« Four Unstuck Torsos | Main | And it tastes good too… »
March 24, 2008
The nature of the future
We laugh at the way the future is often depicted in films and books. Digital breakdowns, electronic misconnections, mish-mash steam-punk technology being thumped into action, shash and static abounding. But we aren’t far from future, I feel.
Since Day One communication has been tricky, shouting across a fast flowing stream, waving arms about from mountain top to mountain top, smoke, flags, pigeons, the list is endless. Then along came Mr Bell and, albeit with a crackly start, the telephone grew to be a precise, clear, communication tool.
Mr Bell's invention
I’d say it reached its peak in the eighties. I could talk to my brother in South Africa, clearly, instantly, with no delay or echo. Then we got mobile phones.
Suddenly we’re back in the Dark Ages. “Pardon?” “The signal's breaking up” “I’m losing you” “I’m just about to go under a –“ “I CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING”
Computers are wonderful things, that can do amazing feats of cleverness, in an instant. But they fuck around. Time was, you wrote something on a bit of paper, went for a coffee and good money could be placed on the fact that it would still be there when you got back, just as you had left it. Maybe the cleaner moved it a bit to the left, but you could still see it.
Now-a-days you’re working in some mind-boggling complex programme, like Final Cut, and all of a sudden, for no reason that is apparent, one window doesn’t work like it did a few moments ago. There’s no way of finding out why it isn’t responding as it always has done. Somewhere in the depths of it’s intricate code, down amongst the numbers and figures, where screens are black and type is an eerie, blurred, grey, a virtual box has become momentarily un-ticked.
The solution, as with so much of today’s technology, is to turn it off and turn it on again. Is the right way to behave? What message is that giving to the younger generation? When Spotty Johnny’s girlfriend finds herself up-the-duff, they’re going to struggle to find the off button, is all I’m saying.
Posted by john at March 24, 2008 09:10 PM