Symbolic technologies in social context

A technically dull day, with a morning of struggle, followed by slightly more productive afternoon, all aimed at starting to make the drawing functions work the way Elizabeth expected them to yesterday. (It's all to do with recognising what is a new ink stroke, and what is a continuation of the previous one).

Some reflection on the purpose of all this from Helga Nowotny's comments on symbolic technologies:

To unfold curiosity's potential, the use of cognitive tools - particularly thinking, the capacity for abstraction, and the technical skills needed to produce material tools that change the environment - has to be embedded in cultural practices and anchored in a social structure (Insatiable Curiosity: Innovation in a Fragile Future p.24)

http://www.fuckpdf.com/2010/09/05/nowotny-insatiable-curiosity-pdf.html