Propast liberalizma: Mogući svjetovi u romanu Rabbit, Run Johna Updikea

John Updike’s Rabbit, Run addresses the human condition under the reign of capital in the context of a society in transition toward a neoliberal state. By depicting a protagonist preoccupied with desire and consciousness through recounting his immediate experiences, the narrative delineates the confusion inherent in the capitalistic state for the protagonist in search of a way out toward self-actualization. Through the application of possible world theory, it is argued that the imbalance between Rabbit’s counterfactual possible worlds and his actual world accounts for the failure he experiences in his quest. As such, the possible worlds’ disequilibrium, we argue, ultimately leads to Rabbit’s bitter failure in his search; too many possible worlds in their counterfactual state produce a kind of counter-reality where there are too many fantasy/wish worlds, but few obligation worlds, a situation that leads to all the inevitable consequences we witness at the end of Book One of the Rabbit tetralogy.Roman Rabbit, Run / Bježi, Zeče, bježi Johna Updikea, govori o ljudskom postojanju ili „ljudskom stanju“ u društvu kojim vlada kapital i zahvaćeno je tranzicijom prema neoliberalnoj državi. Pripovijedanjem o neposrednim iskustvima glavnog lika i prikazujući ga zaokupljenog željom i svjesnošću, narativ ocrtava konfuziju u koju zapada u potrazi za samoaktualizacijom kao nešto inherentno kapitalističkom sustavu. Primjenom teorije mogućih svjetova, dolazi se do zaključka da neravnoteža između protučinjeničnih „mogućih svjetova“ Rabbita i njegova stvarnog svijeta dovodi do neuspjeha njegove potrage. Previše mogućih svjetova u svom protučinjeničnom stanju proizvodi neku vrstu kontrastvarnosti u kojoj ima previše svjetova mašte/želja, a malo vjetova obveza, što vodi neizbježnim posljedicama kojima svjedočimo na kraju prve knjige Rabbit tetralogije

Ecologies of the Imagination: Italo Calvino’s Six ‘Memes’ for the Digital World

In 1984 Italo Calvino was officially invited by the Harvard University to deliver the celebrated Charles Eliot Norton Poetry Lectures. That invitation gave Calvino an opportunity to define six proposals, or six memos, as indicated in the original manuscript's subtitle, illustrated as six qualities, or specificities, six values to be passed on to the new millennium that was about to start. He only managed to write five out of the six lectures before death surprised him prematurely.The spirit of the Six Memos, their rich interweaving of references, speculations and quotations, the fascinating rhetorical insights they offer, are nothing but the evocation of characters and assonances that clearly express, with a clear-headed and mature awareness, the sense of the challenge declared by Postmodernism, which is clearly recognizable in the features of the so-called digital world.Indeed, these six 'memes', and the brilliant insights they offer, are surprising as they seem to anticipate the current scene of the media ecology, precisely defined by the characters of Lightness, Exactitude, Quickness, Visibility, Multiplicity, and Consistency.Nel 1984 Italo Calvino fu invitato dalla Harvard University a tenere le famose Charles Eliot Norton Poetry Lectures. Questo invito diede a Calvino l'ooportunità per definire sei proposte, o six memos come nel sottotitolo del manoscritto originale, esposte come sei qualità, o caratteristiche, sei valori da trasmettere al nuovo millennio in arrivo. Egli riuscì a scrivere solo cinque delle sei lezioni prima che la morte lo cogliesse prematuramente.Lo spirito delle Six Memos, il loro modo di intrecciare proficuamente riferimenti, riflessioni e citazioni, l'affascinante prospettiva retorica che offrono, non è altro che l'evocazione di personaggi e assonanze che esprimono chiaramente, con una consapevolezza lucida e matura, il senso della sfida dichiarata dal postmodernismo, che è ben riconoscibile nelle caratteristiche di quello che chiamiamo mondo digitale. Infatti, queste sei proposte e le brillanti intuizioni da loro offerte anticipano in modo sorprendente l'attuale scenario dell'ecologia dei media, definita in modo preciso da Leggerezza, Esattezza, Rapidità, Visibilità, Molteplicità e Coerenza

Decision Making as a Window on Cognition

A decision is a commitment to a proposition or plan of action based on information and values associated with the possible outcomes. The process operates in a flexible timeframe that is free from the immediacy of evidence acquisition and the real time demands of action itself. Thus, it involves deliberation, planning, and strategizing. This Perspective focuses on perceptual decision making in nonhuman primates and the discovery of neural mechanisms that support accuracy, speed, and confidence in a decision. We suggest that these mechanisms expose principles of cognitive function in general, and we speculate about the challenges and directions before the field

What is the Avatar? Fiction and Embodiment in Avatar-Based Singleplayer Computer Games: Revised and Commented Edition

What are the characteristic features of avatar-based singleplayer videogames, from Super Mario Bros. to Grand Theft Auto? The author examines this question with a particular focus on issues of fictionality and realism, and their relation to cinema and Virtual Reality. Through close-up analysis and philosophical discussion, the author argues that avatar-based gaming is a distinctive and dominant form of virtual self-embodiment in digital culture. This book is a revised edition of Rune Klevjer's pioneering work from 2007, featuring a new introduction by the author and afterword by Stephan Günzel, Jörg Sternagel, and Dieter Mersch

What is the Avatar?

What are the characteristic features of avatar-based singleplayer videogames, from Super Mario Bros. to Grand Theft Auto? Rune Klevjer examines this question with a particular focus on issues of fictionality and realism, and their relation to cinema and Virtual Reality. Through close-up analysis and philosophical discussion, Klevjer argues that avatar-based gaming is a distinctive and dominant form of virtual self-embodiment in digital culture. This book is a revised edition of Rune Klevjer's pioneering work from 2007, featuring a new introduction by the author and afterword by Stephan Günzel, Jörg Sternagel, and Dieter Mersch

Enabling Audiovisual User Interfaces

“Enabling Audiovisual User Interfaces” was a 2-year project, supported by a Marie Curie EU fellowship, conducted at EAVI, Goldsmiths. During the project, I investigated how human-computer interactions can be audiovisualized in order to improve user experience and usability. To address this issue, a new UI paradigm was proposed – AVUI (AudioVisual User Interface). AVUI links interaction, sound and image, building upon the concept of Graphical User Interface (GUI) by adding interconnected sound and image. The research hypothesis was: the introduction of AVUI, integrating interrelated sonic and visual feedback, reacting to user interactions, would lead to more usable, accessible, playful and engaging UIs, as compared to a traditional GUI – particularly in use cases where accessibility and/or engagement were determinant. I applied AVUIs to case studies, which was the object of user testing. After reaching conclusions from these, I proposed an AVUI framework, including software modules and a set of best practices. Dissemination activities were also implemented