…does it matter?
And other questions for the future-now:
Is a blog only a blog if someone reads it? Is a musician only a musician if he has a Myspace (substitute any other social network) page? And here’s the real question: Is a word only a word if it’s indexed by Google?
From: The possibility of unperceived off-line existence.
Points for the most philosophical answer – and I’ve got a philosophy degree you know, so I’ll know if you’re faking it 
Ben
11 Nov 07 at 7:20 pm
…and no, I haven’t gone completely mad…
Dean Hunt
11 Nov 07 at 7:47 pm
Reminds me of Buddhist question
What is the sound of one hand clapping.
I thought for a full week on this and answered:
The disturbance of particles in the air by a hand moving, though faint, will create sound.
Official buddhist answer (so I was told).
It is the sound created by the thought creating the hand’s movement.
PS: yes, you have gone mad!
Dean Hunt
11 Nov 07 at 7:47 pm
I forgot to include a question mark, but never mind. I am sure it makes no sense either way
Jon Hundt
11 Nov 07 at 8:46 pm
all of your examples would be better if they were as described. A blog means nothing unless the ‘blogger’ would write it for no other audience than himself. A musician who is concerned about a MySpace profile is not sufficiently focussed on his/her music. If a person needs Google to define and validate his words, he should stop using language for a while.
luke
11 Nov 07 at 11:23 pm
If it was hard to know whether we exist in the pre-technological ages then it is even harder to know what online existence is. Baudrillard said the Gulf war never took place. Is Ben Curtis and his adventures in Spain a hyperreal expderience…no different than a computer game?
ValenciaSon
12 Nov 07 at 4:06 am
Well your focus determines your reality so if the answer to your questions are yes, then so be it.
Mat
12 Nov 07 at 6:52 am
How’s that learning guitar blog going, Ben?
Ben
12 Nov 07 at 2:23 pm
@Dean, you are indeed a fellow philosopher!
@Jon, you are right of course, but in 30 years time will your distinctions still hold?
@Luke – yes, and no!
@VS – You’ve out philosophied all of us!
@Mat – ah, that is the crux of the matter. This post came to me as I was wondering about whether I had to live all my life on line. Couldn’t I just learn the guitar on my own? As we earn our living by being creative on-line, so to speak, there is a real tendency for us and many others in the world to think that everything has to go on-line in order to have worth… So the guitar blog is up in the air at the moment as I ponder this further…
Jon Hundt
12 Nov 07 at 5:13 pm
Ben – in 30 years time no-one will remember what a blog was, or MySpace or Google. They’ll have a whole different set of the same problems. Nothing changes much…
I’m with you on this: forget about the guitar blog, unless it’s fun for you. I can’t imagine what kind of fun it could be, but hey! I’m not into the on-line lifestyle at all.
I say – make the guitar your retreat from the on-line world. That’s something that guitars do real well.
Ben
12 Nov 07 at 9:08 pm
Thanks Jon. I think that is the way forward. I’ll put the guitar back on line when I release my first album
(Joke!)
luke
12 Nov 07 at 9:50 pm
I blog therefore I could be.
Richardksa
29 Nov 07 at 9:34 am
….and I’ve got a philosophy degree you know.
Just found this quote from the Simpsons website:
“things aren’t as happy as they used to be down here at the unemployment office. Joblessness is no longer just for Philosophy majors – useful people are starting to feel the pinch”
He he!!
Ben
29 Nov 07 at 9:47 am