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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
THE NOOSPHERE
In 1925, in an essay called "Hominization," Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), a Jesuit priest and philosopher, coined the term "noosphere" to mean the interconnected realm of our collective human consciousness, or, as he put it "above the animal biosphere a human sphere, a sphere of reflection, of conscious invention, of conscious souls."
NOOSPHERE IN THE WIRES
Marshall McCluhan later extended this thought in a more material way, seeing something akin to the noosphere embedded in our growing and increasingly interconnected electronic technology. In 1964, in "Understanding Media," he wrote:
"Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we approach the final phase of the extensions of man - the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society, much as we have already extended our senses and our nerves by the various media."
(I'm still working out my own thoughts on this whole matter, but in the meantime if you wish to read other people's, there are some links to useful articles on this page.)
We may yet be a long way from the ultimate outcome McCluhan describes, but nowhere is our movement toward it more evident than here, on the web, in the no-space of cyberspace, where many of us (especially those addicted to TrekLens and TrekEarth) spend a measurable portion of our lives. (And our approach to the state McCluhan describes is the reason that I included this photo in the "decisive moment" category, among the more obvious choices.)
THE PHOTO
I could have represented the same theme with a picture of a computer, or some optic fibre cabling, or something else like that, but it would have been so obvious as to be boring. Besides, I like this image.
Here, instead of a computer or circuit board, we see the world wired up in a tangible way all around us. Rather than sitting in control at a terminal, we are immersed in the emerging wired world, from the giant Energizer battery, to the multitude of wires that cross our field of view (for once I wasn't trying to keep them out of a photo), to the electrical man standing atop the battery on the display. (You may see something differnet in it -- please let me know.)
This shot was taken late in the afternoon in Chinatown in Toronto just after New Years (Jan. 2/05). The display is on the Dragon Mall, and visible behind it are the condominiums that sit on top of the mall itself.
Tech: cropping, curves, some cloning to take out a few flares, and a little burning of the image on the screen to bring out the details of image a little more without losing the blazing, near-whiteout effect it has, which I liked. |
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wonderful composition that seems to perfectly define "noosphere" interesting note. thanks.