________________________________________________________________________________ Genji The declarative sentence, the statement, the clear interrogative, have run their course. What can be meant by this? Only that gaps open among words, that spaces lead to other spaces, that language itself is wounded, that every word links elsewhere, pulls hard at the skein, harder at the skin. This is the critical problem of contemporary thought: the unmooring of language, untethering of thought, which wanders blindly among surfaces. There is no return; language is unpunctuated, phrases slide obscenely (perhaps) upon each other, every word is skewed with every other. No longer is the difference a function of two variables; instead, it is an accumulation of partial and occluded signs whose deferrals slide into non-existence. Languaging slides from an accumulation of words, proprietary signifiers, protocols; the sentence has already disappeared. One letter shudders, stutters, against another; pronouns lose antecedents, precedents; nouns lose referents. Descending into chaotic phenomena, ontology is undermined; everything is relativized - meaning, for example, becomes tied and taut to the attribute, and nouns are referenced by upgrades. This is not only a phenomenon of electronic communication and high-speed technology; it has become a characteristic subtext (also subject to revision) of our time (always already lost prior to enumeration). No longer crying for our lost language, after the hiatus between two world wars. Thinking slides among symbols, harbors none; surfaces slide as well. What passes for thought is afterthought, a salvage- operation. Every instantiation leads to every other; information occludes itself. Tracks are traces of the infinite, just as the aphorism opens itself to depths of interconnected and rhizomatic tunnelings. Nothing emerges, nothing is brought up, nothing is capable of existing after unmoorings. Among the ghosts, ghosts. Among languagings, memories of languages, the "just" as I was "about" to say ... Such is the only conceivable critical thought of our time- revised, such is the problem, to the extent it is a memory. -- copy of original -- Genji The declarative sentence, the statement, the clear interrogative, have run their course. What can be meant by this? Only that gaps open among words, that speaces lead to other spaces, that galanguage itself is wounded, that every word links elsewhere, pulls hard at the skiein, harder at the skin. This is the criticawl l problem of contemporary thought: the unmooring of language, untethering of thought, which wiancders blindly among surfaces. There is no return; language is unpunctuated, phrases slide obscenely (perhaps) upon each other, every word is skewed with every other. No longer is the difference a function of two variables; instead, it is an accumulation of a varying number of fuzzy partial and occluded signs whose deferrals themselvesslide into non-existence. Languaging slides from an accumulation of words, proprietary signifiers, protocols; the sentence has already disappeared. One letter shutdders, stutters, against another; pronouns lose reference, antedecedents, precedents; nouns lose referents. Descending into chaotic phenomena, ontology is undermined; everything is relativitzed - meaning, for example, becomes tied and auttaut to the atrtribute, and nouns are gradgraded (as long as grading lasts)referenced by upgrades. This is not only a phnenomenon phenomenon of electronic communication and hisgh- speed technology; it is has become a characteristic subtext (also subject to revision) of our time (always already lost before prior to enumeration). No longer crying for our lasost language, after the haiatus between two world wars. Thinking slides among symbols, harbors none of them. ; surfaces slide as well. What passes for thought is afterthought, a salvage-operation. Every instantiation leads to every other; information occluedes itself. trTracks are traces of the infinite, jutst as the aphorism opens itself to deptshhs of interconnected and rhizomatic tunnelings. But nothing Nothing emerges, nothing is brought up, nothing is capable of existing after unmoorings. Among the ghosts, ghosts. Among languagings, memories of languages, the "just" as I was "about" to say ... __Such is the only conceivable critical thought of our time- revised, such is the probelem, to the extent it is remema memory. # distributed via : no commercial use without permission # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net ________________________________________________________________________________ no copyright 2000 rolux.org - no commercial use without permission. is a moderated mailing list for the advancement of minor criticism. post to the list: mailto:inbox@rolux.org. more information: mailto:minordomo@rolux.org, no subject line, message body: info rolux. further questions: mailto:rolux-owner@rolux.org. home: http://rolux.org/lists - archive: http://rolux.org/archive