From: Steve Davies (Steve365@btinternet.com)
Date: Fri Aug 08 2003 - 07:34:16 MDT
Anders reports
>
>Just a quick note about my recent absence. I spent a lovely week in Novi
>Sad, Serbia at a summer university lecturing in their new technologies
>course about the big picture, radical technologies, scenario planning
>and of course some transhumanism. A very stimulating experience, since
>the students (mainly from the Balkans and Denmark) and I had
>useful and broad discussions about everything from transhumanist welfare
>states to how the image of nature is changed by ubiquitious computing. I
>also learned interesting things about cyborg theory and film
>interpretation from Gert Balling and had a wonderful brainstorm session
>with Milan Cirkovic.
>
>I think the most important experience was seeing the huge potential in
>the Balkans. It is a splintered, poor corner of Europe. But cellphones
>are widespread, there are intellectuals in the governments and a great
>deal of dynamics in the culture - one should not count out isolationist
>nationalism, but it is not an unopposed force. We often overlook that it
>is places like this truly new projects can be started.
I can enthusiastically confirm this. I've just got back from a seminar in
Bulgaria, which showed distinct signs of change from just a year ago. It is
noticeable how the Balkans and East/Central Europe more generally is more
dynamic and with more possibilites in many ways than Western Europe and
Scandanavia. There's a real feeling of tiredness to a lot of the politics
and thinking here, but I think this may well change with EU enlargement,
which I increasingly think is one of those events that's going to have far
reaching unforseen consequences for the rest of Europe. SD
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