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“How can propaganda in Orwell’s 1984 be relevant with today’s social media?”

-- Of One Blood, Pauline Hopkins, Chapter XIV (132)

-- Malidoma Patrice Somé, The Healing Wisdom of Africa (p. 177)

Where are we now? Where are heading?

The Algorithmic Heartbeat in George Orwell’s 1985, Seen Through a Looking Glass in 1949, and From a Lens in 2013

     Over the past 150 years the world has experienced the largest wave of technological advancements through media, and at the turn of the 20th century sparked a stream of endless literary works that focused on positive Utopian societies. It wasn’t, however, until 1949 when George Orwell turned the table around, and unleashed his last written work 1984, as political commentary/satire that focused on a bleak future for society under a totalitarian rule. I would like to focus on the media venue of mass-communication: telescreens, censorship, and newspapers – for the story’s case, under the influence of Big Brother. It is no wonder why the future would look bleak from the perspective of a writer in 1949, especially seeing how Orwell wrote essays on the impact of the nuclear bomb and other social concerns. I would like to explore the ground-breaking media technologies of 1949 up to 1984, and what had inspired Orwell to put light on these issues. I want to explore how the passage of the past few decades have both complimented, more than contradicted, his viewpoints, and see how a single algorithm has "mushroom-clouded" into such a broad venue for media mass-communication to this day.

     The questions that can circulate 1984 can seem endless. The questions I have regard an infusion of history, technology, and sociology. Some of them I have vague answers for, but I would especially like to delve deeper into what would possess an author to forge a story such as this. How can technology be seen as a plight, when it is normally regarded as a wonder? What social issues inspired Orwell to write this story at the time? How may this story mirror the public’s preconceptions about the future from the perspective of one who is at the end of a decade? Noticing that while 1949 marks the year before the end of a decade, and that the year 1984 marks a year before reaching half a decade, is there such a coincidence? In that case, is that why—prior knowledge of history aside—Orwell chose to write the equation as 2+2=5 (4 for 1984, and 5 digits (half a decade) equals 9)? Or does the algorithmic process of taking one from 5 makes 4 plus 4 plus the removed 1 brings a total of 9, or 8 subtracted from 9 equals 1, or 9 minus 5 equals 1 plus 4 equals 5, mirror the invention of the first algorithmic processing machine, the Z3, released in 1941, 8 years prior to the publication of 1984? [Here is the real mindblower: Karkarmar’s algorithm, a system for solving linear programming problems was later discovered in Orwell's 1984, revolutionizing computer programming, was created by Narendra Karmarkar, who worked where else, but AT&T.] With all of this in mind, did Orwell just write propaganda, or did he somehow see the big picture of where society was heading? What does Orwell expect readers to absorb from the context? What inventions seemed revolutionary for the time? In what ways has "1984" impacted the real world? Are there any implications of these fears present in today’s media? Are algorithms the real heartbeat of society today? As I said, the questions can seem endless.

The Studebaker Avanti, Shell Oil logo, and Sears Coldspot refrigerator were all the creations of the iconic industrial designer, Raymond Loewy, whose work spanned 70 years and is honored today by a Google Doodle.

In the Cage, Herman Melville

Herman Melville’s Typee (1846) is a narrative I have been wanting to read, and this project has re-kindled the aspiration. I picked the book up years ago, as it stuck out as a total mystery, the mystery itself has continued to cloud my mind by its riddles all throughout this not-so-read project, but I hope to arrive to some revelation by tying in a handful of specific words. Using Wordl and Voyant tools, I have arrived at even more complexities, leaving me more perplexed than I had begun. There are just so many words that contrast each other that orchestrate a symphony of nature through the senses. Through excavating the contents of the story, I have come to the conclusion that the sea-faring adventurous narrative Typee may very well contain such a simple theme of life through procreation and demise.

The word “side” frequents almost twice that as “fruit” (at 89), but the most noteworthy stems are the words “resident,” “residents,” and “president,” all of which appears only once. “Companion” makes an appearance 55 times; “appearance” manifests 49 times, while “disappearance” crops up in 8 instances. The most incredulous word that begged my attention was “operation” which had appeared 38 times.

The most specific words are the odd words that manifest on the page, screaming for attention: fruit, side, companions, operation, and appearance. The interesting thing about “fruit” is not only that it appears 41 times in the text, but its antonym, “fruitless,” appears only once.  Fruit can be symbolic for reproduction, but it can also symbolize a new beginning, while “fruitless” counteracts in fruition—a meaning to an end. Life begins on a track that leads up to a great finale.

