Postel's Law and Brenden Gray
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Steven Cohen and Robyn Sassen go hard against Brenden Gray over at Art South Africa blog.Read Steven's original response over here. Brenden's defense and Robyn's response here. And again here. Obviously, a "tired little 'debate' ", and I've argued before with Brenden, repeatedly, and don't want to repeat my arguments, but as I still find his "clever" defensiveness infuriating, I will contribute my two cents. In the interest of good art writing...
I read today (via Art Fag City, thanks) a really interesting NYTimes article about trolling. I wanted to link to it anyway, something for commenters on this site to think about, so put aside some time and read it. This guy's interpretation of Postel's Law and it's wider implications really had me hooked:
Does free speech tend to move toward the truth or away from it? When does it evolve into a better collective understanding? When does it collapse into the Babel of trolling, the pointless and eristic game of talking the other guy into crying “uncle”? Is the effort to control what’s said always a form of censorship, or might certain rules be compatible with our notions of free speech?
One promising answer comes from the computer scientist Jon Postel, now known as “god of the Internet” for the influence he exercised over the emerging network. In 1981, he formulated what’s known as Postel’s Law: “Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.” Originally intended to foster “interoperability,” the ability of multiple computer systems to understand one another, Postel’s Law is now recognized as having wider applications. To build a robust global network with no central authority, engineers were encouraged to write code that could “speak” as clearly as possible yet “listen” to the widest possible range of other speakers, including those who do not conform perfectly to the rules of the road. The human equivalent of this robustness is a combination of eloquence and tolerance — the spirit of good conversation. Trolls embody the opposite principle. They are liberal in what they do and conservative in what they construe as acceptable behavior from others. You, the troll says, are not worthy of my understanding; I, therefore, will do everything I can to confound you.
Now, I'm not accusing Brenden of being a troll (trolling being the process of disrupting on-line communities, such as comment threads or bigger), but something in his stance might be a little troll-like. For someone who often talks about the lack of fluid discourse, he sure knows how to change the subject to himself as opposed to the actual arguments.And I guess I'm rising to the bait.
Labels: Art South Africa, Brenden Gray, robyn sassen, steven cohen
posted by Robert Sloon at 2:14 PM
13 comments
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B,
I like your unwillingness to float along with the establishment's endorsing of these self-styled tricksters.
While I'm of the opinion that Avant Car Guard do make some decent works, I think the interest shown by the organisers of the Art Fair in ArtHeat is excessive, and possibly a bit misguided. Their presence at the Fair felt less like that of court jesters and more like that of midget mascots amongst the first team players of the art world. In fact, one senses that their co-opting by the establishment they seem(ed?) so keen on challenging is a clear sign that few take them or their subversive impulses too seriously.
M