self-reliant slave to the seasons.
I always dreamed of being handed things, just like that. no asking. no begging. no filling out applications.
never that easy. we all must slave if we want anything to happen. that's just the way the universe is. blame it on newton or descartes or whoever. it was like that before they came along.
I just read an article by Adam Greenfield on alistapart.com. I don't know how I feel about it yet. the guy has a book called Everyware. "computing without computers." invisible and instantaneous information. what?
seriously, what?
to quote from Greenfield's introduction,
"Who wouldn't desire a technology that promised to smooth the edges of modern life, subtly intervening on our behalf to guide us when we're lost, and remind us of the things we've forgotten? Who could object to one that dispensed with the clutter of computers and other digital devices we live with, even while doing all the things they do better?"what?
I find that description slightly creepy. unreal. haunted.
and so far out on the very edges of possibility. it's not that my imagination isn't capable of imagining a world that is truly, beautifully, and seamlessly melded with technology... I have read some sciencefiction in my lifetime. but I can't help but feel skeptical.
I mean seriously, what is he talking about?
I need to read the whole book.
I have a lot of questions. how will this technologism he's trying to describe improve upon the awesome and complex natural systems we already live in? how can anything man-made ever hope to be compatible with those natural systems? do we really understand the world well enough to incorporate technology into every part of our lives? are we ready for that? what if it ruins everything? what if it doesn't...?
like I said, I don't know how I feel about the idea yet, and I'd like to read the whole book.
cross your fingers for me that the local library has a copy somewhere....
2 comments:
I just read an article in TIME yesterday about how we really are ruining the ecosytem of the planet... i mean... DUH! I could have told you THAT! But it was talking about how humans are completely destroying earth and at an alarming rate. Of course we have a big influence on nature... It obviously can't compete with our poisonous junks we dump into the air and land. I believe we've crossed the point of no return. I doubt this ecosystem could ever heal itself if we're living here. Its not a matter of cutting down on what we expel into the atmosphere, if we want our children to live here, we just need to stop completely.
And it all comes down to the fact that these are the last days.
yeah... that's kind of what i was talking about with the questions i had. technology and nature seem really incompatible. merging them seems like it might erode some of the naturalness of life. but then, what i've read about this book Everyware seems to insist that the seamlessness of it all will just feel natural.
but i don't know. it really makes me wonder.
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