I'm going to step outside of the normal weirdness I put in this blog for a minute because something's bothering me. There's a lot of buzz about the latest permutation of the modern love story. One that promises to make you question your reality like "The Matrix" but without all the bullets. Spike Jonze's latest foray into the sublime if not ridiculous otherwise known as, "HER." has managed to gather critical acclaim since its release a few weeks ago. Even Rotten Tomatoes is giving 4 1/2 stars.
Before I go any further you need to know that this isn't a movie review, in fact I expressly plan to NOT see this movie. Why? Because this is nothing more than a silicon valley ubergeek's wet dream. The reviewers swoon at all those touching moments in the film with drivel like... "a romantic scene .....that genuinely seems to be taking place between two flawed, headstrong lovers.
Really? I guess it's natural for a gadget crazed populace to make the leap into a Kurzweil (Singularity) fantasy where love need no more than Siri with Scarlett Johansson's voice seductively suggesting a good sushi bar. By the way, don't expect any sultry holograms, all you get is her voice. No matter how clever and tastefully done, the whole premise is in a word, pathetic. Not because it's outlandish but because of how much it isn't. After all, if we can't make a relationship work why not try to create one with a bunch of circuits and a voice synthesizer right? Is this some reflection of an emotionally detached society more enamored with technology than the people around them? I think so and instead of a sweet, touching love story, a movie like this should serve as a warning. Maybe that's the point but it's sad commentary on society that we have to ask the question. It's bad enough that all these soft-core romance flicks reflect a lifestyle few could ever achieve. I mean don't these people ever have to work? Seems like they have days to while away on beaches, taking spontaneous road trips across the country or lounging in sidewalk cafe's. I suppose HER fits the bill for its genre then. Especially for those silicon valley types who grew up with the likes of "Weird Science" haunting their adolescent dreams. Hey! That's it right there! We finally have a "dignified" sequel to a movie about making your own perfect woman. In that light it's not quite such a sweet, heart touching tale is it.
I'm a tech guy, been
in IT for most of my adult life. I've
worked for companies both great and vile and when I finally got sick of being used, went
into consulting. Most of my consulting
career has been working for small
companies with generally good people.
In an environment like this it's a blessing to be able to
just do what you do best and not be subject to the petty power struggles of the
cubicle bound. That's how I can say
they're mostly good people because I didn't have to live with them...
I'm not so fortunate to have grown up in the progressive
forward thinking panacea that is the Silicon Valley. Or at least that's my impression of it.
Forgive me if this next part is a bit autobiographical, it's
necessary to avoid the moniker of a "troll" that may give you cause
to ignore my message.
Troglodyte I can tolerate, however. After all Troglodyte means "Cave
Dweller" and as far as I know people who lived in caves stayed dry in a
thunderstorm and didn't get eaten by Saber toothed tigers...
I grew up in the gun toting, bigoted, false-faced,
chauvinistic mentality of Phoenix Arizona. In an ultra conservative landscape where any
alternative to the nuclear family is frowned upon, my upbringing was
challenging to say the least.
My childhood experiences formed my opinions just like
everyone else but things were a bit different in my case.
I was raised by well meaning incredible people in the
persona of my family characterized by unsung heroes.
My mother, who conquered the sexist biases of the glass
ceiling even within her own family and achieved more than it's likely I ever
will.
My grandmother who's
depression era wisdom guides my choices to this day.
My aunt whose free spirit taught me that it was ok to say
the hell with what people think you SHOULD be instead of what you WANT to be.
Lest I forget my Uncle who was the only strong male
influence that ever meant a damn to me.
By the way, I admit there is a bit of a conflict between my
aunt and my grandmother's influence....
Of course, where I lived there was a missing character in my
upbringing that often left me isolated and ridiculed. Apparently a fatherless (we won't go there)
child in Arizona must automatically be relegated to something less than
deserving. I grew up being chided by
other boy's fathers as being homosexual
(at the age of 8) or disallowed from associating with their
"normal" offspring for fear that I might "infect" them. The cruelty of their children is a given and
I should add that none of them were ever in danger of either
"aberration."
In case you're still wondering, yes I like girls...
So much for the glorious childhood of my memories. I couldn't wait to get out of it...