The term “companion” is obviously an essential counterpart for procreation, but a companion can likewise drag one to its end. There is a balancer in relations—whether it be intimacy or mere friendship—that can sway one’s journey to life or death. Friendships born, fade, and die. “Companion” can also be seen as a conjoined unity of a body of people to form one single society, which cultivates into a civilization. And a civilization needs an authoritative figure, say “president” in order to instill law and order. The president can also be seen as one ruling body, or spiritually one God, who reigns over all “residents”: those who exist under the laws of nature. Even though presidents are elected, a divine figure requires a collective community that agrees to worship the entity.

“Appearance” is the one differentiating factor that physically separates and individualizes each part of a community—the people within—to ensure that a true, and not synthetically identical, civilization exists. “Appearance” can also play a part in construction—whether that be of a civilization, or a story—and its contrast “disappearance” which breaks apart civilization and the contexts of stories into fine, minute particles. “Disappearance” can also symbolize death, which is the destination of life from which “appearance” is born. Or new technologies come and fade, as newer inventions come to dominate older means. Basically, there is a sort of naked revelation when one civilization encounters another civilization, when the contents (ideas/values/technologies/moralities) are laid bare, from which the contents are manipulated in some way (either through war, delegation, or trade) by which older trends die out with the instillation of newer (whether that be innovative or interwoven) ideologies are converged--or structured--into one agreeable unit.

All of these intricacies are part of a whole, symbiotic “operation” on the sustenance of life, the growth of a society, the age of a civilization, leading to a great cultural demise, and the rebirth of a new community from the ashes of an older civilization. It is the heart about which the civilized world--humanity--evolves through the progression of existence. It may be of the great scheme of fate, where beginnings lead to new ends, from which newer beginnings blossom in an endless chain—the only evidences lay in the artifacts left behind. But the artifacts are trivial in relation with Typee, as the evidences of ages past truly exist through ancestry, and the descendants of ancestors who are part of age-old bloodlines, containing the beliefs and values about which particular societies are based. The protagonist may come to the savages as a complete stranger, but the interaction between people of separate cultures could very well be the birth of a new aspect of civilization, while the demise of particular customs or beliefs. 

- In the Cage, Henry James

The female telegrapher pays a visit to her supposed home town, when she happens upon an individual that has won her fascination. However, the "town" can, by today's standards--or even at the time of the story--be regarded as a collective community; like a circuit board, amassed by wiring, through which fleeting conversations zip to-and-fro through mass-communication. The circuit board for the time can be part of a telegraph machine, but by these standards it could be considered as a social network, a vestibule where people are free to enter and share there minds through the exchange of conversation. What we have today is just an evolution from the telegraph. It is all obvious, but the evidences were always there.

I am going to throw in the topic of video games. One may wonder what does video games have anything to do with Henry James. I feel it is quite suitable a topic if one explores the evolution of PC games. PC games began at some time long ago (around the time of Atari 2600, Amiga 64, and Intellevision (I don't know if anyone has heard of these systems)). The pioneer games were text-based adventures that required the player to type in commands, and the system would respond. There was nothing but words at the time: input was taken, and feedback was returned from the main system. So people really had to use their imaginations to remember landmarks, or they would forever be lost. Years later came the first multiplayer game, a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) game was developed called Colossal Cave Adventure in 1975, which served as a network game that hosted a dungeon master, and had composed of a group of players who would engage in a text-based adventure. It wasn't until 1987, however, when MUD first went online in 1980. These were just the beginnings that evolved into what we have now with MMORPGs, XBOX Live, Steam, PSNetwork, etc. Now there are literally thousands of games that support online gaming.

This may seem like nonsense, especially in context of literature, but it is quite revolutionary, and something that James would probably find a little intriguing. If one peels away the layering of the online games, the participants of massive online games are basically doing the same thing as a telegrapher once had: punch in codes through clicking buttons (as Professor Carey demonstrated about clicking switches on and off whic activated commands), manipulating the "conversation" of games either through dialogue or through action sequences, within a numeric binary domain that produces visual -- pixelated -- responses in a dead space that is otherwise enlivened by an engaged community. Bluetooth headsets are now even utilized to enhance the conversation. For the most part, by astronomical calculations, most people who participate in online gaming do interact with complete strangers (of whom they bank the utmost trust) to accomplish a single goal. When the engagement is done, and the statistics/results are documented, a new match with completely different strangers begins, leading to other genuine circumstances. There are online games that can host tens of thousands of individuals at one match, per server, which accommodate message logs. It makes like fleeting conversations amidst a public domain (whether that be a chat room, blog, or even something so physical as a train station or shopping mall). It is quite extraordinary to see the legions of people interacting with one game, using thousands of devices all at one time, and how the streaming is seamless. Like an ocean of technology electronically charged through wiring.

