Richard Powers' Reading from Plowing the Dark|
Richard Powers' Reading from Plowing the Dark |
“We have this sense that structure is inimical to emotion or that
systems are inimical to individuals, you know, that a book can either be
a heart book or a head book. And my desire, of course, is to write
something that’s like us, namely an all-in-one.”
~Richard Powers
I love to get lost in books, to let my surroundings
melt away, and to let every word I read produce a vivid image in my mind.
I love being able to immerse myself in passages, only returning to the
surface for air when reality demands it. Because of this, I relish
the promise of each new book I read. They all seem to teach me something
new about myself. I am often emotionally and philosophically captivated
by each new work I read, causing me to deem it my “favorite” (at the time).
I don’t mean to sound too sappy about my love of reading; I'm just trying
to describe its powerful effects.
As usual, I found myself caught up in Galatea
2.2 and the excerpts Powers read from Plowing the Dark. The texts
are full of philosophical and narrative passages that are captivating,
because they are not only intellectually thought-provoking, but also aesthetically
pleasing and emotional. I thought it was a privilege to be able to listen
to Powers read his own work and put his own feelings into the novel.
It was almost as if he was giving additional insight into the lives of
his characters. Though many found Powers’ reading a glorified “story-time,”
I found myself caught up in the passages.
As I was immersing myself in his words, I was
also pondering his question: If we can create a different world that
is a virtual, but very lifelike one, what does it do to our sense of surroundings?
I thought about it and decided that it would have to make us question everything
around us, as well as our perception of the things we encounter everyday.
From taking an Introduction to Neuroscience course, I’ve learned many surprising
things about the way we perceive the world versus its actuality.
As strange as it may seem, the way we see many things is not a very accurate
depiction of the way they really are. I find this somewhat disturbing,
and it raises many more questions, most of which, are unanswerable.
If our own minds can “play tricks” on us, then think of the added confusion
a virtual lifelike world, taken to extremes, could cause.
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