Even with all that
baggage, I'm not looking to go anywhere
else mostly because I've been here so long that I know my enemy too well to
chance a new one anywhere else. Besides,
the few good friends I have here are far too important to me to abandon to this
wasteland. If I could take them with me
I'd leave in a heartbeat.
Such is my fate but I still cling to the hope that I can
somehow effect some change in this unholy backwater if for no other reason than
to make it a little easier on my own existence.
As I write this I'm sitting in a house that's approaching
100 degrees because I can't afford to turn the Air conditioning on. To do so would bankrupt me. Not that there aren't a dozen other things
threatening to do the same. That is
mostly the result of a crippling economy and a bias against those who exhibit a
tendency toward independent thought where I live.
Obviously, things used to be better but there's no sense on
dwelling on it.
As an IT guy I've been responsible for everything from an
office set up above someone's garage to a multi-million dollar law firm whose
very whim could affect public policy.
Well, at least on a local scale...
Even in the backwater that is Arizona we still get news
here. It's just that most people here
ignore anything that isn't self indulgent or threatening to their pro-life
convictions. I, however, do not.
Still there is some benefit to living in a place where all
is never so rosy. I've gained a sense of
cynicism that allows me to cut through the hype of gross consumerism. It's not that I've embraced the role of
staunch pessimist. I just have insight
into what level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs other people are operating on.
So finally we get to the bubble.
Being in IT I know I'm not in the most ideal locale to
embrace all that technology has to offer.
So I recognize that the tech pundits who orbit the tech havens of
Silicon Valley and Austin are fortunate to be able to operate at the higher
levels of Maslow's construct.
Where I live being an IT professional offers little in the
way of creative thought. It's little
more than a 21st century auto mechanic fixing what's broke for a set price. The kind of intellectual freedom espoused by
tech pundits is viewed as threatening to the local status quo. Talent isn't cultivated or nurtured it's
bought, used and discarded. That's not
pessimism, it's fact.
Talk to most people who live in the "Bubble,"
however, and you find an idealism that borders on the naive and to be honest it
irritates me.
What most in this group consider profound suffering I'd
consider a bad hair day.
I would dearly love to live in a place where I could fully
indulge in the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy but alas I do not and likely
will not as the opportunity has never presented itself. Not that I've ever been in a position to take
advantage of it if it did.
You can shelve your admonitions of pulling one's self up by
their bootstraps by the way. My boots
are in hock.
It's not unlike the mid-level manager who's never been
without a steady income and could never contemplate otherwise. Our priorities naturally tend to shift upward
in the hierarchy of needs since those who can reside there can take the lower
levels for granted. Unfortunately, it
also tends to blind us to the realities clearly visible before the rest of us. We rationalize those not so fortunate as
somehow less deserving or lacking ambition.
As much as you deny it, it's only human nature in spite of our high
ideals.
Those within the bubble operate at such a high level that an
event such as, say the wrong salad dressing in their garden salad qualifies as
a crisis on par with the Holocaust.
First world problems indeed....
So I find myself frequently irritated when assumptions made
by these "Bubble People" are promoted as reality for the rest of
us.
The fact that it's not really necessary to replace a
perfectly functioning phone because a new model came out is on par with
blasphemy to them. Consumerism goes hand
in hand with technology it seems and is the guiding mantra of the "Bubble
People".
In short, they don't get it because they don't see it
anymore...
Therefore I place no more value in their assertions than a Metacritic.com
review of a Broadway play (they don't do plays...).
Perhaps if I had grown up in such a sheltered and
"normal" environment I too would argue the merits of unbridled
optimism and the promise of technology.
Unfortunately, I've seen little personal benefit from it.
Technological advance is a panacea only to those who can
focus on it.
The easy answer is to just ignore the "Bubble People"
but that's not possible. They drive
popular culture even if it's to our own detriment.
I'm a fan of Star Trek and the world it proposes as are the
"Bubble People." The
difference between me and them is that I know we haven't even started down that
road. They believe we're already there.
There's a place for the firmly optimistic but it has to be
tempered with the realities that must be conquered to make their assertions
true.
By the way, the bubble isn't limited to technology. It's easily applied to other dogmas like
religion, politics and cultures.
The French revolution dealt harshly with those who ignored
the realities of their own environment. Bubble
people should keep that in mind lest they find themselves on the guillotine of
public opinion. But then, the public
only concerns themselves with the latest shiny object don't they...
Nothing's more debilitating than having one's bubble
burst...
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