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The Internet, Mass A.D.D. [Attention Deficit Disorder], and Fuzz
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A Fuzz Friend recently coined for me an interesting phrase that he referred to as "Mass A.D.D." [Attention Deficit Disorder] in connection with the frenzy of everyone striving to be heard in our technology-driven times, possibly resulting in information overload and dehumanizing [my term] and slightly anti-social [his term] behavior on a mass scale.
In broad terms, A.D.D. is characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention, hyperactivity, poor impulse control, and distractibility. It is indeed disturbing to note that, seen from one perspective, this could well describe much of our society today, as my friend pointed out, although I don't think he was concluding that the situation was irretrievable.
To begin with, my friend's comment got me thinking maybe I am also guilty of trying more than I should to have my voice heard in Fuzz cyberspace and thus contributing to the Mass A.D.D. [although I hoped not]. I had to admit that, while one's intentions may be to create order, the real danger may be that you are just adding to the noise.
Here, I would like to state the case for a more optimistic result for all that we are doing together here: that is, developing an evolving and "Collective Excellence" rather than contributing to "Mass A.D.D." [or at least to ask the burning question why this would not be possible?]
My own way of thinking about the chaos of the wild and woolly web and developing some semblance of order at the edge of it was to borrow a notion from information theory [according to my limited understanding of the matter] that a "signal" could be detected over the "noise" in a channel by focusing not on the substance of the signal, but rather by striving to eliminate the noise. Thus, I came up with the notion that the "absence of disorder" [being undifferentiated quantity] equated with "order" [being a framing mechanism for quality]. Put another way, order [without regard to the substance of it] is merely the absence of disorder. Thus, despite the lack of agreement over substance [i.e. what may be a signal to one person could be noise to another], the amount of information in the over-all system is enhanced rather than "overloaded".
What does this have anything to do with the risk of adding to the chaos and Mass A.D.D., or having the opposite effect, as even more quantities of music and blog commentary are added to this dynamic community specifically? This, my friends, will be the burning question of the day, as Fuzz develops its self-described hybrid model as a music startup combining a next-generation music label, a powerful artist promotion platform and a feature-rich interactive community of artists and fans as was announced in a recent news release issued by the company [see News below]. Can this combination of functions work to promote Excellence or more A.D.D.?
Notwithstanding our strongly-held and differing views about what constitutes "noise" to our ears and what is a "signal," if we try to push out the edge of chaos in our own music discovery and appreciation at Fuzz by creating playlists, blogging, reviewing, providing commentary, I argue that we are not contributing to Mass A.D.D. here, but, in an over-all sense, creating Excellence in music [again, being the absence of disorder] according to the intellectual and spiritual nourishment that each of us requires to sustain our separate, unique, and individual lives in an increasingly complicated society. As my Fuzz friend pointed out: "I...agree with you that you can't ever have too much music in your life."
What do you think?
[PS: A part of this was in a PM and, thus, I will defer to my "Fuzz Friend" whether he wishes to share his well-considered views here; and in any case I thank him for bringing up the thought-provoking notion of Mass A.D.D.]
In broad terms, A.D.D. is characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention, hyperactivity, poor impulse control, and distractibility. It is indeed disturbing to note that, seen from one perspective, this could well describe much of our society today, as my friend pointed out, although I don't think he was concluding that the situation was irretrievable.
To begin with, my friend's comment got me thinking maybe I am also guilty of trying more than I should to have my voice heard in Fuzz cyberspace and thus contributing to the Mass A.D.D. [although I hoped not]. I had to admit that, while one's intentions may be to create order, the real danger may be that you are just adding to the noise.
Here, I would like to state the case for a more optimistic result for all that we are doing together here: that is, developing an evolving and "Collective Excellence" rather than contributing to "Mass A.D.D." [or at least to ask the burning question why this would not be possible?]
My own way of thinking about the chaos of the wild and woolly web and developing some semblance of order at the edge of it was to borrow a notion from information theory [according to my limited understanding of the matter] that a "signal" could be detected over the "noise" in a channel by focusing not on the substance of the signal, but rather by striving to eliminate the noise. Thus, I came up with the notion that the "absence of disorder" [being undifferentiated quantity] equated with "order" [being a framing mechanism for quality]. Put another way, order [without regard to the substance of it] is merely the absence of disorder. Thus, despite the lack of agreement over substance [i.e. what may be a signal to one person could be noise to another], the amount of information in the over-all system is enhanced rather than "overloaded".
