Artists of the Floating URL

Vocab Fall 2006: Of Monoliths and Machines

You never know what the Internet will give you when you ask a simple question.

It turns out that neither Wil nor I was* completely right in our attempts to pinpoint a Monolithic Age. But on balance, Will was righter than me, or I was wronger (and no, neither of those is a word). So Wil gets a free coffee from me, which seems a little unfair since he already gets free coffee.

But W.

Anyway, it's worth it. Because I found some wonderfully weird links on my journey. Like the Monolithic Dome Institute. And the doom-metal EP Cro-Monolithic Remixes for an Iron Age.

Here's a handy page with everything you never thought you'd want to know about monoliths.

I am most gratified to know that my recollection of a monolith from 2001: Space Odyssey was indeed intended by the director. Kewl.

Last but not least, I checked with the original scientific source at Emerson, Mr. Muehlberger. He broke the tie: "No, there was no Monolithic Age exactly, but yes, there was a time we refer to in history when people created megaliths."

Now to Amy's challenge to find out more about Rene Descartes and Cartesian philosophy and mathematics, here ya go...

Turns out the denotation of the word "Cartesian" is simply "of or related to the philosopher/mathmetician Rene Descartes." The connotation of the word as I used it in class is "dualistic thinking, either/or thinking."

Cartesian dualism usually refers to Descartes's famous idea of the human body as substance and the mind or spirit as "other." In the 1940s, author Gilbert Ryle famously described this philosophy as "the ghost in the machine" and argued against it.

Descartes's theory is part of a much larger area of philosophic inquiry known as "philosophy of mind." Nowadays, we are approaching new ideas about the mind and the body. Would you care to comment? What do you think? Are they separate? Are they one? Is there some third kind of being, or a multitude, other than just all-mind or all-body? How do you think the mind and body communicate?

The Cartesian coordinate system is the use of two lines or axes (plural of axis) to determine the position of other points. So again, that concept of duality is present, though this time in a much different way.

The guy was kind of a binary thinker, eh?

Well. Like I always say, there are two kinds of people: the people who believe there are two kinds of people, and the people who don't.

* There's that grammatical difficulty again. Neither Wil was right, nor was I right. But don't you just want to make it "were"?

posted by lisa schamess @ 12:38 PM 1 comments

Fall 2006 English Classes: Welcome

Welcome to our virtual space. We are all of us Artists of the Floating URL.

This is the moderated space for Ms. Schamess's English classes at Emerson Preparatory School Here you will find useful links, interesting class-related content and sometimes special assignments. I am the person who runs the space; you read and comment as you wish.

There is also a fully egalitarian space here. Once you know the password, you can post content or simply comment in whatever way you see fit.

Think of these two virtual sites as the classroom when the teacher is in charge (here), and the classroom when we are on break or the teacher is out of the room (though she does pop her head in now and then... click here). Either way, join the conversation!

To comment on either blog, simply click "comment" and feel free to comment anonymously or with your name.

To get the password for the other space so you can post a main entry, ask Ben or Nadine, two experienced emersonians who know the magic word.

But hey, it's my job to convince you that all words are magic.

posted by lisa schamess @ 7:54 PM 0 comments