Creative Reading: The Discovery of Other (Thinking with the Minds of Others, Take 2)
- I, Reader: A Nod to Asimov’s I, Robot
- Robots and Readers: A Tight Coupling of Container and Content
- Does Technology only Extend Thought? Does It also Supplant It?
- Machine Life: The Final Prejudice
- RB-34 Prefers Slushy Novels
- Creative Reading: A Golden String
- Creative Reading by anemone achtnich
- Creative Reading: The Art of Self
- Creative Reading: Thinking with Other Minds
- Creative Reading: The Art of Self, Take 2
- Creative Reading: The Discovery of Other (Thinking with the Minds of Others, Take 2)
- Creative Reading: The Mathematics of Self, Other and Extension
- What Books Changed You?
- I’ve always admired people who, in a pinch, are better than their principles
- Every Extension Breaks a Rule
- The Trajectory of Reading: Creative Contribution
- I Read, Therefore I Write
- What Readers Write May Not Be Literature, But It Might Become So
- “Narrow it down to … the upper left-hand brick”: Phaedrus
- “No one that he knew had ever written a whole metaphysics before”: Phaedrus
- Using a Blog to Draft a Book Idea: 9 Observations
- From Reading to Writing to Publishing with Digital Media
- Birth of the Reader-Writer
- To Read a Book is to Ignore 4000 Others
- Quantity has a Quality all its Own
- The Web is Re-Wiring My Brain
- How the Web Works for Readers: Thin Connections Lead to Rich Connections
- The Accidental Programmer
- Definitions of Hacking
- Ways of the Reader-Hacker
- Ways of the Reader-Hacker II: Breaking the Rules
- Ways of the Reader Hacker III: Two Bright Ideas
- A Hacker’s Reading List
- Ones and Zeros, On and Off Switches, All Sane Systems Require Downtime
- The Information Race and Pushing the Button
- How to Make an Elephant Statue
- Every Story Deserves a Good Ending
- Expressions of Offworld
- “Would I start to resemble a book myself?”
- Myth of the Reader-Hero
- Print is Digital
- Am I Still Chasing that First Reading High?
- Do Robots Read? Yes I Do (Conclusion to “I, Reader”)
- I, Reader: A Book Outline
- Reading List for Next Draft of I, Reader
Reading as a Creative Act, Pt. 5
One of our oldest stories, that of Gilgamesh, tells of the discovery of “other” in a philosophical sense. Gilgamesh is a tyrant king who discovers a wild man, Enkidu, outside the city walls. Gilgamesh brings him into the city, and they become brothers, together more powerful and wonderful than before.
Gilgamesh was sovereign inside the city walls, but Enkidu was wild outside them. The discovery of Other threatens our sovereignty. When we bump into another, a line is drawn. Our self is compelled to take a form; it is given a shape. Until we discover Other, our ego knew no limit. The discovery teaches us we are finite, limited, mortal, a life captured inside a tin. A robot. For a moment, at least, we are fixed in time, a snapshot, a print. Print, like a book.
The discovery gives our ego a shape. The upside, perhaps, is that we have gained self-awareness. It is a power. The discovery of Other introduces conflict and power struggle. People who want too much deprive others; they are creeps. Unlike the inner path in the last post, each action we take affects others. It is more dangerous.
The discovery of Other is all about boundaries, and crossing them. Our self is not one and everything. It is not sovereign but a fellow subject of a larger story. We are not first but second. Secondness is lesser. Think duplicity, infidelity, two-mindedness, second-guessing, talking out of two sides of our mouth. Secondness is being on the outside, an outlaw, a foreigner, with no home, no kingdom. Rule-breaking is part of the game. Rule-breaking is also a prerequisite for creative reading. Literature is almost defined by the fact that it fits no genre, but breaks rules.
The discovery of Other reveals our finite form, our self as robot or technology. While all of life teaches this lesson, it is particularly acute with reading. We are not readers by nature; we re-purpose neural circuitry to achieve it. Reading is a close second to thought, an artificial extension. It is on this level that we can see even thought as technology. It is also the level on which rule-breaking and creativity with technology enter the picture. We can use it to extend reading, bootstrap style. It brings us full circle to the Self again. I know I’m making leaps that need more explanation. I will get there as the series progresses.
A nod of thanks to my old professor of personality and creativity, Jaroslav Havelka (PDF)
Further reading: Mitchell, Stephen (2004).
Gilgamesh: A New English Version. Free Press. Link. Wikipedia (2009).
Wikipedia (2009). Iron John.
Wikipedia (2009). Other
In Star Trek, Spock and then Data serve the function of Other on the ship, observing humanity.
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