What does this have anything to do with the risk of adding to the chaos and Mass A.D.D., or having the opposite effect, as even more quantities of music and blog commentary are added to this dynamic community specifically? This, my friends, will be the burning question of the day, as Fuzz develops its self-described hybrid model as a music startup combining a next-generation music label, a powerful artist promotion platform and a feature-rich interactive community of artists and fans as was announced in a recent news release issued by the company [see News below]. Can this combination of functions work to promote Excellence or more A.D.D.?
Notwithstanding our strongly-held and differing views about what constitutes "noise" to our ears and what is a "signal," if we try to push out the edge of chaos in our own music discovery and appreciation at Fuzz by creating playlists, blogging, reviewing, providing commentary, I argue that we are not contributing to Mass A.D.D. here, but, in an over-all sense, creating Excellence in music [again, being the absence of disorder] according to the intellectual and spiritual nourishment that each of us requires to sustain our separate, unique, and individual lives in an increasingly complicated society. As my Fuzz friend pointed out: "I...agree with you that you can't ever have too much music in your life."
What do you think?
[PS: A part of this was in a PM and, thus, I will defer to my "Fuzz Friend" whether he wishes to share his well-considered views here; and in any case I thank him for bringing up the thought-provoking notion of Mass A.D.D.]
Comments
But that is for later, right now I think people visit here because they already know about Fuzz and are members, or they are simply curious and not subject to the suggested malady mentioned here.
Good question, thanks TCC.
In aid of providing the focus that you mention [and reducing the chaos and "disorder" that I mention in my blog on Mass A.D.D.], I have also provided for Fuzz visitors an "orderly", revealing, and most enjoyable description of the songs you uploaded here "in your own words". [I urge everyone to check out some boss music from a talented, seasoned, and thoughtful musician.]
Link: http://jeromelee.fuzz.com/
By the way, I was advised that it is OK to reveal my "Fuzz Friend" from whom I got onto the notion of Mass A.D.D.. Check out Beradley, another thoughtful and thought-provokin'/pokin' artist and his group, FLitCH.
Link: http://www.fuzz.com/fan/Beradley
Think of terrestrial radio, for example. In any metro area, there are dozens of radio stations are pushing out their signals. Other than the station I am trying to tune in and focus on, the other signals --especially, those nearby on the tuner-- are contributing noise and interfering with the signal. (In fact, noise that is "close" to the signal is much worse and distracting.) This can analogous to the online community world. There is a lot of raw material and many, many topics. All are potentially "signal"s; until there is a specific topic that one is interested in. Now, like the needle in the haystack, some of the information becomes signal for that person, while all the rest of the previously latent items become "noise".
Different interests, at different times, even from the same person, seek to "bring forth" new signals from the mass of information. Signal only exists in the context of a listener (or sender / receiver relationship). So there is no such thing as an absolute "signal" to be maximized and no absolute "noise" to be minimized.
There is no absolute in either "signal/noise" or "organization". My belief is that the grand value of a community like Fuzz is that it is a "self-organizing dynamic system" which allows for the connection --and breaking-- of information links by the individual participants. Thus there can be any number of "signal channels" each providing (1) a focused high signal-to-noise channel and (2) some (localized) organization.
Pulling back from the (admittedly simplistic) information and dynamic non-linear self organizing systems theories (read: being less nerdy on my part), the value of the community goes way beyond the "user contributed content" in music, reviews, blogs, ratings, calendars, etc. that looks overwhelming and contributing to the Mass ADD syndrome. The value is that the individuals dynamically gather around topics, threads, scenes, genres, locales, etc. and create many higher quality "signals" and create dynamic order to that raw content.
I've recently gotten into topics and music here like: Madonna's contributions, information theory, metal, emo, tube amplifiers, local artist playlists, rhyming improv, songs with unsuspected licensing opportunities, Canadian music, etc. ... pretty cool for the ADD inclined.
T.C.C. - Thank you for the plug, and the kind words...
