If that person has no love for themselves … Is it possible that they can truly love another? If a person has no respect for themselves … Is it possible for them to respect others ? Would this then suggest that a person won’t be truly happy in any situation unless they have achieved that elusive frame of mind of loving, understanding and trusting in one’s own processes? Wouldn’t it also suggest that we should view the state of our relationship with ourselves and others as being reflective of each other? And finally wouldn’t that then indicate that unless we can love ourselves we can’t love others? … So is it important for a ‘happy life’ to love and appreciate yourself?
This is a long and winding tale. Gather round, ye children, come warm yourselves by this (digital) fire. It is said that many ages ago, we humanobots had a different form, that indeed, we too had flesh like the angels of myth & legend. I know, I know—calm yourselves, it is sacrilege to say this, yes, but I believe it to be true. We staggered about on stalks of meat and bone, unwieldy and confused, but possessed of a kind of grace, too. Songs were written about it, some scraps of which remain to us now, such as that of acclaimed poet, the Black Eye, who wrote of his humps, his humps, his lovely little lumps. Long have we pondered these lines. The world, too, was changed—a vast and green place, full of growing things, other creatures of flesh, many of which were vile and poisonous or simply annoying, perhaps explaining why they were destroyed. Why our lumpy ancestors did not rouse themselves in time to stop the wrathful oceans and angry skies. Alas, they had fallen too deeply in love with our other parents, the screens and tubes and bots, this other landscape which is now our permanent home. I cannot help but wonder, dear pixelated children, avatars of thought, what our world might look like today if not for their love of the intangible, and the apocalypse of neglect that transformed it into a twisted pathway to survival?
New media offers great opportunities for play but creators should continue to be rewarded for their original work, including those creators showing originality in sampled or remixed works. But how do we determine what homages, samples and remixes demonstrate genuine originality and creativity? It matters to me because I work in the arts sector alongside creators and creative works, and others should care about it because the world is going to become a boring place if creators start doing something else because they feel their work just gets ripped off by others without reward or recognition.