Category Archives: technology
Generation A by Douglas Coupland
The second book for our bookgroup was Douglas Coupland’s generation A, which I chose. I have read a number of Coupland’s books, and although most of them are weird in terms of plotline, he tries to say something about society, the search to identity, the search for meaning (and God) and the state of the world. The phrase ‘Generation X’ describes the post-babyboom generation, born from the early 60s to late 70s. It was not coined by Coupland, but it was popularized by him in his 1991 novel of the same name which followed a group of people in their early 20s working unsatisfying ‘McJobs’ and trying to make sense of their lives.
Since then the term Generation Y has come along to describe those born in the 80s and 80s. There was no Generation Z. This book is called Generation A as a response to a quote in the mid-nineties in a university commencement speech at Syracuse University:
Well, the media do us all such tremendous favors when they call you Generation X, right? Two clicks from the very end of the alphabet. I hereby declare you Generation A, as much at the beginning of a series of astonishing triumphs and failures as Adam and Eve were so long ago
Generation A is set in the near future, maybe 20 years or so, in a world where bees have become extinct. That is, until five people, Zack, Samantha, Diana, Harj and Julien, all young adults, are stung in different parts of the world, Iowa, New Zealand, France, Sri Lanka and Canada, within a few weeks of each other. The narration switches between the perspective of each one.
There is immediately a worldwide uproar. The places where they were stung are immediately scoured to see if the hive can be found (it can’t) and the five young people are whisked off into solitary confinement under the authority of their handler, Serge. Was there something about these five people that helped them to be stung? They are kept in an underground, completely white, sterile room for up to a month, fed a strange jelly-like substance and kept away from anything that might contaminate their mind, such as reading material, brand logos etc.
They are eventually released and a little surprised to find that they are worldwide celebrities. They enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame before they are all called together by Serge to meet on a remote island off the coast of Canada at Haida Gwaii, near the site of the last recorded bee hive. They are to live together and tell stories to each other for the next few days. The stories are supposed to be a catalyst for something.
It is typical of a Douglas Coupland storyline – quirky, but the characters are interesting enough and the tech-aware humourous asides are enough to keep you reading. All through the book you are wondering, why did the bees pick them? Here’s my suggestions:
The world as it is inhabited is addicted to a new wonder drug called Solon. This drug has no side effects acts like a mild anti-depressant. It makes you float along in a contented state. However, it also makes you forget about the future, the bigger picture, setting goals and working for things. Almost everyone has begun taking this drug to add to their general wellbeing. All five of the stingees have never taken Solon. They each had had some difficulties in their lives, some family rejection, and there was an element of loner-ness about them, but still, they had not taken Solon. At the moment of their sting, they were all involved in something that had a global effect. It may have been something mundane, but it was global nonetheless.
The stories they were telling each other were supposed to bring out what they had in common. Each of the stories were all quite different yet they had quite definite similarities. They were all, in one way or another, about the breakdown of society, the breakdown of communication, and the preference to stay in an isolated inner-world fuelled by cyber-knowledge of everything you want to know, rather than have the highs and lows of real relationship.
In these stories, Coupland is painting a picture of where our culture could go. The seeds of self-obsessed, self-realisation and self-satisfaction are there. A future like this, he posits indirectly, is less concerned about others. The world is turning into the consumerist relationship – service provider/customer interaction – and it is killing its soul.
It may be worth saying, the Telegraph hated it , the Independent disliked it and the Guardian merely tolerated it, but I rather enjoyed reading Generation A.
Alain de Botton on having too much information
Novelty
The news occupies in the secular sphere much the same position of authority that the liturgical calendar has in the religious one. Its main dispatches track the canonical hours with uncanny precision. Matins have here been transubstantiated into the breakfast bulletin and Vespers into the evening report.
The prestige of the news is founded on the unstated assumption that our lives are forever poised on the verge of a critical transformation, thanks to the two driving forces of modern history – politics and technology. The earth must therefore be latticed with fibre-optic cables, the waiting rooms of its airports filled with monitors, and the public squares of cities ribboned with the chase of stock prices.
Contrast this with how religions think of what is important. For the faiths there is seldom any need to alter insights or harvest them incrementally through news bulletins. The great stable truths can be written down on vellum or carved into stone rather than swilling malleably across hand-held screens.
