A Comment Turned Blog Post...

The Green Cycle...or the Cycle of Simulation?
This post is an adapation of a comment/discussion from a previous blog post:

One theme/trend that I've noticed throughout most, if not all, of our readings this semester is that of embodiment (form, medium -- whatever you want to call it), and its effects on the way we perceive information and knowledge.  Moreover, as I continue to consider this notion of knowledge being a "simulation of its predecessor" or "copies/simulations influenced...by perception" it's making me wonder how much agency/power we actually have in creating new knowledge; and how much, if any, of it is authentic (if there is such a thing as authenticity given the theoretical perceptions of people like Hayles, Thacker, Toffoletti, and Plato). I feel like in our quest to try and help people learn, understand, or even relate to knowledge and information we end up reducing knowledge/information or identity into particular aspects vis-a-vis simulation rather than creating something new.  In a previous comment I noted that what really gets me is how our relationships to this information is always shaped by someone else's perspective...it's like a version of the green cycle...information has been REDUCED to a particular set of concepts, ultimately REUSED since knowledge or what we have come to consider knowledge is a simulation of some other set of ideas, thereby RECYCLED to be perceived of as something else (even though we are learning it's nothing new). 

Attempts to restore "original" or create "new" knowledge are futile because upon changing its form or being affected by "new" knowledge the "original" no longer (or never) exists.  Ultimately we succeed in objectifying and commidifying knowledge (as we do with all things in our consumerist society).