EXISTENTIAL THOUGHTS: Databse Logic as Cultural Logic

“Indeed, if after the death of God (Nietzsche), the end of Grand Narratives of Enlightenment (Lyotard), and the arrival of the Web (Tim Berners-Lee), the world appears to us as an endless and unstructured collection of images, texts, and other data records, it is only appropriate that we will be moved to model it as a database” (219).

Manovich really puts the database mentality in context with suggesting it as a model of current world thought. Another blog remarked on his perhaps unnecessary use of so many names, but I think it is significant because it shows just how many facets of culture he is considering in making his assertion. He is defining cultural logic, the underlying principles of society. Cultural logic intrigues me, because it is the key to understanding so much more: technology, industry, literature and fashion styles, etc. I really appreciated Manovich’s comprehensive thoughts, even if the quoting was sort of intensive.