smells talk loads! :)

Sz

On 15-01-2013 11:11, James Wallbank
wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> I guess my reason for generating this text is
quite pragmatic, not
> necessarily philosophical. I agree with what I
understand to be the nub
> of your argument, that the essence of
Bricolabs is much more subtle than
> something that can be captured as
a tool for local development and
> empowerment in different contexts.
>

> The work-a-day reality, though, is that to attract resource we need
to
> engage stakeholders that aren't poetic enough, or inspired enough,
to
> engage with the eliptical intent of Bricolabs.
>
> When we were
in Amsterdam at Wintercamp, our debate concluded that we
> were not
prepared to define Bricolabs - but that we knew "The Smell of
>
Bricolabs" when we sniffed it.
>
> Your posting definitely reeks of
that smell, whereas mine is masked by
> an additional odour of
institutional familiarity. That masking scent was
> quite deliberately
introduced - but I agree with you, it's not the true
> essence.
>
>
Strong coffee, fresh orange peel, non-slip rubber matting, Dutch
>
tobacco, the sweat of late-night discussions, the mysterious vanilla
>
smell of Colombian palo-santo wood.
>
> We should get an expert to make
up some scent.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> James
> =====
>
> On 15/01/13
15:12, John Hopkins wrote:
>
>> Hi James -- (sorry on the re-post, I
thought this would make it to the listserv...)
>>
>>> Looking at the
PiratePad notes all I would like to add is an extension to the theme:
Bricolabs and "Facing North / Facing South" Bricolabs are uncovering
ways of engaging with technology which are critical and empowering. In
the Global North, Bricolabs may manifest as creative responses to
individual dislocation, community disintegration, unemployment,
increasing precarity and post-industrial decline. In the Global South
Bricolabs often address similar issues, but in underdeveloped or rapidly
industrialising contexts. The centralising tendency of techno-capitalism
creates similar problems wherever it operates, and Bricolabs approaches
to individual and local empowerment, community building, and acquisition
of technological and cultural capabilities may be applicable in the
North and the South. This event will share these approaches and seeks to
understand the critical factors that make engagement with technology
genuinely empowering, sustainable and positive. Does that sound
appropriate or useful?
>> Since you ask, that thematic did come up, see
the IRC chat log @ http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/62375 [1] about
2/3 of the way in... my objection to that dialectic is that imho brico
very much transcends & goes beyond that very common
Cartesian/materialist dichotomy that you frame, and for that reason I
see it as a step backwards (invoking Cartesian is to empower that model
of the world which then sets up spatial dichotomies, which then ... etc)
the idea of resonance transcends those old models ... and it does not
carry such a heavy load from any other particular models (or actually,
it carries many different views from many wildly different models!)
"Resonance allows the universe (or any of its parts) to influence a
human being" (Kaptchuk, 2000, p.45) from scientific -
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/62161 [2] to yogic -
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/60166 [3] or such hybrid ideas: "As
mindfulness scans a region of mind, resonances appear as bright spots of
particular order in a dim background. Resonance is a fundamental
indication of higher or concentrated energy states. Fundamental
quantization of resonance will cause distributed peaks and troughs in
the strength of resonance. The subtlety of resonance guides our movement
through the flows around us." from
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/1708 [4] Just my 2-cents on that --
Felipe expressed some other points on that, Tapio as well... Cheers,
John
>
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Links:
------
[1]
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/62375
[2]
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/62161
[3]
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/60166
[4]
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/archives/1708
[5]
http://www.bricolabs.net
[6]
http://lists.dyne.org/mailman/listinfo/brico