--Henry James In the Cage (130)

TELEGRAPH: A GATEWAY TO COMMUNICATION

There were instances in The House of the Seven Gables in which paintings imposed on the unraveling of the story. Even though the paintings made brief, if not only seldom, appearances, their presences seemed as a foreboding force, drilling into the hearts and souls of the readers. The paintings contained pasts histories that structured the destiny for those people affiliated with the mansion. The paintings accumulated the full identity of not only the members of the Pyncheon family (and those whose lives they have touched), but also characterized The House of the Seven Gables as one property sanctioned amongst a community. No matter the differences between the Pyncheons and the Maules, who they are and the actions they pursue also structure the town of which the mansion was raised.

The inclusion of the paintings in the story was enigmatic. It wasn’t until after much consideration was made when a definite conclusion could be made that the paintings were vital, if Hawthorne desired to craft the house into a living, breathable prototype of human condition. Residences are adorned with visual art to enliven an atmosphere that would best represent the occupant. It can be anywhere from paintings to pictures, sculptures, or even electronic entertainment devices, which equates to home decoration. It does not even go so much as what the decoration looks like, so much as where it is also placed. The filtering of light and shadow, along with angular perception, effect the reception of the home – the atmosphere.

Paintings (or even pictures) are composed of elements that form a structured and formative, contained within the boundaries of a frame. There is no limit as to what sort of image a frame can hold; just as with decorating one’s home, there are measurements of design (shapes, sizes, colors, tints, shading, lighting, strokes, etc.) that must be applied in the most exact applications to provide the most profound effect that best reflects the artist (or owner) of the work. If the most precise way to define a painting is by describing it is as a property within a frame that has been decorated, then the property of The House of Seven Gables can just as well take on the same responsibilities as the painting. The house is a vicinity of boundaries, framed, which is decorated (or even manipulated) to create its own atmosphere. On a more macroscopic level, the actual property of the house is a frame amongst other frames (properties) that build up a town, which is contained within a framed county, which is within a framed state, which makes a framed country. With each frame come different materials and ways to adorn or model the boundaries (for a home there are gardens, a city are parks and infrastructures), which all provide its own definitive atmosphere different from the rest. There are countless things to which paintings and framing can be applied. Whatever space onto which humans can create, is contained within a frame, restricted by its boundaries and defined by its contents.

Nathaniel Hawthorne provides some overlapping perspectives -- in Chapter XI: The Arched Window, and Chapter XII: The Daguerreotypist -- of two men from two different generations, and their stance on the shifting presence of mortality.

The elder Clifford is suspended atop the cold, dark, and lifeless house of the seven gables, looking down upon the energetic, younger generation in celebration of life. Clifford speculates the conglomeration, "by its remoteness, it melts all petty personalities, of which it is made up, into one broad mass of existence--one great life--one collected body of mankind, with a vast, homogenous spirit animating it" (118). Clifford comes to realize his own status by proclaiming the only thing to which there is an inevitable is "the final great remedy--death" (119). One stark episode chronicles Clifford approaching an epiphany to which he once was unaware, by which he declares his own existence, "We are ghosts! We have no right among human beings--no right anywhere, but in this old house, which has a curse on it, and which therefore we are doomed to haunt" (121). Clifford's final summation is that the house, and ultimately death itself, is a means to an end: a destination to which old age is quickly ushering Clifford, even against his own will.

The topic regarding 'rights' of human past has a haunting permanence in Holgrave's own observation over morality. Although just as melancholy, Holgrave's perception does hold onto a glint of some hope. Rather it be the nature of him being a daguerreotypist and his conception on the lasting effect of photography through preservation, Halgrove refuses to accept that the end is just that. His view on death has more ambivalence when compared to Clifford's beliefs, "We must be dead ourselves, before we can begin to have our proper influence on the world, which will then be no longer our world, but the world of another generation, with which we will have no shadow of a right to interfere" (128). Holgrave also implicates that new media overlaps (and is likewise derived from) older media to form one solitary and unified product as he criticizes skepticism by uttering, "His error lay, in supposing that this age, more than any past or future one, is destined to see the tattered garments of Antiquity exchanged for a new suit, instead of gradually renewing themselves by patchwork" (128). Holgrave concludes in the same sentiment as Clifford, that the house of seven gables may very well be stuck in the past, in its old ways, and dying, instead of living and thriving through innovation. For Holgrave remarks, "I ought to have said, too, that we live in Dead Men's houses; as for instance in this house of the seven gables. The house, in my view, is expressive of that odious and abominable Past, with all its bad influences" (128).

