The larger (or vaguer, if you prefer) question that I'm apparently failing to raise is how to use technology to enhance quality of life. Convenience is certainly nice. But do we let it trump every other value? And what happens if and when we do?

A for-instance? Films are now edited on computer. It's a fabulous convenience. No more tape, no more bins of clippings, etc. But film editors I've talked to often tell me that the convenience is too much. They aren't going to do without the computers, but they've discovered that they have to take lotsa breaks as they work. It turns out that the built-in inconveniences of old-fashioined film editing enforced a certain amount of down time, and during that "down time" their creativity and imaginations were at work. Ie., they'd be monkeying with the scotch tape and trying to find footage, and while they were doing this their minds would be figuring out a better way to cut the scene. They'd return to the actual cutting with a clearer head. With computers, there's almost no built-in down time. You can chop chop chop to your heart's content. So what becomes of thought, imagination and reflection? Where do they find time and space to occur? The better film editors now have to consciously build some inconvenience and down-time into the day so their brains can be allowed to do a little work and play. Which of course their bosses see as goofing off.

The forcing of that kind of thing into consciousness is new, and is something to wrestle with. It's like exercise. Back in the old African-savannah days, no one had to consciously worry about getting enough exercise. They just went about their lives and in doing so got it. These days, we have to make the conscious effort.

In a small way, I've found that my life is better when I build a little inconvenience into it. (Such as living without a cell phone.) I find that when I do that, I have more space and time for imagination, reflection and the like. And I also notice that some people who live a totally-wired lifestyle seem amazingly unthoughtful. They've turned themselves into stimulation-response devices, and they're always on the lookout for the latest buzz to react to. They're quick and witty, often, but their personalities often seem about an inch deep.

Anyone want to take me up on this thoughts?

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on January 31, 2003 12:29 PM

There you go. This is an important question:

The larger (or vaguer,if you prefer) question that I'm apparently failing
to raise is how to use technology to enhance quality of life. Convenience
is certainly nice. But do we let it trump every other value? And what happens if and when we do?

The most obvious response that we are all appalled by, it seems to me, is when the technology takes over... like America's
addiction to television,

I am reading Alan Lightman's forthcoming novel,Reunion (July 2003).I found this gem:

The truth is I feel no connection to the faces on the screen. The Hondurans are just so many electronic pixels. I've decided that has been the great achieve- ment of our age: to so thoroughly flood the planet with megabits that every image has become a digitized disembodied nothingness. With magnificent deter- mination, our species has advanced
from Stone Age to Industrial revolution to Digital Emptiness.We've become weight- less, in the bad sense of the word.

That's something to worry about.

Posted by: Robert Birnbaum on January 31, 2003 12:50 PM

"They've turned themselves into stimulation-response devices"

[meekly raising my hand]

No doubt that I am one of these. The economic climate has turned me into a machine, afraid to turn off the phone or the PC. Hell, I'm skeert to be away from work email for more than a few hours. Or maybe I'm just wired that way -- Type-A and all that, and today's jacked-in world enhances that Jedi Master level I think I have to attain.

And blogs don't help, what with the chop-chop nature of doing one. Or doing mine, and reading others. Something like that. I'm about as thoughtful as a six year-old these days. I'm seriously considering going cold-turkey over at my joint just to regain some sense of an internal life (quit laughing, you!).

Posted by: Scott Chaffin on January 31, 2003 12:58 PM

Hey -- found a great RSS reader: NetNewsWire. It works with 2Blowhards, so it must be good, eh? I have a feeling I'll be using it to check in on whether there are any updates in future.

--Felix, an inch thin and proud...

Posted by: Felix on January 31, 2003 1:53 PM

Brother Felix,

I thought what was on the table was how to make technology work from a humane POV, to escape the shackles of gadgets and the oppression of widgets. Seemingly, you are only interested in perfecting your bondage.

My DSl was down earlier in the week (for the first time in a long time) I am proud to say I went about my life with only a minor facial tic and no medicinal aids.

So it goes...

Posted by: robert birnbaum on January 31, 2003 2:04 PM






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