johnson v eno

I've just got back from the Steven Johnson and Brian Eno thing at the ICA. It'll be a very blogged event, the London twitterati were all there, and this'll be the picture everyone'll have. (Except they'll be better because I was at the back, shooting it with my phone.) It was really good. Entertaining and stimulating. And I suspect every blog will have a completely different refraction of the story, because of the range of stuff discussed. One of the dynamics in the room was the division between people who wanted to think about living in cities and the people who wanted to think about living in their computers.

So I thought I'd offer my little tangents by referring to the three things I noted on my phone:

Steven Johnson talked about John Snow as a typical Victorian amateur dabbler. Which struck a chord with me. It's another definition of the creative generalist. Someone who's interested in all sorts of things, the arts and the science. And he talked about the idea of consilience and how John Snow was able to think at all sorts of different scales about the problem of cholera - the microbial one (sort of, they couldn't really see germs then), the human one (he was trained as a physician) and the societal one (he could see and understand the effects on the city as a whole). This is a good thought. Because I bet a lot of the stuff we make that's no good; whether it's an actual product or a media product (like a brand) is no good because we've only thought about it at a single scale. We've only thought at a product level, or a target audience level or at a cultural level. But we've not hopped about from one scale to another. Whereas I be the stuff that actually works well is made by people who can naturally integrate all these different scales - individual, audience, culture. Just a thought.

When talking about the rise of the city, and of city-based social identities Mr Johnson also discussed the period after 9/11 in New York where there was a desire to make some kind of statement of solidarity but not exactly national patriotism. People didn't want to fly the stars and stripes but they wanted to fly some kind of New York flag. And I instantly felt like I'd like to fly a London flag. (And a Derby flag). Is there a London flag? There must be but I don't know what it is. Wouldn't it be good if there was a London flag we actually cared about? Must get one in time for the Olympics.

This is me paraphrasing Brian Eno paraphrasing Danny Hillis. But it's good isn't it? That resonates with me. (The quote direct from the man's mouth is here.)

Comments

[Eliot Frick]

"Technology is the name we give to stuff that doesn't work properly yet."

For my part, I've always had the opposite problem with this nomenclature. I’ve always used “technology” to denote any tool whatsoever, be it physical or abstract. Especially in reference to abstract tools, I get a lot of confused looks when I use that term. I seem to have the same problem with the word, “art,” which I define as the result of the use of any technology. A definition, which accepted would, as Nietzsche suggests, make us all better artists than that for which we give ourselves credit.

[Clay Parker Jones]

In Chicago we have a flag. When I first moved here a few years back, ever having seen city flags before, I thought it was ridiculous. For a long time I didn't even know what it was or what it meant.

Wikipedia has a nice entry on the Chicago flag, which apparently, according to the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA), is the 2nd-best American city flag, of which there are 150.

So, thanks! Before you wrote that I had no idea there were 150 city flags in the US, that Chicago is the 2nd-best city flag, and that Vexillology is the study of flags.

For the NAVA study, go here: http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/city_survey.htm

Number 83, Plano, TX is pretty awesome. 79: Tampa, FLA is sweet, as is #51, Salem, OR. But the best of the best is Provo, UT at #143.

I feel like city flag design...well, it could stand to be improved.

[Clay Parker Jones]

Ohh, they have a guide to flag design. This gets better.

http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/GFBF/gfbf-1.htm

[Matt]

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/elielsaari185391.html

[richard]

My ambition is for London to declare independence from the UK and become a city state with direct affiliation to the EU.

London has very little in common with the rest of the country and to add insult to injury bankrolls the provinces - time to sever the ties.

So we will need a flag and an anthem. Incidentally I proposed this in a pitch to Capital Radio suggesting that they position themselves as London's national radio station. We lost to the songmeisters at DLKW.

Perhaps my fellow Londoners are a little behind the curve on this one.

Incidentally we now have an identity if not a flag in One London.

[David]

Ha, I studied abroad at Queens College Oxford during the summer of 2002. We had 2 courses, "British Colonial Africa" and "British Contributions to the Science of Medicine."

The latter was far less depressing!

Anyways, we went to see the "pump" on Broadwick and had a pint at the tribute pub.

For more on Snow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow_%28physician%29

The coincidence here is that I was forced to read "The Double Helix" in that course. And as many of you know, one of my heroes and perhaps yours, Jon Steel, is a big proponent of "The Double Helix."

[Paul Mison]

The City of London has a flag, but the conurbation as a whole doesn't. I did find a collection of various various flags of the City and other councils. Personally I quite like the inability to flagwave. I prefer pride in London to be a nice, quiet thing.
http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/flags/gb-lond.html

On a tangent, if London was to become independent within the EU, as richard suggests, where would you draw the border? Wouldn't it be inconvenient to have to leave the city to get to an airport (both Gatwick and Stansted, let alone Luton, are outside the M25 and the control of the GLA)? I can see the attraction of the idea but I really don't see it working.

[Gavin Heaton]

I am just waiting for Australia to get its own flag ... not likely to make it in time for the Olympics unfortunately ;)

The technology quote is fantastic ... it reminds us that while we need to THINK and differentiate an experience, it cannot be incorported as part of our lived life.