Fantasy Palace, Iqaluit, Nunavut June 27, 2002

Fantasy Palace, Iqaluit, Nunavut June 27, 2002

Originally uploaded by ocean.flynn

This is a partial truth, more like a flicktion, or a dream, or the virtual than the real. It’s not science or art, more like an invention or innovation. Pieces of this a flicktion are scattered throughout my semi-nomadic cybercamps like tiny inukshuk on a global [...]

Luhmann: Complexity can be Handled only by Complexity

Luhmann argued that the role of sociology was to develop a theory that would provide a better and more complex understanding of the world. This could be done by developing a description and analysis of modern society through observation of society in its minute details. However, in its role as a science, sociology should not try to provide recipes to improve the world. The functional differentiation between sociology and politics should be respected. In this way ethics should not determine sociological theory rather ethics depends on sociological theory.

CITP Students Meeting Charlie Gordon in his LOEB office

CITP Students Meeting Charlie Gordon in his LOEB office

Originally uploaded by ocean.flynn

Remembering Charlie Gordon

Concentric Circles of Compassionate Support

Adrienne Carter works on a contract basis for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) along with her full-time job in British Columbia. In a recent email to her I described the model of the work she does in some of the most horrendous war torn areas, as “concentric circles of compassionate support.” Her response was, “What a [...]

Mariano Aupilardjuk, Pond Inlet Drum Dancers at Larga

Mariano Aupilardjuk, Pond Inlet Drum Dancers at Larga

Originally uploaded by ocean.flynn

Mariano Aupiliardjuk (1923-) was honoured with an Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2001 for his contributions as a bridge between generations, Inuit governance, local residents, on how to use IQ in modern society. In local Rankin [...]

Massumi’s desperate strategic retreat from hopelessness of global cognitive mapping

“From my own point of view, the way that a concept like hope can be made useful is when it is not connected to an expected success — when it starts to be something different from optimism — because when you start trying to think ahead into the future from the present point, rationally there [...]

Social inequalities and social institutions

Social inequalities and social institutions
… my language was inadequate to describe what I was feeling intuitively. I could explain it using academic jargon. But when I tried to explain my intuitive feelings about Iqaluit social inequality and social institutions, the nonacademic terms resonated as narrow mindedness, over simplification of the social dynamics at work here. [...]