Publish at October 04 2023 Updated October 04 2023
The way we formalize the world verbally has structured the world from oral tradition to the written tradition of recent centuries. Is the same true of cyber-civilization?
Semantics, the art of making meaning through language, used to be about traditions and the transmission of knowledge.
In order to anchor this knowledge in the minds of future apprentices, knowledge was magnified and taught through parchments for scholars, but above all through legends and stories that were transcended over the centuries in declaimed or sung poetic form.
Jean de la Fontaine's fables are one of the best examples in the French tradition. The Reed and the Oak discuss the weakness of the reed and the strength of the Oak. But the Oak, faced with the wind, ends up head down and uprooted from the ground.
"The Oak one day said to the Reed:...
The winds are less formidable to me than to you.
I bend, and do not break. You have so far
Against their dreadful blows
Resisted without bending your back;
But let's wait for the end. As he said these words
From the horizon comes with fury
The most terrible child
That the North had carried so far in its flanks.
The Tree stands firm; the Reed bends.
The wind redoubles its efforts,
And does so well that it uproots
He whose head was close to Heaven,
And whose feet touched the Empire of the Dead".
Source: Jean de la Fontaine, from fables to morals.
https://www.jeandelafontaine.com/le-chene-et-le-roseau.html
The Oak, one of the noblest trees in creation, is dying. One poem and the whole value system is called into question. And knowledge, especially new knowledge, often related to human life or governance or... a lot of non-scientific knowledge in fact. We've moved on from oral tradition to books, which are undoubtedly denser but just as effective for those who can read. For others, as oral traditions became rarer, they were equated with stupid people, whereas in fact intelligence may suffer from a lack of knowledge, but it will find other ways of expressing itself.
From there, poetry has extended to fairy-tale, fantastic, different, bizarre, horrific or extraordinary worlds. Fortunately, books are not yet dead. My hyper-connected 15-year-old daughter is in the process of discovering crime fiction, which she devours like hotcakes at the same time as watching all kinds of series on her cell phone.
So the two are not incompatible, but television has been taking market share from books since the 1970s. It's on the term "market share" that the entire poetic ecosystem is impoverished.
Source: Denys Lamontagne - editor-in-chief of Thot Cursus
Semantics is the underlayer that supports human understanding of each other... and enables everyone to express knowledge that is not directly economic, including that of poetry and beauty too; in recent years, semantics has been kidnapped by the fields of collective intelligence and algorithms.
The watchword is that the meaning of words must be translatable into all languages, but above all that polysemous knowledge, with a first, second and third meaning, is banned because it is difficult for computer machines to interpret. And, if it's not understood, then it's waste that can't be made from.
"Utopia for some, reality for others, the Semantic Web is becoming part of our daily lives, revolutionizing the way we find information. The traditional keyword search - dear to Google - is slowly giving way to a more sophisticated and refined methodology that delivers more relevant results.
At a time when everyone is confronted with an information overload that is often referred to as infobesity, it is essential to highlight quality data. In this respect, the Semantic Web offers a considerable advantage over traditional search engines.
This new technology is an integral part of a company's strategy, enabling it to target its market with precision and gain greater visibility on the Web. The Semantic Web has become a priority issue in Internet research and development. It's no longer just a question of integrating data scattered across the Web, but also of giving it meaning. This means "understanding" users' queries, linking information together and offering each reader a search result that identifies sites relevant to a query, providing intelligent answers. Paradoxically, the impressive progress in search engine quality makes web users more demanding when they search the Web. They find it hard to admit that the results do not fully meet their expectations..."
Source: Chapter 1: Semantic Web: when information becomes knowledge - Pierre-Jean Benghozi, Michelle Bergadaà
In Les savoirs du Web (2012), pages 13 to 26
https://www.cairn.info/les-savoirs-du-web--9782804170936-page-13.htm?contenu=article
Users aren't going to rebel against this phenomenon, because if the machines fail then they won't get what they're looking for. So they'll leave it to the runner, for now.
"The semantic web is a popular horizon among information professionals. According to its gurus, this new Eldorado of metadata is the lever for a possible reinvention of catalogs, and even for a rethinking of the library as a whole. But is the hype really true? The findings and questions shared here stem from BnF's experience after four years of exploring these technologies, marked by the launch of the data.bnf.fr service in 2011 and the adoption of the State's open license for all its metadata in 2014. We'll see that while the technical and legal opening up of bibliographic metadata makes it possible to increase their social utility and added value, it comes with risks that are still as difficult to measure today as the value produced."
