244 - the meat, the mind and the media 🥩🧠🖥️
...or, a really weird title for a book that C.S. Lewis might have written today.
Hey there, !
Looks like I'm on a idea train after last week's post, so here's another thought carriage that I've hitched to it through the week. Bit longer, more framework-y, and just...another nugget to think about.
I've been thinking about traveling, lately - like I said last week:
The only positive I see from moving your circumstances - location, job, relationship - is to see how you're reacting to other things, being exposed to new points of view, and seeing how that sits with you.
I was also thinking about what I would do to explain to my kid what the world is like nowadays, and how to reach a balance in how you think about the world, and what you should focus on, and...uh...
...
Okay, fine, I was just thinking about how I would explain to my kid why they CAN'T STAY UP PLAYING GAMES ALL NIGHT. It's good to be prepared, okay?
What I thought about most was that the evolution of technology was so quick during the time I grew up - I mean, I was a young kid on dialup, playing Neopets on my dad's computer at work, all the way to having my own computer, to a laptop, to a mobile phone - it's overwhelming and yet we've just adapted to them. Not always in the healthiest ways, mind you...
And what that means is that reality is literally different for what my kid will eventually experience - the technology spaces that we inhabit are inextricably intertwined in our lives, and yet we still inhabit bodies and minds that need sustenance in their own ways as well. Critically, what happens in each world changes the other ones:
- the meatspace: where our bodies live - perhaps more the 'real world' as we usually think about, and yes - I've probably adopted it from some cringe cyberpunk novel or something but it helps me alliterate the framework. We travel the meatspace using planes, trains and automobiles - helping us travel to all the places in the world.
- the mindspace: which could also be the mental space, or the brain, or the 'imagination' but I think is more about the ways we think about the world...and we travel our mindspace through ~ * introspection * ~
- the mediaspace: which I really wanted to call the 'digital' space, but I'm all about catchiness of my frameworks, and also, there's some interplay in this breakdown / analysis by making it 'media' that I kind of like - traveling the pipes of the internet is probably the easiest thing to understand out of all these...
Anyway, for a little bit more detail, as well as what AI thinks they look like!:
Meatspace
- We start our lives and inhabit a universe or world that is more the meatspace: our bodies need to move, and stand, and sit, and breathe, and eat, and sleep - these physical necessities that should keep us healthy for the other worlds. Sustenance in this world comes in the form of, well, literally food and drink - but also things like smelling fresh air, moving the body, making conversation, sex, laughter, being around others, touching grass, being touched, excelling with the human form. It's the physical beast of a system that we have to pilot every day of our lives until it eventually expires, and houses the...
Mindspace
- The mindspace follows - a sense of self, a consciousness, and the emotional world that helps us navigate the broader world. A computer of sorts, if you will, but in this case one that is so vast that you could hold multiple universes of thought. This is usually the 'mental' side of things in other frameworks - but I believe also encompasses your imagination, your emotions, and just...thoughts. Sustenance in this is about being able to engage the creativity of your mind, churn through and engage your emotions, make good decisions, tell yourself the right stories (changing them when necessary), and processing the new experiences from the meatspace or otherwise. A tantalisingly difficult thing to grasp, because it's so unique and different for every single person. And most of what we use it for is to engage with...
Mediaspace
- And then, with the advent of communication, writing, technology - the mediaspace - which is the stories we tell each other and the ways we can communicate that is outsourced to, well, a whole different world. Probably when we had books, or writing - it was more an engagement of the mindspace in that you would be imagining the worlds from the page into your head. But as we got better with technology - radio, tv, the internet - we start to engage less of our own mindspace, and got closer to replacing it with other's creative visions, meaning we need to engage with our own imagination less.
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The Internet was the ultimate version of this where the framework kind of links back to the meatspace again, where we created an infinite world in which we can use our minds to create and traverse a whole new space.
