barebones communication

So, let’s look at the phenomenological method in more detail. Not to tell you what it is, but to show you what is it. At least the way I see it. 

Where does phenomenological investigation start? It starts right here. At this and any  given moment. At this and any any given time. At this and at any given place.

My present starting point is in front of my PC that, in fact, is not a PC, but a Mac. A beautifully designed iMac. Large one too.

Let me share with you of some of the things that I observe. I observe my Mac first and foremost. This precise moment I have my attention on these very words as they emerge on the screen while I  hit the letters on the keyboard. My eyes, and my head, tilt up and down as I shift attention between the screen and the keyboard. 

In the corner of my eye I note other objects placed on my desk. Without really looking I sense the two small loudspeakers that are connected to the Mac. They are black and bear the logo Altec Lansing. In need to look at them to see this.  I know that they are connected to the sub woofer that is placed under table. I can touch is with my feet. But I don’t touch it.

I sense more objects. A stack of books pile up to the left of the screen. A black fixed phone at the same side. At the right hand side I sense the external hard drives, and I recall that one of them is connected directly to back side the Mac, the other two are connected to the to USB hub that I acquired not so long ago. I have got 1,5 TB there in addition to the 320 MB that comes with the Mac. I need a lot a capacity for picture backups. So that’s the reason.

I am impressed by the new Mac feature, Time Machine, that comes with OS Leopard, the version latest Mac operating system. In fact I have seen nothing like it.

Even more objects are spread all around me. The desk, the chair, the lamp. More books and an empty cup of coffee. Even more object as a turn my head.

My eyes still have their attention at the screen and the keyboard as I move my head slightly up and down to see the keys and to control the spelling as the words become visible on the screen. A couple of places words are underlined with a red colour to suggest that I have misspelled. I have to delete and write it all over to make the underlining disappear. I let the word “colour” stay with the red mark underneath since that is how I spell it. The European way. If I had written “color” it would go away. The American style.

The keyboard, by the way,  is connected to the back of the big screen in one of the USB ports that are there for the same reason. There are three of them. I know that without having to look and to count. Now and again I hit the “save and continue editing” marker to make sure that what I write is saved. I write directly in WordPress. WordPress is the name of the blog universe that I use. And I am happy with it. Most of the time.

I also sense the large window behind the machine, and the evening light that still shines through it. I don’t have to light my desk lamp yet, but in half an hour I probably will.

Following Sokolowski’s terminology in “Introduction to Phenomenology”, what I attend to at any given moment in time is the profile of the objects in front of me. Each individual profile is a concretization of an aspect of the object of interest. If I asked someone else to take the seat where I am sitting right now, they will get access to the same aspect of the Mac, but not the same profile of it. The profiles are individual. Aspects are not.

In addition to profiles and aspects the Mac has sides: a front side and a back side are the two most obvious.

Let me tell you a little more about the Mac. The screen is rather big. The keyboard however is much smaller than those I am used to from my former PC universe. It is white and silver and on each side there are cables connecting different devises. On the right hand side is the USB connection that connects the keyboard to the computer. On the left hand side is an USB connection that I use for my film scanner. I know all this since it was I, who plugged in the connections. Or should I say that I assume that I know this, and thereby also assuming that no one in my family have changed the connections mentioned.  

I save again, get up from the chair and leave the Mac for a moment to get a cup of coffee and the book by Sokolowski, which I know is places on a glass table in the living room. I know that since I just left it there. Now I get up.   

A few moment later I am back. I did not pick up the book, but only took a glance at it. I made a cup of coffee that I bring back with me.  Back in position to view the same aspect of the Mac, but with a new profile. It is bit more dim now, because the daylight fades rapidly. I am in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Mac tells me that the time is 18.24 and I recall the date is March 11, 2008. Still wintertime here and low light at this hour of the day. It strikes me that maybe I should attend to some other task, since this blogpost now is underway, and I always find it easier to continue a blogpost than starting one from scratch. Particularly a long one like this.

These things go through my mind. I know this world of everyday activity. I live in it most of the time. Maybe I know it too well since I spend a lot of time in this position in front of the Mac. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week. Should I say year after year? Almost every day, when I come home from “my real work” that is behind another machine in another room in another building in another street in another part of the town. Apart from the fact that back hurts a bit from sitting down too much,  there are no big surprises here. No big deal really. 

Maybe I should to some physical exercise in stead of this stale desk work? No, I’ll leave that to another day.

I save again and get up turning the lamp light on as I leave for the second time now. I have another zip of coffee before I get up from my chair. 

Back again after a couple of minutes.

One of my specialties is wandering around. Do better thinking that way. That’s my theory, anyway. I could hit “publish” now, and say that was it. Another blogpost to the barebones project, but I will not do that. First of all I need to read thought what have I just written. Sometimes I do the reading and correction after I have posted, but in general that is not a good idéa. To many mistakes for other people to see. Not that I mind mistakes, but misunderstandings are likely to occur as well. And that is worse. Mostly, however, I post drafts, but try to limit the catastrophies. 

I need to tail the post now. Some kind of conclusion. This is, then, the first meditation on a Mac. I started where every first meditation must always start. From a present position in what phenomenologists calls the natural attitude.

There started Hussels and Heidegger. There started Sokolowski and Riceour. There started I. And that is where you will start, as well. The natural attitude is the frame of mind in which all of us live most of our lives. It is the first beginning of any phenomenological investigation. Or meditation. Even on a Mac.

What’s in it for communication?

What’s in this for communication? The natural attitude has no specific relevance for communication, but please read this right. No specific relevance means that is has every relevance. The natural attitude constitutes the situations in which every piece of  living communication takes place. It is the very platform, and the very framework of communication. Any communication.

You will have a better understanding of what is meant by this when you read the next meditations on my Mac, so please stay tuned. Coming up soon.

Cheers.