the ubiquitous screen...it's coming
my friend matt informed me that the next phase of mobile technology is wifi access everywhere and color screens for everyone. since he works in corporate advertising, and has that on good word from motorola, and it seems perfectly logical, i believe it.
actually, on second thought, it seems perfectly crazy and scary as hell. you know those wall-sized screens in fahrenheit 451 where people constantly interact with and watch TV -- essentially live there? this is ray bradbury's vision, slightly modified, come true. him, aldous huxley, george orwell, the visionaries of apocalyptic mind control futures...all of their shit has come true in one way or another. mankind wooing itself into sublimated destruction through technology, rather than exploding in violent armageddon (though that may be happening, too).
on a practical level, this means the disappearance of any kind of media that does not use moving images, which we may be seeing the first phase of in the "multimedia expansions" of print publications. and the trendy desire to do podcasts and sound production? nothing but a passing fad, my friends, nothing but a passing fad. video is gonna be where it's at, and there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it, except, of course, learn Flash and Avid and Final Cut Pro. the one place where radio will survive is in the place where we can't use screens -- the car. i never thought i'd say this, but please god, don't let a subway be built in L.A.
why this pathetic, sappy, luddite attachment to the past? why not suck it up and look to the future with excitement and readiness? because the future is inferior to the past. it is a future where the world's double -- the images of the world -- is about to eclipse reality, where imagination is stifled because the deluge of pictures leaves room for nothing else, and where patience and the value of savoring words are distant memories. maybe they already are.
am i just being overly dramatic here? i don't know. but i don't see myself allowing the ubiquitous screen to take over my life quietly. i don't know what shape the fight will take, but i shan't go peacefully. death first!
actually, on second thought, it seems perfectly crazy and scary as hell. you know those wall-sized screens in fahrenheit 451 where people constantly interact with and watch TV -- essentially live there? this is ray bradbury's vision, slightly modified, come true. him, aldous huxley, george orwell, the visionaries of apocalyptic mind control futures...all of their shit has come true in one way or another. mankind wooing itself into sublimated destruction through technology, rather than exploding in violent armageddon (though that may be happening, too).
on a practical level, this means the disappearance of any kind of media that does not use moving images, which we may be seeing the first phase of in the "multimedia expansions" of print publications. and the trendy desire to do podcasts and sound production? nothing but a passing fad, my friends, nothing but a passing fad. video is gonna be where it's at, and there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it, except, of course, learn Flash and Avid and Final Cut Pro. the one place where radio will survive is in the place where we can't use screens -- the car. i never thought i'd say this, but please god, don't let a subway be built in L.A.
why this pathetic, sappy, luddite attachment to the past? why not suck it up and look to the future with excitement and readiness? because the future is inferior to the past. it is a future where the world's double -- the images of the world -- is about to eclipse reality, where imagination is stifled because the deluge of pictures leaves room for nothing else, and where patience and the value of savoring words are distant memories. maybe they already are.
am i just being overly dramatic here? i don't know. but i don't see myself allowing the ubiquitous screen to take over my life quietly. i don't know what shape the fight will take, but i shan't go peacefully. death first!
posted by alex at 6:04 AM
1 Comments:
yes yes, i'm being dramatic. but would you deny that technology has changed human consciousness, human behavior over time? no one technological innovation is ever seen as THE innovation that effects such change, yet somehow it does happen. internet everywhere all the time seems like a particularly big one to me. i don't think that people will stop reading, but i do think the internet has had an adverse effect on reading. i feel that things like YouTube and "internet multimedia" have changed the way i absorb information, and if i can feel that in the short span of my life, maybe on a mass scale it means that a big change is coming.
some people want to limit intrusion of information into their bodies, but i have some friends who can't wait to get a chip implanted, and you might be surprised by how many are excited by the idea. i have no idea how the new technology will unfold or how it will be used, and there may be some positives that i can't envision. but on a personal level, i don't want to be googling and checking my e-mail more than i already do, and i don't want to be forced to do so by an overwhelming wave of technology that takes me there (in the same way that i couldn't resist getting a cell phone, or an e-mail address).
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