[NetBehaviour] naughty boy

Wed Aug 19 20:42:56 CEST 2009

And they won't be in the US - there's not a chance in hell...

Alan, hating amerikka

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009, yann le guennec wrote:

> this is a wide (and wild) problem, but there are also solutions, not
> tested yet:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
>
> may be one day....
>
>
> ++
> --y
>
>
> Simon Biggs a probablement écrit :
>>   Hi Alan
>>
>> I wasn’t trying to address that argument – just questioning whether
>> education and work ethic are enough to facilitate a meaningful life.
>> Yes, decent health care is important. A degree of financial security
>> highly deslirable.
>>
>> The US spends more of its GDP on health care (16%) than any other
>> country in the world and yet is the only OECD country not to have some
>> form of universal care. The outcome of that is that average US life
>> expectancy is lower than the OECD average (even lower than the UK’s –
>> whose NHS costs 8% of GDP and has taken such a battering in the US media
>> recently). What Obama is trying to do with US health care looks way
>> overdue and only sensible. Those arrayed against him look like selfish
>> big business protecting its bottom line at the expense of the people.
>>
>> Mind you, everyone admires American teeth ;)
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Simon
>>
>>
>> Simon Biggs
>> Research Professor
>> edinburgh college of art
>> s.biggs@ eca .ac.uk
>> www. eca .ac.uk
>> www. eca .ac.uk/circle/
>>
>> simon at littlepig.org.uk
>> www.littlepig.org.uk
>> AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
>>
>>
>> *From: *Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com>
>> *Reply-To: *NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
>> <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
>> *Date: *Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:15:26 -0400 (EDT)
>> *To: *NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
>> <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
>> *Cc: *Theory and Writing <WRYTING-L at listserv.wvu.edu>
>> *Subject: *Re: [NetBehaviour] naughty boy
>>
>>
>>
>> It's not instrumentalist; it's more fundamental. If you're crazy with
>> stress because of bad health care, little or no income, you just don't
>> function well. If you have students, I assume you're full time - my two
>> courses at SVA won't even pay the bills (adjuncts get next to nothing). I
>> have nightmares over this, migraines, etc. In other words there has to be
>> a modicum of feeling you're not going to lose your apartment or your
>> teeth, you're going to have some sort of stability somewhere. I don't have
>> that - it doesn't sound like 'naughty boy' does either.
>>
>> - Alan
>>
>> On Wed, 19 Aug 2009, Simon Biggs wrote:
>>
>>>  I always feel guilty seeking to justify to students why they should
>> persist
>>>  with completing their degrees, whether BA, MA or PhD – so I don’t. They
>>>  often say they want a degree so they can get a decent job and balance that
>>>  with their creative practice. They say they see me, with a job and an
>>>  artistic career, as a role model. I point out to them I left school at 15
>>>  with no qualifications -  to be a hippy. Other than being an artist and
>>>  coincidentally securing various positions because of my artistic
>> activities,
>>>  including my current one, I have never had what I consider a real job
>> in my
>>>  life. I’m just a good for nothing artist – at least in the eyes of the
>> taxi
>>>  driver or plumber I often encounter (people with real jobs). It seems that
>>>  being good for nothing can be more rewarding than being socially useful.
>>>
>>>  I find it a worrying that people judge themselves by whether they are
>>>  gainfully employed or not. Everyone has something to contribute. We
>> live in
>>>  societies, both poor and wealthy, that historically have tolerated
>>>  significant percentages of their populations being what, in todays
>> terms, we
>>>  would consider economically inactive. However, economic inactivity
>> does not
>>>  mean a lack of productivity. There are so many ways that people can
>>>  contribute value to themselves and those around them without getting a
>> job.
>>>  I never wanted a job anyway!
>>>
>>>  We should not allow an instrumentalist view of life to become
>> paradigmatic,
>>>  especially in creative practice. That is the death of the artist.
>>>
>>>  Best
>>>
>>>  Simon
>>>
>>>
>>>  Simon Biggs
>>>  Research Professor
>>>  edinburgh college of art
>>>  s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
>>>  www.eca.ac.uk
>>>  www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
>>>
>>>  simon at littlepig.org.uk
>>>  www.littlepig.org.uk
>>>  AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com>
>>>  Reply-To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
>>>  <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
>>>  Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:25:23 -0400 (EDT)
>>>  To: Theory and Writing <WRYTING-L at listserv.wvu.edu>
>>>  Cc: <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
>>>  Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] naughty boy
>>>
>>>  My degree's in english, which has been useless all
>>>  these years; Azure's is in environmental conservation from NYU (mine's
>>>  from Brown). She hasn't been able to get work; I teach from time to time,
>>>  part-time, and the stress is incredible; I think about suicide, running
>>>  away with Azure, etc. etc.
>>>
>>>
>>>  Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland,
>> number SC009201
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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>> Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC009201
>>
>>
>>
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