The presentation for “Railroads and the Making of Modern America” was quite an experience. It was the first time I have ever made an online video presentation. There were a couple of setbacks that caused some inconsistencies in the overall presentation, but it launched better than I had expected. Preparation summed for the hardest part, as many technical issues – especially with horrendous Java – were predominant. Framing the outline of the presentation was commonplace with previous presentations, but what was most satisfying was actually writing a script, which encourages further creativity and freedom of expression.  The script provided a great guiding tool, showing what contents had been covered, highlighting the next succeeding steps to take, and providing prompts to enhance the delivery. By having the presentation recorded, I was able to review and edit my presentation in select areas that needed improvement.

Screenr is a convenient tool for making quick 5-minute videos. At first, I was afraid that it would be pretty complicated, and instead amounted to providing the least amount of hassle. The inclusion of a pause feature really helped with approximating intervals of frames that captured the presentation. I was also instantly intrigued by the way one could frame the recording window to fill up an entire (or even any fraction) webpage. By using Screenr, I have gained a skill that can be used sometime in the future.

Daguerreotypes were often called ‘a mirror with a memory’, and were named after their French inventor, Louis Jacques Daguerre. They were photos made on...

This link contains a very short article articulating the powers of a daguerreotype, but through having finished read the first chapter of The House the of Seven Gables (1851) I am confident that the domicile of dark design is symbolized as a daguerreotype. “Long lapse of mortal life… have passed within” containing “a result of artistic arrangement… would include a chain of events… would fill a longer series of duodecimos” (*books made from sheets folded to make twelve pages) that entails “a connection with the long past… how much of old material goes to make up the freshest novelty of human life” (5-6). The gaudy building is depicted as a foreboding haven by its exterior, and its interior containing even darker memories. The interior contains devices that correspond with the process of the daguerreotype and picture-making process. Outside of the fact that the mansion has been regarded as a “magic picture,” the residence contained within it a looking glass that “contained within its depths all the shapes that had been reflected there… had we the secret of that mirror, we would sit before it, and transfer its revelations to our page” and that just contemplating the object has been “a mesmeric process” (16-17), indicating that the looking glass has magical powers to capture, freeze, and frame images from the past that can be used in the present and renders its observers to a state of slight paralysis as they stop to scrutinize the artifact. Hawthorne even went so far as to define the estate as an “ill-gotten spoil” with “black stain of blood sunken deepen into it” which can (a) allude to the property as being a place haunted by its past through the predominant nature from encapsulated memories that shrouded its foundation (b) characterize the mansion as a daguerreotype, its blood (or life-sustaining liquid) being black, indicative of black ink, used to form impressions on blank paper to create photographic images.

I remember our discussion on how people approached the daguerreotype at first as a demonic, diabolical machine that froze appearances with ungodly magical powers – suggesting the man behind the camera, the artist, as the wizard. Matthew Maul, sole proprietor of the land that was stolen from him and onto which the House of Seven Gables was constructed, has been charged as being a witch, but Nathaniel Hawthorne takes an even more calculated approach to calling Maul ‘wizard’ through various frames, because his legacy has made him the artist, or man behind the camera. His son has sabotaged the foundation in such a way, that the flaws in the design would crop up through the transience of time. Even the structure of the first chapter takes on framing – an interconnectedness of small stories that draw up into one folio of a larger portfolio.

I also took special notice of this passage, “For thirty years past, neither town-record, nor grave-stone, nor the directory, nor the knowledge or memory of man bore any trace of Matthew Maul’s descendants” (20). For but a brief instance, I recalled the experience I had on our Screenr project, not really with the pains and sorrows of enduring defiant Java, but the whole experience of the archival  database presentation. We were inquiring dated records, finding information through directories that gave us digital artifacts, and basing our knowledge on those artifacts to determine which ones were more qualified to better suit the impact of our presentation. Beyond that, we were creating newer artifacts (our videos) that have been dated, stored in a directory from which our artifacts can be withdrawn sometime in the future, for other minds to speculate. Through our efforts, we have become the artists, or better yet metaphorical WIZARDS, the people behind the camera who utilizes the magical powers of the device and manipulate certain objects in order to capture, record, store, and suspend information in a miniscule lapse of time. Our videos were framed, expanding and decreasing the borders for the window to fit over the screen, and the end result is an immortal impression we made on a website. It is no wonder that Screenr is a digital portfolio where its contents can be copied or transferred to other digital portfolios (Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook) which, in essence, acts as portfolios themselves.