Noise and Thought and the Absence of Meaning

Yes, it's close to incomprehensible, but that doesn't mean that it's not a fun read. And as in many of these treatises, it contains some great quotes. For instance:

from John Cage: Many people collect music that they like and surround themselves with it. I do the reverse: I don't keep music around me; I keep noise.
and from Marshall McLuhan: Clear prose indicates an absence of thought.... Most clear writing is a sign that there is no exploration going on.

The Cage quote raises numerous interesting questions about the role that information can play in our lives: Maybe the desired function of the internet should be simply to surround us with unfiltered information. But the McLuhan quote is the winner. Undoubtedly there's even more than a kernel of truth in that statement. What I don't understand is why people who quote this sort of thing seem to assume that the opposite is also true. In the essay in which this quote shows up the prose is far from clear, but it's far from evident that much real thinking is going on either.

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Go to: Being (semi) Digital