineering of plants for the "transformation of tools of biotechnology into devices of culture. It proposes a new inhabitable architecture generated through the invention of unique plant organisms that is wired yet vegetable, responsive yet independent, artificial and alive."

We have also been using some of our "anti-consultancy" education to assist Aniko in expanding the articulation of her work. After the seminar on the 20th, we will have a mini-playshop that will help develop a new term for this unique endeavour. May 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the McLuhan Coach House.
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Posted 12:05 by Mark Federman permanent link


In a tribal culture, grandmothers are the historians. Of course today, their herstories would be fact-checked and probably found to be lacking in accuracy. They would then be dismissed as fiction, or simply as "old wives' tales."

That is the view of a literate society, or, to be more precise, an artifact of literacy as a dominant technology. But factual consistency is a medium - something that our culture conceived and created. It is not an absolute - neither an absolute truth nor an absolute necessity. In an oral society, there is no consistency of fact. In cannot exist, and is often regarded as having little intrinsic value. What there is, is consistency of effects. Our stories and metaphors are the most acccurate way of capturing and conveying the effects of incidents or, to use McLuhan language, the message of the medium with which the story deals.

Among many of the students and researchers here at the Program, we are seeing an ever-increasing emphasis on the value of narrative across many disciplines. This effect is consistent, of course, with the reversal of our literacy-based culture to one of orality-dominance.

That you have your facts straight may be nice. That you have your effects straight is what is really important.
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Posted 09:25 by Mark Federman permanent link


The war in Iraq is over. The people have been liberated. There is, if not rejoicing in the street, then a profound sense of freedom and hope that permeates Iraqi society. Nowhere is this felt more than in Baghdad, where, even now, a model of democratic emergence for the rest of the Middle East is being shaped.

This, at least, what some Western - American - news media would have us believe.

On yesterday's edition of CBC Radio One's The Current, Hassan Jado in Toronto is connected via satellite phone with his cousin, Bassam Nadir, in Baghdad. Host Anna Maria Tremonti arranged for Mr. Jado in Toronto to speak with his cousin in Baghdad. After the cousins spoke about family matters (at first very formally in English, and afterwards in Arabic), Tremonti interviewed Mr. Nadir about what life is really like after the liberation. Not surprisingly, most of the Western news media are not exactly covering the story on the ground.

Nadir emphasizes that life under "the foreigners" is worse than life under Saddam. He describes how criminals have complete freedom of movement and action, while ordinary people cower in their homes. His children cannot go to school because of the physical danger from "thieves and gypsies - we call it Ali Baba."

He notes the bitter irony of Baghdadi life at the moment: Iraq is rich in oil but no there is no petrol for the cars. Baghdad has two large rivers, but there is no water to drink and none for hygiene. He describes the horror and frustration of "men and women [who are] killed and wounded near my home. ... I saw them; I cannot help them. People lying in my garden; I cannot help. The hospital is only 100 m away; I cannot help them."

When asked about the possible role of the liberating army in restoring order, Nadir responds bitterly: "Americans can do nothing to help us - they must take their army and go away from our country."

While there is a nightly curfew, for ordinary citizens, the curfew begins at dusk because of the danger in the streets: "We can move in the city in the morning only. After five we close up and stay in the house until the next morning." Tremonti noted that life under Saddam was dangerous as well. Nadir replied: "Not in the same way. I was a geologist and I was not afraid of Saddam Hussein. Now, I have no job, my home and family torn to pieces." Jado later explained that people who had no relation to politics did not have trouble or fear, but they did have food, electricity, income and possessions. Now they have nothing, and are afraid to leave their house.

Nadir's story is, unfortunately, not unique among stories of people, newly liberated from an oppressive, totalitarian regime. They may (or may not) have individually suffered under the dictator. However, under the anarchic conditions that arise in the wake of abandoned civil control, liberation is short-lived: They now exist under the tyranny of fear for their lives, and the hopelessness of dashed promises of freedom. The interview is compelling, if only for the anger, fear and despair that is crying out from liberated Baghdad.
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