Dialogic

The term 'dialogic', does not just apply to literature. For Bakhtin, all language - indeed, all thought - appeared dialogic. This means that everything anybody ever says always exists in response to things that have been said before and in anticipation of things that will be said in response. We never, in other words, speak in a vacuum. As a result, all language (and the ideas which language contains and communicates) is dynamic, relational and engaged in a process of endless redescriptions of the world.

I liked the essay about the guy who lost his hearing - especially how the process of going through that altered his fundamental notion of self - and forced him to accept himself as a cyborg of sorts because his fundamental perception depended on software upgrades and improvements to his augmentation. He goes on to say how having a more complex view on representation can be rooted in seeing yourself as subjective, dependent, interconnected, dialogical.

Dumit talks about the distribution of fact on the projection of the self - using PET and Prozac as case studies to illustrate that there is an ongoing discussion that forms around notions of the self in relation to technology.