newcritics

Technology marches on, Moore’s law becomes MoreMoreMore’s Law, and drooling consumers fight it out on Christmas Eve for the last latest and greatest mind-numbing electronic socially isolating plastic and silicon unvention.

These devices become smaller/faster/cheaper feature-packed future junk, and I ask myself why do we need this stuff?

I think of the iPhone as the guy next to me on the train trashes his eardrums with the audible-over-the rumble-of-the-train hip-hop iPod, and I keep repeating to myself WhyPhone WhyPhone WhyPhone.

I think of Apple, Inc.’s marketing lit, “a true multi-tasker” they call it.

Does this mean my seatmate could continue listening to music while he talks to a friend on the phone? Would he lower the music so he could lower his voice? Or just yell loud enough so he could hear over it?

Radio stations advertise the fact that they are “Still Free Radio Stations” as a competitive advantage, setting the stage for a future of pay-per-listen-only airwaves. TV stations push their (for a small additional fee) HD siblings, I try to imagine what our “entertainment culture” will be like in 5 or 10 years.

Technology companies have been building the infrastructure to nickel and dime us to the tune of billions of dollars with “advances” like Digital Rights Management “services” and Clipper Chips, I dream of a profound and serious techno-savvy culture backlash, where hobbyist record collectors with Heathkits and Netgear wireless routers spin vinyl on USB turntables and broadcast them nationwide on a “free” network of linux-driven linked home networks, outside the purview of the Apples and Microsofts, Cablevisions and Time Warners, making Fair Use of the toys in ways never intended… neighbor to neighbor, house to house, Pringles can antennas amplifying their signals, a technical uprising occurs, where people tired of the force-fed tripe they get from media-makers take matters into their own hands and host talk shows about consumerism with their webcams.

Or are we really satisfied? Do the antics of the Paris Hilton of the hour really fulfill us, validate us, and give us the inner-peace and serenity we crave as a species?

Or is she a Band-Aid we slap over a wound until we wait for it to heal itself?

The iPhone is a brilliant step in an evolution - but I wonder what we are evolving into.

Does anybody really idolize an American Idol? Does anybody really need an iPhone?

Try humming a few bars, we’ll see if we can fake it.