Claude Shannon’s “Mathematical Theory of Communication” made me uncomfortable, to say the least. To claim that information is dislocated from meaning is an incredibly distorting claim to make because everything that we take in as information is converted into meaning and how it applies to us or how it relates to something we’ve known before. Shannon argued that everything is just signal and the relation to one thing to another has nothing to do with the meaning of either thing. As an English major pursuing a concentration in Cultural Studies, this was especially troubling because I spend all my time finding meaning in things. I think if everyone viewed the world as Shannon did, we would all be quite cynical and cold to others.

Similar to the Garageband example Professor O’Malley displayed in class, peoples’ identities and culture have such significance and meaning, but in the way that Garageband’s stolen that from the individuals and converted it into drag-and-drop, Shannon suggests the same theory. It’s an interesting approach, but I do think that meaning, and feelings, and emotions are crucial when understanding and interacting with the world and the people in it.

I’m pursuing a minor in Sociology, so when we discussed Max Weber’s influence on rationalization of modern-life, I was able to relate a lot of his other sociological theories to this lesson. He argued that the key invention of the modern-age is information management, or record-keeping. That sounds mundane to us today, however, the lack of rationalization of records and uniformity didn’t exist during/right after the Cold War. I drew similarities to Weber’s three-component theory of stratification, including class, status, and power. His theory was a way to form rationalization within society, so similar to Montgomery Meigs made sure there was a standard uniform, Weber used his theory to create rationalization in society.

I’m currently also taking an Introduction to Film course, and in that class, we had to watch a film from 1920, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Similarly to the short film we watched in our class, Caligari was filmed from one perspective, not many like in films today. It is unnatural that in modern-day films, we as the audience are so many different people in a scene. Other elements from Caligari like the sets being distorted and the overly expressive facial expressions to help convey feelings in a silent film, were odd and “old-school” for me to see. The way Carr speaks about the “self” being multiple people in today’s technologically advancing world is interesting. It’s strange to read about how everything I’ve known about my “self” is altered reality according to Carr, and changing the “self” of discipline.

Between 1880 and 1920, the United States experienced the most technological change in history. With the invention of the railroad and telegraph, people were able to communicate instantly and transit was rapid. This was the beginning of the concept of time and space being shattered. Additionally, photographs grabbed a moment of time and space – something that people hadn’t ever considered a possibility before. Since then, we’ve had the clock, refrigerated railcar, electric light, telephone, and other technological advances that shifted our concept of time and space.

Before this lesson in class, I hadn’t thought about the clock and the affect time has on our lives. Our entire lives surround time. Regardless of if it’s a cloudy, rainy, sunny, or stormy day, once it hits 7 am on our clock, I’m up and ready to get on with the day. Having time zones and standard time dislocated time because of easier access and ability to function at our jobs without needing sunlight or the natural world to agree with us.