Humiliating the Cartesian Ego1 (1993)
One of Tom Wilson’s 1971 cartoons shows Ziggy studying a computer printout
card. The card reads “I think; therefore, I am.” I have shown this cartoon to
school educators, administrators, nursing educators, and others. On each
occasion, almost inevitably, in that textured space between the viewers and the
text of the cartoon, there erupt muffled chuckles, an enigmatic laughter of sorts,
a gesture touched by ambiguity. I am both drawn into the chuckles and puzzled
by them. And I wonder: Could these chuckles be a sign of a touch of humour in
a high-tech world? High-touch? Low-touch?
