language of the future; essay #1

Laurie Anderson’s “language of the future” speaks to the nature of human relations in the “digital” age. Humans have begun to evolve to deal with human contact and connection in different ways then in the past. One may feel he is surrounded by crowds of people simply because they exist in his computer, miles away connected only through “wave lengths.”

There is no pilot

You are not alone

One finds themselves physically alone; but thanks to today’s technology almost anyone in the world is just a button click (maybe a few button clicks) away. The question that this raises for me and which I do not have the answer for is this : can these “digital” relationships really take the place of some good ol’ fashion human contact? I certainly have my opinion on the answer to this question; but that opinion is quite biased, coming from someone who has always been opposed to this so-called “technology.”

She had this stuffed rabbit set up

on her tray table…kind of waving to it: Hi!

we type messages on blogs, social networks, and e-mails as if the words are literally coming from one’s own voice box into the receivers ear. In reality, are we not just waving to a “stuffed rabbit”. All measures have been taken to make one feel and believe that this exchange of words over the internet is the real thing, a human connection. I find this exchange however, to be nothing more than talking to a stuffed rabbit. I personally find it to be a cold, lifeless exchange, no matter however many exclamations points one puts at the end of every sentence.

Current runs through bodies and then it doesn’t

On again.

Off again.

Always two things switching.

It is the relationship of the bi-polar. We exchange the opportunity for a one on one conversation for a one on one on one on one on one conversation. One switches back and forth through ten different conversations at one time, giving no one their full attention, constantly switching. But then again, can saying one sentence then receiving a three word response two days later really be considered a conversation? Via the internet, we create false connections (like those people you only talk to on Facebook), connections that are “on again, off again,” if they could have even been considered on in the first place.

As I said earlier, I am biased. I have always been slightly disgusted by technology, scared of what all these “advancements” may lead to. And I hate the idea that I partake if what I consider fake relationships. Humans need contact, they need to hear the sound of a voice, and they need to see the face of a friend. Pictures, instant messaging and Skype are all derisory replacements for that which is innate in us. But whether I like it or not, we now speak the “language of the future” and commence in relationships existing solely through invisible wave lengths, invisible, soundless, contactless relationships. Regrettably, it appears solitude may be the relationship of the future