Source : The semantic web, a new lever of value for information services? - Gildas Illien
In I2D - Information, données & documents 2015/4 (Volume 52), pages 59-60
https://www.cairn.info/revue-i2d-information-donnees-et-documents-2015-4-page-59.htm
They are going to be forced to enter the new model where taking the side step, the poetic step, the step that speaks of beauty, feelings, emotions, in fact anything foreign to machines will perhaps even be avoided as not useful and of non-economic use.
...new places to find its audience. A real break in usage is in the offing.
"Heir to the poetry of the late 20th century, diverse, innovative and free, the poetry of this first decade of the 21st century is dynamic and restless. It eludes the mainstream, but hints at trends: a revival of lyricism and experimental poetry, akin to the plastic arts. It attempts to express the reality of the sensible world. Although poetry is not selling well in bookshops, interest in this expression is not dead, since it has spread to blogs, creative workshops on the Internet, and is celebrated with the Printemps des poètes and the Marché de la poésie...
Simplicity in the service of beauty
For some of today's poets, linguistic research has taken a back seat, with a return to a more sober, simple and authentic form of expression, in which we speak of ourselves in a modernized lyrical form. Philippe Jaccottet asks himself the following question: How can one write simply about the things of the world? Poets belonging to this movement are concerned with meaning and beauty.
As close to reality as possible
Just as they return to the paths of lyricism, they also try to come to terms with the reality of everyday life. Expression becomes more concrete (using everyday objects), and sometimes darker too. Current events have inspired works by Ariane Dreyfus, Iris, c'est votre bleu (2008), Claude Ber, La mort n'est jamais comme... (2003) Others denounce the violence of humanity and the excesses of consumer society. (Denis Roche, Bernard Noël)
Slam
Some go even further in expressing their disenchantment: slam artists. One of these is Fabien Marsaud, also known as Grand Corps Malade. The rules of slam are simple: the text, which aims to move through words, is characterized by rhyme and assonance, regular cadences and no musical accompaniment (unlike rap).
Playful poetry
Contemporary poetry can also be playful, adopting a falsely childish, almost naïve tone, in contrast to the works of the post-war period (Jean-Pierre Verheggen, Claude-Roger Journoud). It brings out a "do-it-yourself" side and highlights the astonishing potential of language...
To present the poetry of this first decade of the 21st century is to note that it is very much alive, even if it escapes the shelves of bookshops, taking contemporary routes to be heard and read (blogs, websites, markets...). In the diversity of poets' styles, for whom each adventure is unique, there are at least two points in common: a return to lyricism and to the reality of the sensitive world, in a language where research can be primordial. Contemporary poetry is often torn between pure poetry and its desacralization."
Source: Poetry in the 21st century
https://www.maxicours.com/se/cours/la-poesie-au-21e-siecle/
It's a visceral form of expression where there's no room for traditional expression. Is a pamphlet a tract or a denunciation?
"A pamphlet is a literary work, a piece of writing that attacks, accuses, parodies or slanders a power, an institution, a person or an idea, using an ironic, aggressive or violent tone. The pamphlet is part of satirical or polemical literature. It is often militant or committed writing. Although the word pamphlet was originally used to designate short writings, today it is used to designate any production (newspaper or magazine article, speech, song, poem, open letter, short story, novel, apocryphal memoirs, press drawing, etc.) with a virulent critical dimension.
Source: Wikipedia - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphlet
The need to express oneself is not unique to machines, but to humans.
Source image : Sponchia - Pixabay
You might also like:
Businesses that are connected to themselves and not just divided into functions. The study of systems from the metaphor of nature implies understanding the interactions between the elements that make up a natural system. In a methodical way, here is how it is possible to proceed...
The new science of social manipulation
There's no need to worry about accuracy, truth or even verisimilitude: only the reaction really counts.
Finding your raison d'être through Ikigaï
The Japanese Ikigaï method, more or less related to flow or intrinsic motivation, is a simple and effective technique for finding one's raison d'être, vocation and professional orientation through introspection and personal reflection.
The return to traditional techniques in culture and agriculture
Should intensive agriculture give way to organic agriculture or to agriculture where reasoned techniques are back? Most probably!
Soka's contribution to education
The Soka movement has been active and influential in the field of education since the 1930s, serving personal and social development and drawing inspiration from Buddhism to create value.
