The Disconnected Life

I'm laying back on my couch, writing this post from my iPhone via the miracle we refer to as the 4g data network. In front of me sit two working MacBook Pros with 18GB of combined RAM and nearly a terabyte of total hard drive storage. Yet, earlier today, in an incident which could only have been caused by the dark lord Morgoth, these computers were instantly rendered useless. The internet...turned off.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes to hours; at the time of writing this I've been down for 5 hours. Even with a completely capable (albeit sporting a cracked screen) smartphone and a lightening-fast mobile connection, I can't help but feel isolated, unprepared for some disaster. If I might happen to need to know the highest grossing Patrick Swayze film...I'm totally fucked. I bet it's Dirty Dancing. No, wait, it could be or Red Dawn. I'll be right back. I've got to switch to my imdb app and find out...this is going to bug me

***writers note: "Ghost" is the top earning Patrick Swayze film with an international gross of $517.6 million***





But this down time has given me some time to think and even to read (on my Kindle.) I can't help but wonder what life will be like after the oil dries up, modern society collapses, and we regress to the analog world. Technology has provided us with a mask, allowing ourselves to mold our digital image or brand through editable communication and a multitude of canvases where we're encouraged to publish our support of ideas that we perceive as complementary to your brand. Social media has given us an incredible ability to connect with our peers, but it's also disconnected us from who we really are as we continue to buy more into our own digital image even if it's detrimental to the forces in our lives that shaped us pre-Facebook (or pre-MySpace for most under 30.)

The concept of proofreading all correspondence is quickly cornering the market. Phone calls seem awkward and inefficient now. I can be simultaneously writing an email on my computer and answer multiple text messages as they come in, whereas I would need to devote my entire attention to one person if I were restricted to phone conversation. Technology is fragmenting our attention and dehumanizing our concept of the other people in "meat space" (shout to duncan trussell family hour. www.duncantrussell.com)

In all likelihood, this is probably an inevitable social phenomena. "Moore's Law", the observation that the capabilities of computer chipsets double every 4 years, and the subsequent theories of technological "singularity" would suggest that this is one of many areas that will force a psychological and/or physical evolution of humans to adapt to a changing technological and biological landscape

While I would agree with much of these hypothesizes, I'm worried that this development will be interrupted by our own flaws. Our dependable on fossil fuels, our inability to resolve disagreement without violence, and our general arrogance about our place in the universe are all hindrances to our prosperity in a world where we are openly dependent on this technology (and more directly the connection provided by the tech.)

Let's just hope that the growth rate of emerging technologies outpaces the consequences of the stupidity it's up against. If not, I'm afraid you're all doomed to my hell of blinking modem lights.

My thumbs hurt, and my internet...it's still down. I wonder what the lowest grossing Patrick Swayze film was? Fuck.