Hey devoted readers,
Once more I'm here to entertain, enthrall, and enlighten you all.
Today I am presenting you with some videos that may or may not portray the role of technology on society, and may or may not examine the effect it has on human behavior. They try to do this, but it's really up to you to decide!
To watch the videos, just click HERE!
The first video I have for you today is just called "Ice Cream." This video is just sort of meant to show the ways in which people might sometimes try to just get more done at one time than is necessary or convenient. The emphasis that we (myself included) on 'getting stuff done,' while it can be helpful so that we don't all just sit on our asses, does not always provide an individual with a satisfying, peaceful life. There is a lot more to be found in just 'being' as opposed to 'doing' than many people realize. Also, on a personal level, this video is a challenge to see what I myself was capable of when it came to...well...eating really fast.
The second video, called "Let's Get It Done!" sort of goes along the same lines as the first, but in a different way. In it, I tried to juxtapose myself going on a leisurely, aimless bike ride with the progression of human technology and civilization. I am not trying to downplay the benefits or advantages of human advancement, but I am trying to challenge the idea that we are really getting anywhere concrete. We're all just sort of going along, but we're not going somewhere better, and we're not going somewhere worse...it's all sort of just happening. That's not necessarily a bad thing; my aimless bike ride was, after all, quite enjoyable.
The third video, "The Computer Transistor Brainwave Internet Robot" is what you might consider an advertisement for the future of technology. When iPhones, computers, TVs, video games, and even interpersonal relationships and the use of your own mind, have all merged into one thing, this is maybe what you'll be seeing during a commercial break....projected directly into your MIND! It's sort of just a commentary on how absurd some technology pieces of today seem to me. Do we really need all of the ridiculous and inane gadgets that are thrown at us, or does throwing them at us generate the need?
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the videos! Until next time, I'm out!
So after this project, what would you say is most valuable about iphones and our gadgety world. Is it wrong of a company to place so many functions on a phone or product if it will not be used as much as others? Are their pointless gadgets ?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your Ice Cream video, as it reminds me so much of life at Lawrence. Additionally, this idea that we as people are what we do instead of who we are, is a conception that can lead to people being so concerned with what they have and do such as material possessions and activities, that they do not focus and work upon themselves, or as you refer to it, as simply "being". Aren't we always bombarded with statistics telling us that the happiest people on earth always tend to lead relatively simple lives? I felt as though your videos led to an overall conclusion that technology can be more negative than positive, and I thought you brought up interesting points addressing the reasoning behind this in each video.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Marvanna, the most valuable thing about new technology, I think, is that it allows people to connect with each other and to overcome physical barriers that used to have so much power over what we could do. For example, people who live across the ocean from each other are able to talk "face to face" which would have been an absurd notion 100 years ago. I do not think it is wrong for people to put lots of gadgets on new phones/smartphones/ipads/whatever. I have no problem with that inherently, but what I dislike is the mentality that it often (not always) cultivates. The mentality I am referring to is the whole quest for 'more.' More stimulation, more gadgets, more apps, more functions, more going on all at once. Is the goal really to be as 'efficient' as possible in all areas of life? What is the use of streamlining some of the things that are streamlined? I am not necessarily saying there is not point to any of it, but it is food for thought. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. The whole thing makes the theme of "am I getting 'enough' at this very moment?" more dominant than is healthy (in my opinion).
ReplyDeleteIs just about everybody agreeing that there is no such thing as progress?
ReplyDelete