In celebration of the establishment of my new blog I Googled ‘Looking Glass’ under images, committing to write about whichever photo came up first; this is what I found.
This photograph is because I feel that authenticity is not enough anymore. The feel of the side of a building which has been standing in its place for hundreds of years, is not as fulfilling as it is only after we have tagged our little faces and friends and let our social networking world know where we are.
Tools are really nice; that is a fact that is basic in concept. This is by no means yet another rant that will suggest that “times were better when…”, not at all. I am very aware of the fact, and very appreciative of it as well, that these technology advancements do make our lives work in a swift motion, just like the circular loading signal on any Mac product. I feel that our realities are in most ways enhanced by the use of technology for communications or the progression of systematic practises. We have all been in a bank when the computers have gone ‘down’, and if that scenario does not adequately describe just how essential technology is in everyday life then you need to sit in the room that hosts the server in Microsoft’s Washington Data Centre and breathe in the multi-petabyte storage systems.
However, this photograph is the perfect way to demonstrate how the creativity that used to flow wild in the mind of the generations before our own is being stifled because of its advancements in other areas. Steve Job’s creativity, that allowed him to dream of a world where the instant gratification generation could receive the answers to their questions in seconds, means that those that follow him are faced with the realities of not having time to dream in their own ways, as a dependence on what is available is developed. In this picture, for example, the individual holds his/her (I will forever from now on use ‘his’) ‘smart’ something up to the building in front of him and receives the address, and a little description of the building, which is assuredly just the tip of the information that could be accessed at that very moment; or Google’s .000018 milliseconds. In this situation, a situation that no more than twenty years ago could have provided the stimulus for great imagination, now holds another fact and another opportunity for the soaking of somebody else’s description in his mind. This man could have created a universe of his own where that building stands; visualising the doorman with a small pot belly from the additional meals he eats at home, because his lifestyle now allows for him to become semi-retired, and his sweet wife shows her appreciation for his 40 years in the work force through the pasta bakes that she makes every Wednesday night. This man could have also thought of the sweet French girl who is the concierge and answers the telephone in the sing song way that invites the receiver to speak in confidence, knowing that they will be met with the instructions that they will need for their day. This man could have imagined all of these things in a not so distant past, and he still probably could. The ability is not lost, but the motivation to create in your own mind with the knowledge that a pre-prepared description is 3 swipes away on your ‘smarter than human’ device is where the difficulties lie. Instead of the homely vibe that the imagination could have provided, the man is met with the formulated answer that the ‘RC New York is a luxurious heaven in the heart of the city’, and that is all it will be to him from now until he works up the courage to break that description and make his own.
This is why the technology in this photograph tells me it will break the creativity of the middle man who will not effort himself to break the technology before it breaks him.
