The Mausoleum

[Mole]

All great civlizations are based on a mausoleum.

The mausoleum of the Ancient Egyptians was the pyramid. And the mausoleum for the Babylonians was a huge monumental structure. And the mausoleum for the Mayans was also a large pyramidal structure.

And for us our mausoleum is the church, at least ever since God died in the 19th Century. And filling our mausoleum for God are old people. I think it is interesting they are attracted to mausoleums. Perhaps they would like to be in a mausoleum themselves.

And since then deaths have been coming thick and fast. The book died in the last half of the 20th Century, and we buried it in a mausoleum called a library. A library is where books go to die.

And about the same time art died as well, and we bury art in the mausoleum called the art gallery.

In fact I am sitting in our national mausoleum for books called the Australian National Library. It's a perfect mausoleum in marble in the style of an Ancient Greek temple. And very popular with old people.

And just across the way is the National Art Gallery - our mausoleum for art - it's where art goes to die - and it is very popular with old people.

And just across the lake is our palliative care unit for the dying, facing both the National Library and the National Gallery.

The monks of the Middle Ages kept a skull on their desk to remind them of where they were going, but today we have our public mausoleums.

 

[Ginkgo]

Don't die Victor. We need you here.

To be you.

 

[Thalassa]

You'd be happy to know that I saw a bunch of young people at the Clay Center in Los Angeles the three times I've been there. I think young people still like art.

And they still have to go to libraries in college.

However, I wonder if there's truth to what you say about books, I certainly would hope not.

Also, like Gingko said, stay with us Victor. I mean that.



You iz basically good people.

 

[Mole]

Central and the Mausoleum

Just as the television is the mausoleum for theatre, the book is the mausoleum for the manuscript, and the manuscript is the mausoleum for the spoken word.

In other words, each medium is the mausoleum for the previous medium.

Or we could say that the content of the current medium is the previous medium.

So the interesting question arises - what is Central the mausoleum for?

 

[Mole]

Etext and Text

So we sit at the screen and look deep into the mausoleum called Central. And we wonder, what does this mausoleum contain? What is this mausoleum for?

But alas the hardest thing to see is something right under our noses. And at this very moment the answer is right in front of you, just under your nose.

So relax, open your eyes. look down your very own nose to the screen, and what do you see?

We find we are looking at etext (electronic text).

So what, you say.

But look closely at the mausoleum of etext in front of you and ask what does the etext contain?

And the answer comes back loud and clear - etext contains text.

The mausoleum of etext simply contains text.

Or more precisely, electronic text contains printed text, the content of electronic text is printed text.

So the mausoleum of etext contains print.

The mausoleum of etext is where print comes to die.

 

[EJCC]

So the interesting question arises - what is Central the mausoleum for?

I'd say TypeC is the mausoleum for actual books on the subject of personality typology.

That isn't terribly catchy or poetic, but I think it works. We go to this forum, we talk amongst ourselves, and a lot of us get too lazy to actually look up more scientific data on the subject, choosing instead to learn from other amateurs. Or at least, to learn from the forum members who have done their research.

 

[violet_crown]

All great civlizations are based on a mausoleum.

What of phallus based civilization, though? What of it?

 

[Mole]

The Electronic Tribe of Central in the Global Village

I'd say TypeC is the mausoleum for actual books on the subject of personality typology.

Yes, Central is the mausoleum for printed books. For when printed books were in the ascendancy, they were ordered by catalogue; but look, right under our very noses, Central is ordered by random access memory (RAM).

So as you see, the order has changed. We have changed the order and now the order is changing us.

Every time we log on we are changing from the priviliged eye to the democratic use of all our senses. The new order of RAM is changing our very sensorium. For instance, we keep in touch with one another on Central.

And as the balance of our senses is changing so we are changing from literate individuals to members of an electronic tribe in the global village. Rather than our individual feeling cultivated by the book, we all share the same feeling at the same time across the whole world.

So welcome to the electronic tribe of Typology Central.

 

[EJCC]

Thank you, Victor, it's good to be here!

You know, from that perspective, I'm okay with TypeC as a mausoleum. Sometimes I forget how amazing it is that people from all around the world can connect with each other so quickly and easily, with the internet, and especially with online forums. Were it not for this site, I could never find so many people to talk to about personality psychology.

 

[Mole]

Thank you, Victor, it's good to be here!

You know, from that perspective, I'm okay with TypeC as a mausoleum. Sometimes I forget how amazing it is that people from all around the world can connect with each other so quickly and easily, with the internet, and especially with online forums. Were it not for this site, I could never find so many people to talk to about personality psychology.

Yes, only a short time ago it would take three months for a letter to reach me, but now you can reach out to me at the touch of a button. And yes, personality psychology is very interesting.

And of course 'mausoleum' is a pejorative word, and I deliberately chose it in order to look from a different angle.