Kenneth Goldsmith’s: If It Doesn’t Exist on the Internet, It Doesn’t Exist
Posted by Mark Allen on 27 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Random Posts
Here is a nice short piece by the preposterous Kenneth Goldsmith (author of such books as Day and Fidget) entitled “If It Doesn’t Exist on the Internet, It Doesn’t Exist,” written in 2005. I know you may hear that and think “uh, yea… and?” but don’t let the title fool you. This is a sharp essay with hidden, finer points. Noting the transformation of the army of sensitive males (of just over a decade ago) who’s brain impulses compelled them to venture out and spend too much time hunting and collecting record albums in hidden, cavernous shops – into those who irresponsibly monopolize their time doing the exact same thing, except on upload-blogs and file-sharing programs, is a graduating class I’ve been perpetually booby trapped into. I don’t agree with his prediction of the eventual slow death of the existing services of Netflix, a business model that I find rather ingenious for a lot of reasons that have to do with the way people experience film (although I will confess that my habit of repeatedly playing DVDs of films I love on the TV with the sound off next to the computer where I’m writing and working, as a kind visual accompaniment and distracting stimulation – has slowly transformed into me actually playing the DVDs on my computer, and shrinking the frame down into a little flickering window in the upper right corner of my browser screen). Embracing the kinds of potentials computers and bandwidth can deliver is all about murdering the weeping child of your past (the one that enjoyed the tactile sense of packaging, collecting things with mass, and the social interaction of flesh and blood) and throwing a “welcome home” party for you alone inside your hidden, deep, dark cave. Ah-ha! Computers really are a secret evil plot by artificial intelligence to reverse human evolution! I recommend reading Kenny’s piece. I found it on the internet, here.
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It’s not the physical gratification of buying a CD that keeps me doing it. It’s a couple of other things:
1)As shitty as CD’s sound compared to LP’s, they still sound better than MP3’s.
2)The idea that the destruction of my computer could wipe out my entire music collection still scares me. I know there are backup methods. It still seems like I’m putting all musical eggs in one very fragile basket.
Along similar lines this article is the first of a very interesting series at Wired.com about how the Internet and other infotech advances are driving changes in the music industry.
http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/beck.html
Richard Blackwell would have a field day with Kenny G.’s appearance, but I’ll refrain from taking on the job and causing Mr. Blackwell to make yet another 360 degree turn in his no-doubt exquisitely decorated grave. Is there a “Worst Dressed List” in Hell?
Sincerely,
Mr. Nose
I like his conclusion that the last remnants of an underground press will be those things printed on paper, used by anarchist, revolutionaries and terrorists. There was a prevailing understanding at the book store I worked at through the 80s and 90s that the govenment didn’t bother to censor books because they thought that nobody ever read them. In the 80s especially, any kid could walk into any bookstore and purchas some of the scariest, filthiest, sex and drug riddled writing imaginable ( a lot of it stuff written in the 50s, 60s and 70s by people like Burroughs, Bukowski, Crews, etc, although a lot of it current too) and slap his or her allowance money down on the counter and take it home where it would go straight into their brains.In the 90s, “The Anarchist Cookbook” scandal put and end to some of that, but today I think it still holds true.
hey mark, the new format kinda scared me for a second, yeah it’s been awhile since i viewed your pages… but i wanted to say, way to go & get organized and shit… wanna help me clean my apt? LOL
Mr. Nose, you are such a snob. Or should I say snot? Hmm-I cannot quite place it, is your last name a jewish name?
Oh.. racist humor does come and go, in and out of style, doesn’t it? I hear leg warmers might be coming back again too.
A fantastic site, and brilliant effort. A great piece of work. Best regards!