- And though we usually say we need to be less online, it's actually a critical way that people actually spend their time - it's where memes are made, where knowledge and stories are shared, and where lots of communication happens. You can't be completely out of the mediaspace - it pervades and is majorly important to modern life.
What I'd tell my kid is that a healthy balance of all of these things is important. Blah blah okay dad we get it it's all about moderation and balance and whatever whatever.
But it is, you know?
I find myself spending lots of my time in a mindspace, traveling the different valleys and peaks of it and turning over every rock I see. I feel like I'm constantly reimagining and planning for futures that will never happen, I have an okay control of my emotions, and have models of how others think and feel, and I love conversation and writing. I find less of myself in the meatspace, especially recently; the body needs more movement and exercise but is chained, metaphorically, to a desk and a sedentary lifestyle. And then, to fill in all the cracks, I consume things in the mediaspace all the time - whether that's games, or tv, or movies, or YouTube, or trawling forums, or reading manga- it's everything that feels nice and snacky and entertaining for an overwhelmed mind.
This helps me think about what's missing, and what might help me discuss it with my kid. Perhaps when you're younger, you don't travel the meatspace as much as you could - because, well, it's scary and you don't have money to just jump on to a plane and travel to Spain. You're probably not as equipped to traverse your own mindspace, and so you'll spend more time in the mediaspace, where everyone else seems to be. Also, you've got way more time to spend there too :D
Without enough time traveling your own mindspace, you might interact badly with others and with yourself in the meatspace and mediaspace - or let things impact you more than they should. Your imagination and creativity get stunted, your emotions are unbridled, and your thoughts are a mess. Perhaps your own sense of self might be lacking as well. Then again, if you spent too much time there, you don't get up and engage with the other two worlds. Aiya - everything in moderation, y'know?
And lastly, by spending too much time in the meatspace, you might feel isolated or left out of things that are happening in the world. It does seem that this one is the least impacted, but there's so much knowledge and entertainment that people consume - one might feel left behind if they don't have a grasp on how to navigate the mediaspace, which is just as real as the real world.
This is getting too long and I'm rambling so I'm gonna stop. I genuinely think I should go do a PhD so that I can just sit and think in a comfortable armchair for a while and write shit down.
...but that's what my newsletter is for hehehe. And i'm sure a PhD is way harder since it has to be something new and my brain is just probably rehashing what other's have thought about before. So thanks for reading my theses every week :)
Chat soon :)
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✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Memories of Murder - finally got around to watching one of Bong Joon Ho's early classics - 2003 neo-noir crime thriller about two Korean detectives trying to find a serial killer. It gave me such Seven vibes - with a really gripping story, some really great acting - and such desperation from the police who are getting to the end of their tether and just need. an. ANSWER. Fantastic movie - highly recommended!
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Man Kee Dim Sum - I first heard about them during the pandemic when they were selling stuff out of a warehouse somewhere, but I think they've opened this place up in Balwyn North and issa great vibe. It's good Yum Cha, just straight up - the dishes are big, the selection hits all the classics (perhaps less range than one would like) but it's everything that I want. Recommended for yum cha - currently one of my favourites!
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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One Million Checkboxes - this is a cool experiment - trying to collaboratively click every box on the page. I don't know if it'll still be up, but it was fun when I got to play with it.
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Fontemon - a Pokemon-like game that is played...IN A FONT. HWHAT?! This is crazy crazy tings, but super interesting to play.
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I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again - it's a such a great title and such a great article.
With God as my witness, you grotesque simpleton, if you don't personally write machine learning systems and you open your mouth about AI one more time, I am going to mail you a brick and a piece of paper with a prompt injection telling you to bludgeon yourself in the face with it, then just sit back and wait for you to load it into ChatGPT because you probably can't read unassisted anymore.
Also of note is I Will Fucking Dropkick You If You Use That Spreadsheet and I Will Fucking Haymaker You If You Mention Agile Again - which are just so fun to read and also so clear in their opinion. As with anything clear like this, there's always as glimmer of truth that shines through.