Just in case any air needs to be cleared slighty for anyone reading this, I just wanted to say I did not mean that Fuzz itself is contributing to mass A.D.D. . I meant the state of our times that we are living in right now, I think, is contribution mass a.d.d. or a.d.d. like behavior, and also voluntary as well as, involuntary anti social behavior. When I joined Fuzz, my immediate reaction was, "ahh a breath of fresh air". I have to thank my friend Josh "Uzi" on here, for turning me on to Fuzz in the 1st place. I only wish I could spend more time on here. I've moved 5 times in the past 2-1/2 years, so I basically only get on line when I can find a spare moment here and there at work. Since T.C.C. already said basically everything that was in our PM, I figured I will just paste some of the thread here for anyone reading. I enjoyed talking with you T.C.C. by the way, very insightful.. The whole thing started with an artist recommendation that T.C.C. sent me. It took me a couple of days to see it and then respond. Right before I responded I had read one of his blogs about the increasing wave of new bands signing up here, and how it seemed somewhat overwhelming. So that spawned the thought procees of what I wrote in my reply (*note to reader, I'm known to go off on tangents from time to time)...
Here it is :
T.C.C. wrote :
------- Original message (Aug 08, 1:21 am) -------
Hey Beradley,
TheCapitalClinic wants you to check out Sarah Bettens.
-----------------
"Please check out Sarah Bettens' important song and video, Daddy's Gun, that she just posted here. Sarah, her song, and the message she carries at Fuzz will literally change people's lives."
then I wrote (and I was also referring to one of his earlier blogs that I had just read):
------- Original message (Aug 10, 3:39 pm) -------
"Thanx for the tip kind sir... Will do soon, I just need more time for all this music!!! My goodness, I know what you mean about bands flying at you from all directions. A bit overwhelming at times... Especially from the viewpoint of us musicians! :>o
Have a great weekend!
B-rad(ley)"
then T.C.C. wrote :
------- Original message (Aug 10, 5:33 pm) -------
"I have spoken to the Fuzz folks about this. As more bands sign up, and they are coming at a steady clip, the problem of music discovery and organization becomes more acute. They say that they are dealing with this. While the problem of abundance is a good one to have, I guess, data management becomes increasingly critical."
then I wrote:
------- Original message (Aug 10, 10:20 pm) -------
"You are precisely, exactly correct. Although I must add, it's not just here on Fuzz, obviously. Its everywhere, its directly because of technology and man's destiny to subconsciously destroy himself through technology and the wastes created from technological advances. Not to mention the unfortunate placements of severely unintelligent, but yet wealthy, people into positions of great power... (sorry -tangent there). It's the overloaded amount of audio and visual stimuli there is flying by everyones faces a million miles per hour every day, every hour... It becomes a race for artists, entrepreneurs, advertising execs. whoever, whatever to see who can grab the attention of the masses. Well the masses are now getting severe wide spread cases of a.d.d. - Seriously, and also I might add slightly anti social, compared to the days before ipods, and bluetooth's in everyones ears for sure. It's down right scary sometimes, but that is our reality. - Or is it? Frequent trips into nature away from concrete habitats and the grand vortex, is an absolute must! So, yes data management or thought management I guess (in my case) is indeed critical. I also agree with you that you can't ever have too much music in your life. Its just becoming a bit overwhelming to everyone I think when it's all being shoved in everyone's faces all at once, all the time... I apologize if this wasn't related entirely to your point. It's nice getting on here when I'm not at work, I must say :>) I need more time : >( "
then T.C.C wrote :
------- Original message (Aug 10, 10:54 pm) -------
"There are some really great points you raise here. Maybe I am also guilty of what you are saying by trying more than I should to have my voice heard in cyberspace and thus contributing to the mass a.d.d. [although I hope not]. In fact, I am trying to do the opposite, that is, to bring some order by framing, to me, a lot of disorganized thoughts in the chaos of the web. I'd like to blog a bit about this; and since this is a PM I will only refer to you as a "Fuzz Friend" and you can join in the discussion, if any, or not as is your wish. Good to hear from you."
then I wrote :
------- Original message (Aug 11, 2:18 am) -------
"Thanks T.C.C, I wasn't pertaining to you, I don't think your adding to mass hysteria or a.d.d. by any means. Feel free to quote me directly if you wish. Its OK with me. Pleasure talking to you too. Will do so again soon...
peace,
Brad"
_______end_________________
T-CUB
Had some red wine myself last nite. Got back, logged on to find out what's goin' on, was temped to write, resisted, and went into suspense mode myself.
Back in the saddle again, still tryin' to figure it all out. Beyond all doubt, there is a compelling human need to communicate. Since everyone with access to a computer or cellphone is now on the web, how do we deal with what's happening to us individually and collectively?
Surely part of the answer is to put some music on to both calm and stimulate. Add a good cup of joe in the morning and a little vino at night, music playin' all the time...thinkin', sippin', listenin', communicatin'. Not too bad.
Seems like a great recipe for life!