so postmodern it hurts...
So, it's not a good thing, is it, that I have a thesis chapter due tomorrow that I have no idea how to write.
I mean, it's not like I've done no work at all for it - I've read a good chunk of stuff on psychology and computer science and philosophy of mind... well, a smallish good chunk, but still. And I've read the texts I'm supposed to be writing on.
It's just that none of the secondary literature has anything to do with what I want to say (not that I even know what that is). And now I somehow have to pull 3500 words out of my proverbial arse by tomorrow afternoon (preferably earlier, because teh supervisor gets pissy if he goes home before I send it), and I really don't know what those 3500 words are going to be. Man, I should totally try and get on to these things earlier, or something... Heh. Yeah, I know. As if. XD
Getting to the point where the whole thesis seems really rather simplistic and dull and non-insightful. Not to mention the utter lack of overall argument to tie it together. It feels like a second-year essay, which I wouldn't mind except I'd like the option to go on to further study. In, like, 20 years or so. And my supervisor isn't so much into commenting on content than style and editing. Bah.
So, does anybody know how I can link a science fiction conception of strong Artificial Intelligence entities to the more human-centric posthuman theories floating around nowadays? *twitch* So much of this stuff theorising about technology and culture and postmodernism and all that is just the most ridiculous hype you've ever seen. I mean, it's just *ludicrous* to suggest that a simple program for translating symbols into other symbols to give the illusion of understanding a language can actually understand the language in any meaningful way! And I'm not even going to start on the people that try to say that this sort of system is then actually *conscious*. It's just hype and propaganda and ridiculously obfuscatory postmodernist writing. I mean, shit - explo(it)ration is NOT a word, or even two words, no matter how postmodernly cool writing like that makes you seem compared to all the other academics who actually, like, know stuff. Gah.
But it's all good, because when I finish this, there's SO MUCH more that I want to say about HBP, and SO MUCH fic that I want to write (mmm... Remus/Fenrir...) and SO MUCH sleep that I totally need...
Not to mention that I got to meet Neil Gaiman (phoar) and he's totally the coolest person ever and he signed my books, and even one for chilung.
Ah well. *inhales caffeine*
3500 words to go.
I mean, it's not like I've done no work at all for it - I've read a good chunk of stuff on psychology and computer science and philosophy of mind... well, a smallish good chunk, but still. And I've read the texts I'm supposed to be writing on.
It's just that none of the secondary literature has anything to do with what I want to say (not that I even know what that is). And now I somehow have to pull 3500 words out of my proverbial arse by tomorrow afternoon (preferably earlier, because teh supervisor gets pissy if he goes home before I send it), and I really don't know what those 3500 words are going to be. Man, I should totally try and get on to these things earlier, or something... Heh. Yeah, I know. As if. XD
Getting to the point where the whole thesis seems really rather simplistic and dull and non-insightful. Not to mention the utter lack of overall argument to tie it together. It feels like a second-year essay, which I wouldn't mind except I'd like the option to go on to further study. In, like, 20 years or so. And my supervisor isn't so much into commenting on content than style and editing. Bah.
So, does anybody know how I can link a science fiction conception of strong Artificial Intelligence entities to the more human-centric posthuman theories floating around nowadays? *twitch* So much of this stuff theorising about technology and culture and postmodernism and all that is just the most ridiculous hype you've ever seen. I mean, it's just *ludicrous* to suggest that a simple program for translating symbols into other symbols to give the illusion of understanding a language can actually understand the language in any meaningful way! And I'm not even going to start on the people that try to say that this sort of system is then actually *conscious*. It's just hype and propaganda and ridiculously obfuscatory postmodernist writing. I mean, shit - explo(it)ration is NOT a word, or even two words, no matter how postmodernly cool writing like that makes you seem compared to all the other academics who actually, like, know stuff. Gah.
But it's all good, because when I finish this, there's SO MUCH more that I want to say about HBP, and SO MUCH fic that I want to write (mmm... Remus/Fenrir...) and SO MUCH sleep that I totally need...
Not to mention that I got to meet Neil Gaiman (phoar) and he's totally the coolest person ever and he signed my books, and even one for chilung.
Ah well. *inhales caffeine*
3500 words to go.