Inputs, outputs e feedbacks: a centralidade da memória cibernética em Vilém Flusser

Abstract

Not with standing the vast collection of diverse topics and problems in Vilém Flusser’s work, the issue of memory functions as a central gateway by means of which one can access all these different problems. The goal of this article is to examine the centrality of the cybernetic notion of memory in Flusser, with a particular emphasis on its implications in art and communication. By understanding culture as a mechanism for the production, processing and consumption of information, the Prague philosopher structures his thinking from the confrontation between repetition and innovation. If art is, for instance, the ongoing production of novelty, it also works as a support for the inscription and transmission of information to future generations. Thereby, the core process of every culture (and of life itself) is fending off entropy. Consequently, memory represents not only a cybernetic requirement, but also a spiritual task, rooted in the Jewish worldview and expressed in the Hebrew word zakhor (“remember”) – the importance of not forgetting the past in order to convey it to future humankind. In Flusser, this commandment becomes a fundamental principle of dialogue and intersubjectivity: “we shall survive in the memory of others”.