For 1.6 billion Buddhists, there has been no news of world-altering significance to their faith since 483 BC. For their Christian counterparts, the critical events of history came to a close around Easter Sunday in 30 AD, while for the Jews the line was drawn a little after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Roman general Titus, in 70 AD.
Even if we do not concur with the specific messages that religions schedule for us, we can still concede that we pay a price for our promiscuous involvement with novelty. We occasionally sense the nature of our loss at the end of an evening, as we finally silence the TV after watching a report on the opening of a new railway or the tetchy conclusion to a debate over immigration.
It is then we might realise that – in attempting to follow the narrative of man’s ambitious progress towards a state of technological and political perfection – we have sacrificed an opportunity to remind ourselves of eternal, quieter truths which we know about in theory, and forget to live by in practice.
via BBC News – A Point of View: Does more information mean we know less?.
Quote on death, identity and social media, by Zadie Smith
Came across this quote from Zadie Smith (author of the excellent novels White Teeth which is all about identity of first and second generations immigrants). She is commenting at length on the movie The Social Network and the facebook phenomenon.
It seemed significant to me that on the way to the movie theater, while doing a small mental calculation (how old I was when at Harvard; how old I am now), I had a Person 1.0 panic attack. Soon I will be forty, then fifty, then soon after dead; I broke out in a Zuckerberg sweat, my heart went crazy, I had to stop and lean against a trashcan. Can you have that feeling, on Facebook? I’ve noticed—and been ashamed of noticing—that when a teenager is murdered, at least in Britain, her Facebook wall will often fill with messages that seem to not quite comprehend the gravity of what has occurred. You know the type of thing: Sorry babes! Missin’ you!!! Hopin’ u iz with the Angles. I remember the jokes we used to have LOL! PEACE XXXXX
When I read something like that, I have a little argument with myself: “It’s only poor education. They feel the same way as anyone would, they just don’t have the language to express it.” But another part of me has a darker, more frightening thought. Do they genuinely believe, because the girl’s wall is still up, that she is still, in some sense, alive? What’s the difference, after all, if all your contact was virtual?
via Generation Why? by Zadie Smith | The New York Review of Books.
This experience (which I have seen) of writing on someone’s wall after they are dead tells of a latent spirituality (written about elsewhere) that many people have. Even though they are unwilling to commit to an organised religion there is still a core set of beliefs verging on superstition, based on all manner of things, that many like to cling to – such as the existence of a universal afterlife for all people, or at least only the people you like, regardless of whether there is a belief in God to head the whole thing up. Are such beliefs a way into the Christian faith, or a distraction from it?
Stephen Hawking on aliens
Stephen Hawking has been in the news today by saying that creation could have spontaneously begun and therefore doesn’t necessitate the need for a God, even to kick the whole process off. This is being reported as as change in Hawking’s position in the media today as it contradicts what he wrote in A Brief History of Time in 1988, yet in actual fact, as the church mouse points out, it is a position he articulated as far back as 1989. It also doesn’t rule out the place for God in creation and can only be used as an counter to a ‘God of the gaps’ argument.
Elsewhere Hawking comments on the likelihood of aliens existing, saying that it is perfectly rational for them to exist elsewhere. However, we should avoid seeking them out as they may not be very nice:
We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.
I guess he’s noticed that humanity is flawed, given that he wouldn’t want to meet us in a dark alley in outer space. He recognises that we are not the nice friendly approachable beings that we like to think we are, but are greedy, selfish, power-hungry and so many other things:
If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans
If only there was a solution to our flawed humanity. Well, not in Hawking’s world there isn’t.
Lada making a UK comeback?
The BBC magazine asks if the car brand Lada can make a comeback in the UK in the current era, given that now, more than ever, you are what you buy. One interesting quote:
Bayley believes the relative popularity of the Lada in the UK was down to two things – first, the car’s robustness and longevity; and second, the fact that owning one of these fairly drab, rudimentary vehicles from the East allowed one to wriggle free from the consumerist pressure to buy a big flash car in order to show off.
“Car ownership is all about cultural modelling and making a display, it is all about buying a vehicle that apparently says something important about your identity. The great thing about the Lada is that you could free yourself from all of that.
Perhaps it could be a way around consumerism. A brand for those who don’t want to be branded. But, I guess, by saying that, it becomes an identity marker just like every other.
