Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Human or Machine?
Today, I headed out to scenic Metarie to fix my computer and my ipod. Shawn at the genius bar was a huge help. His tech expertise fixed my computer and ipod with not a sweat of the brow. When I thanked him and said goodbye, he told me I was "a whole new machine." A whole new machine? No, Shawn, I'm a human. Or AM I?! Ghasp. Let's think about it. My education is largely based through technology, via blackboard, movies, articles, news, e-mail, etc. My social life is dictated by my cell phone and my internet. My sustenance is stored in a big white refrigerator. My memories are stored in digital photo files. The temperature of my body is controlled by central air conditioning. Most of the art I experience on a daily basis comes from iTunes. The switch of a light makes me sleep, until my alarm clock tells me it's morning. For all intensive purposes, machines run my life. What part of me is free to interact directly with the world? I would argue that these things construct my world. It's like Janis Joplin said, "freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose." Will I only be free when I have no more machines to lose? Would I even know how to function? That is one ominous and frightening realization. Thanks, Shawn. I want some feedback here.... how can we find freedom in the technological age?
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Whoa, you're blowing my mind here. Perhaps we are already fighting for our freedom in subconscious ways. For example: I have a friend who constantly sleeps through her alarm or sets it for the wrong time, is she really being irresponsible or is she rebeling against a digital device mandating her movements? If you think about it, clocks may be the first of the manipulative machines, our society has formed around them and we are constantly struggling with whose is right and who is late. We even have divided the world by time to further standardize our global society. Ok my head is starting to hurt, I'm gonna go be late for something, take that father time!
ReplyDeleteThis weekend I too was faced with the issue of machines. I spent the weekend at my family's lake house in Slidell, which is a nice escape from the hectic "city life". Once I arrived late Friday evening, I collapsed in a hammock on the dock. Immediatly my mind went to whether or not the wifi was working so I could download power points from Blackboard. I had to remind myself to stop with all of the technology. Even something as simple as reading in my hammock involved a machine...........my kindle. It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that I had a good chuck of time completely devoid of machines. I got my pirogue out and went into the marsh. I contemplated bringing my speakers but decided not to. The hour & a half I spent out in the marsh (with my dog in the pirogue too) was magnificent. Rather than listenning to music, I had the sounds of crickets, frogs, fish breaking water, and my nervous dog haha. Paddling the pirogue in and out of the nooks and crannies of the marsh was probably the best part of my weekend. Even though the marsh's natural environment is altered by old tires, an old Mercedes thrown there from Katrina, and old mangled crab traps, it was a great feeling to be surrounded by the tall reeds and muddy water.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with technology constructing your environment? Really?
ReplyDeleteI can relate to the alarm clock thing. There are mornings I'll wait up way after I set my alarm for, and I clearly remember setting it the night before. I think I turn my alarm clock off in my sleep, which is quite a phenomenon considering my alarm clock is at the foot of my bed. I put it there so that I have to get up to turn it off.
ReplyDeleteI think "constructing" and environment and "controlling" one are two very different things. I have no problem with technology constructing our environment. And here I'm speaking specifically about technology stemming out of the mid-90s and the growth of the internet. Smart phones, social networks, online databases, all these are great educational and social tools.
But I do think there are problems (unhealthy eyes, social gracelessness) when people are so consumed by these technologies that they hardly interact with the physical world. It's a very similar situation to Chris McCandless's obsessive rejection of civilization, I find. Imaginary person X who has an extreme case of consumption by digital technology reads Facebook statuses and Tweets (McCandless's books) but is ultimately very alone.
Subservience to technology seems to be just as outside of the ecological thought as domination over other species. We're all strange strangers here, and we should treat all objects as EQUAL to ourselves. Not above ourselves. Allowing technology to control us demotes us to the status of beasts that need taming.