Holding on to Reality, Part 2 [edited/reposted]

Throughout part 2 of Holding on to Reality, Borgmann (1999) approaches ‘cultural’ information as a multifaceted type of information, at once defined through its difference from ‘natural’ information, (where the former is “for the shaping of reality,” unlike the latter ‘natural’ information which is “about reality”), but also in similar terms: “Cultural information, however, can be about, as well as for, reality,” (p. 57).  Borgmann (1999) goes on to tease out differences between natural and cultural information in terms of its creation; whereas “natural information emerges of itself, intimates rather than conveys its message, and disappears,” cultural information not only “is wrested and abstracted from reality, carries a definite content, and assumes an enduring shape,” it also “has to be produced by human hands,” (p. 59). He also emphasizes the importance of structure of information, as structure expresses the correlation between signs and what they signify; this focus on structure is somewhat softened by the blend of ‘natural’ and ‘contingent’ phenomenon Borgmann identifies, though, as an essentializing explanation for language is insufficient.  Despite that, there remains a need for expression through logical structure, both in terms of information itself (as composed of smaller elements), and in terms of understandable format, as in some form of coordinate system, (Borgmann, 1999, p. 80). The end to this need for structure is found in the transition from ‘producing information’ (essentially capturing information in a standard structure, according to relevant measures or coordinate systems, as in lines of text on paper), to ‘realizing information’ – or as it could be understood, using recorded information as a guide to create some form of reality.

Exploring this notion further, Borgmann gives a number of examples of ‘realizing’ information, including reading, performing and building; all of these are ways of manifesting abstract information within the world, or of ‘making real’. Perhaps reappearing will be Borgmann’s (1999) notion that reading is an activity that follows some set of instructions as supplied by the author, and more, is a conversation with (presumably some objective and essential form of) reality, (p. 92). Similarly, his review of ‘performing’ assumes an essential reality that is achieved (or accessed) through actual performance of music, (Borgmann, 1999, p. 96). The most obvious realizing practice, though, is evident in the act of ‘building’, (or constructing from architectural design), although Borgmann emphasizes the significant effect of what he calls ‘contingency’—something that may be read as situation, or happenstance, or shifting contexts—in possible equal measure to instructions as provided in architectural drawings, as the process of building is realized.

Throughout all of these explorations and tangents, though, Borgmann does a poor job of following a single linear current to properly define cultural information , and explain the relationship between cultural information and reality.  One might suggest that cultural information is expressed (“produced”) in tangible forms, by human hands – in written texts, musical scores, and architectural drawings. These expressions are made possible by structure according to basic elements combined with some manifestation of ‘contingency’.  The expressions of cultural information are then ‘realized’ (most basically, made real, though not necessarily in tangible form as evident in the process of reading) – and again, this realization is according to some shared agreement on standards and structure, but also at the whim of contingent factors.  Unfortunately, through Borgmann’s overly complex meanderings, he does little to fully explain his conception of ‘reality’ or to demonstrate its connection to certain actions taken on manifestations of cultural information (‘realizing’)– other than through the occasional reference to another source as indicating that interacting in some form is akin to making real.  Borgmann certainly has a tremendous amount of work ahead in Part 3 of his book if he is to successfully define ‘technological information,’ demonstrate its relationship to—and possible disjuncture from—either natural or cultural information, and ultimately address the titular topic of his book, the relationship to ‘reality’. And, of course, it would be immensely helpful to a reader to properly define the author’s conception of ‘real,’ ‘reality,’ and ‘realizing.’

References

Borgmann, A. (1999). Holding on to reality: The nature of information at the turn of the millennium. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.