Jonathan Simons > Quotes

“We find ourselves in a historical moment of pervasive mediocrity. Fuelled by basic human drives - flights from death and boredom - the new technologies, bright and all consuming, increasingly blur the lines between direct experience and representation. A photograph of an apple is not food and the Internet has neither scent nor texture.”
― Jonathan Simons, The Analog Sea Review: Number One

“If we want to compare a computer algorithm with nature, we must consider that a lot of the algorithms that are dictating international issues, politics, capitalism, culture and ultimately the content of human attention, were basically programmed by young men fresh out of Stanford, Harvard and MIT. So the experience behind these algorithms is basically puberty and then some, whereas the experience behind nature goes all the way back to the big bang.”
― Jonathan Simons, The Analog Sea Review: Number Two

“If you look at human thinking in terms of determinism, then you could say that the human mind is an algorithm, no different than a computer. But in my personal thinking, there are two profound differences: a computer algorithm is not curious, and a computer algorithm doesn't feel.”
― Jonathan Simons, The Analog Sea Review: Number Two

“We're seeing the world through a prism now; digital capitalism has refined the algorithm to monetize out attention. Peace, contentment, nuance, subtlety, cooperation - all of these things are list as algorithms filter our online communications for maximum engagement. What holds away, of course, is hyperbole, shock, outrage, sensationalism.”
― Jonathan Simons, The Analog Sea Review: Number Four

“I carry my body
in and around
many rooms,
most of them
much quieter
than this nervous
chatter within.

- A Thousand Empty Rooms”
― Jonathan Simons, Songs of Waking: Poems