Surrogates – movie review
I went to see surrogates this week – first time I’ve been to the cinema in ages. Starring Bruce Willis, who is on form, it describes a world where human robotics has developed into a way of life. Technology has been able to capture the brain signals that control our body – move our eyes, arms, feet mouth etc, and use them to control a robot. The result is that everyone now stays at home and lives through a ‘surrogate’ – a robot that the users control and move about by plugging into a special chair at home. Through them you can do things, such as sky diving, with no risk. You can also create your surrogate to be the a physically perfect version of you.
Almost everyone lives through these surrogates meaning that everyday interaction is through technology. In this world of robots, there are a few people who are unwilling to use the technology. They live in special surrogate free zones in each city. Its a fast paced action film with a good cast and a decent plot.
Although current technology has not got that far (thankfully!) we are living in a technology obsessed world. More and more of our social interactions are through a screen, a phone, or the internet. The point of the film is quite clear.
- Living though technology numbs you to the physical senses of the world (says the man who is blogging!). There is nothing quite like feeling the wind or the raid, throwing and chasing a ball, and physical touch with others. This cannot be reproduced by technology.
- Technology does is not conducive to real relationships (it can enhance real relationships, but not replace them). One of the first scenes of the films saw a beautiful, sexily dressed blonde girl-surrogate in a club making out with a male surrogate (who similarly had model looks). The girl surrogate is quickly killed off and we find that the person controlling her was an ugly hairy fat man. Technology allows us to hide from bring real is we want to.
- It leads to a misunderstanding of, and an inability to appreciate beauty. In the film, in the world full of surrogates everyone looked fake and a little plasticcy. The film makers did a good job here. But the point is that when everyone looks like a model, no one is beautiful, everyone looks fake. We lose the ability to appreciate real beauty, which does not depend on having perfect teeth and perfect hair.
A good film which highlighted some dangers that our technology obsessed world needs to be aware of.
Fred, Dalila and an internet proposal
So, Fred wants to marry Dalila, so what does he do? Start a viral internet and social media campaign to persuade her (Twitter #SayYesD, http://www.sheknows.com/articles/810383.htm). Aparrently Dalila has difficulty making decisions!
What I like about this:
1. Marriage – it is great and it shows commitment and love. Spending the rest of your like with someone isn’t easy but is very regarding with a bit of dedication and hard work. People wanting to get married and commit to another person wholeheartedly should be encouraged and applauded.
2. Who one married used to be a question for the whole family, maybe even the wider community. Getting the opinion of friends and family on whether you have made a good choice is an excellent idea.
3. Fred has thought long and hard about what he likes about Dalila. This is some sort of love letter expressing his feelings.
What I don’t like about this:
1. Come on Fred – you don’t need a gimmick or a jumbo tron. Just take her somewhere nice and ask her – to her face.
2. We all know that popular opinion can be fickle, untrustworthy and ridiculous (look at Big Brother and a host of other reality TV programmes). Get advice from people you trust, not a random collection of strangers.
3. The medium is the message – we are used to seeing advertisements for things that we don’t need or that promise more than they can deliver. Is Fred reducing marriage to the consumerist level?
3. If she reallys needs this much persuading, perhaps it is not a good idea to get married. Perhaps she needs time not pestering.
My Advice:
Dalila – Only say yes if you actually love him. Get advice from close friends and family, not internet strangers (!).
…and I’m a PC
Interesting that Microsoft have taken the negative, slightly mocking slogan used by Apple in their “I’m a Mac” adverts and turned it into something more positive. I saw this banner advert whilst logging onto my hotmail email account (which I tend to use only for spam). Clicking on the banner takes you to a site which lets you pick what sort of Windows platform might suit you best.
A few years ago Volkswagen cars bought the Czech Skoda brand, recognised in Eastern Europe but ridiculed accross Western Europe. They sold cheap, ugly cars, made from cheap materials which break quickly. With such a bad brand reputation, surely, the best thing to do in Western Europe would be to scrap the brand nd intorduce a new one? But no, VW quickly increased the quality of Skoda cars to match VW themselves, and cleverly introduced an advertising slogan which turned the brand reputation on its head. The adverts showed people seeing the cars and not believing they were really Skodas. The tag line was “It’s a Skoda. Honest” One advert even suggested that they had put the wrong badge on the front of the car. Anyway, the perception of the brand quickly changed and they are now known for producing quality cars at more affordable prices than VW.
I wonder if the Microsoft adverts will have the same effect.
