(continued from the previous number)
Different is the point
of view of reception. Here there is another problem: the fact that you
are transformed into an icon. They are asking you something that you
do not want to give...
“Transformed into an icon: you mean in the sense of becoming an
oracle?”
Yes, an oracle. One is asked all the time,
“What do you think
about...?”.
Now, why should I think anything about that? This happens not only to
me. At this moment in time, Italian journalism is such that every
scholar every day receives a phone call asking things like: “What do
you think about the marriage of princess so-and-so?”, or even
incredibly stupid questions like “what do you think about the death of
Greta Garbo?”. Now why should you ask me about this? You answer either
with a triviality like, “Well yes, she was a great actress, and I was
very shocked by that,” or, if you want to be very original: “oh, I am
very happy that that lousy whore is dead - I hated her...” Obviously
your answer cannot be anything other than some kind of formality. So
it is not only a personal experience of mine, but of everybody.
So you receive continuous pressure to do everything. That’s why I told
you that I don’t receive messages, I don’t read faxes and I don’t
answer the phone.
“So you don’t follow electronic forums, or take part in online news
group discussions or other activities of the Internet community?”
Not until now. But that is another problem; it is not due to the
pressure at all. I will do it in the course of the next few months.
But only in order to make a sort of survey, starting to put together
some ideas. Maybe there can be something I might want to start with; I
think there is an old book collector’s network that I think can be
useful because you can ask other people things like: “I found an old
edition from 1643; I am not sure if there is a previous edition”. OK,
I will use it.
Eco nods seriously.
I think that is one of the most exciting things about the Internet is
that you can look upon it as a “community”. I notice you mentioned in
that paper you gave me from the San Marino conference that you were a
bit unsure about whether we could really create this Global Village or
community. Well now I do have some reservations -- but I certainly
have had some positive experiences. If you find the right community
like for instance the PEIRCE-L discussion list that I am a member of:
I find this very good, because you have some kind of quality control
there since people that “go there” only do so because they are
specially interested -- Now just to develop this point a bit: you were
talking about this
business of being an icon etc. and Michael Crichton ...
Well, in the last year I have published three books. I was obliged to
read tons and tons of dissertations and papers from my students. So of
course I did not have time at this moment to play with Internet. In
the next six months probably, when I have finished a lot of things, I
will do it. OK. It’s only a practical problem.
Apropos the icon thing: the only way is to try and resist this
iconisation - you answer no, no, no. But the problem has reached
uncontrollable dimensions in the mass-media kingdom, because now it is
not only your statements that makes a scoop, but it is your silence
too.
“OK, I see, yes?”
I always quote one particular episode, because it is typical; but
there are tens of thousands of such
episodes. One day, as usual, finishing my class at 7 p.m., together
with my assistants and students we went to a bar for a chat until 8
p.m. and then I went home, with some of them following me and
chatting. We crossed Piazza Verdi in Bologna, in which we have the
Opera House. What I didn’t know was that this particular evening there
was an important premiere. Well, I didn’t know about that, of course I
don’t know everything.
He smiles.
Well, we crossed the square and I went home to do something, or to
watch television, or to fuck - I don’t know what. The day after, the
headline in the newspaper was: “Umberto Eco did not attend that
premiere! “Which is not a piece of news at all, because I usually do
not attend these things. So, it was not a piece of news, but probably
they had nothing better to talk about, so my absence became a...
“A sign?”
...yes, a sign. Well, at this point you cannot do anything but to try
and disregard those kinds of accidents.
“To return to Michael Crichton - I think I wrote this in those
questions in those papers I gave you - was talking of this idea of the
mediasaurus, the big publishing houses. Do you think the media giants
are at risk because people will be able to go directly to the sources
of information? I mean, do you think that will reduce the pressure on
the kind of icon figure, the expert, or do you think that whole thing
is a myth, a total myth?”
My first reaction was: OK, finally we have an acephalous system.
Acephalous: without a head.
“Without a head, headless. Yes, I liked that rhizome idea of yours.”
A kind of a modern Quillian network, a sort of neural net...
“An organic system...?”
Yes, without archetypes, and without - well, you know all that - and
this will probably change enormously the filtering of information.
Now, on second thoughts, I have two problems: How much can this system
remain acephalous? The overloading of the network at some point will
impose some filtering and discipline, and at this point we don’t know
what will happen. The Internet is the greatest possibility of
abolishing any or every Great Brother...
“Big Brother...?”
Big Brother. But it can in a second step open up the possibility for
some Big Brothers to occupy the main lines and the main network. At
this point, I do not know. Secondly: if it remains acephalous, then
the abundance of information will be such that either you have reached
such a level of maturity that you are able to be your own filter, or
you will desperately need a filter...
“Some professional filter?”
...some professional filter. So once again you will ask somebody...an
information consultant...to be your gatekeeper!
Take the example of a book shop. In the thirties a book shop was a
small place in which every week there were one or two new books. If
you went there often you knew pretty well how to isolate the
interesting new items and so on. Now, a book shop like the FNAC in
Paris, or the Feltrinelli here in Bologna, is an Internet in itself:
you have everything. Now - an this concerns not only the young
student, but also myself - if I don’t read the cultural pages of the
newspapers to know what is happening, then I am lost. There’s this
excess of information. Once again it makes you need a gatekeeper...
(to be continued)
©World
Of Art magazine
