Project Precis

I want to use my final project as an opportunity to circuit bend. I see a relationship between this and the issue of access to unlimited information through media in the twenty first century. Circuit bending is all about experimentation and creating something new, and that kind of original creation and learning has become less popular with the internet and television telling everyone only what they want to know in the most concise way. With media, learning is possible without any need for figuring things out. I will also consider (but am not limited to) issues of technology in music, distortion and motivations behind abstraction, and the causes and effects of increasingly complex childrens’ toys. To do this I will experiment with circuit bending through several different toys, and will record music illustrating the toys’ sounds before and after circuit bending. I want my project to be about hands on exploration, but I will be keeping a regular journal about my experiences and how they relate to twenty first century challenges.

Genetically Modified Food

After reading “Sowing a Gene Revolution,” I feel like the benefits of genetically modified food far outweigh the negatives. The problems with genetically modified food are not definite and seem petty compared to the positive effects. There might be a development of resistant pests, there are possible health risks from toxins research can’t prove exist, and maybe cheaper food would cause people to have less variation in their diet. These uncertainties seems well worth the risk to grow more and more efficiently, helping to reduce poverty and starvation. There is no way to say that eating too much cheap rice is better than starving because rice is too expensive. There are definite negative connotations put on genetically modified food, but that’s going to happen any time there’s a new progressive scientific development. Most people dislike change and often respond badly to infusing technology into sacred practices and changing what they are used to.

Adderall and Media

In our discussion about media, the idea of a media induced ADD phenomenon came up. It’s necessary for people to consume many different kinds of media at once because of the shallowness of a lot of it. Facebook is takes no mental strain, so many people find themselves spaced out while clicking through pages absentmindedly. Other forms of media instill habits in consumers that make it easy to stop actively thinking as well. This form of mindless entertainment allows easy multitasking and makes it easy to get lost in distractions.

Media puts a barrier in human connection, and I’ve found that Adderall, a popular ADD medication, has a similar effect. I guess you could say that about all medication effects brain function that could stunt human connection, but having been recently prescribed Adderall I’m particularly aware of its social effects.

The effects of Adderall are immediate and notable (http://www.theplainsman.com/front/2007/feb-14/adderall_deadly_dependency). The side effects contribute to the socially isolating power of the drug. They include depression, irritability, and anxiety. For me, the regular effect is that I have to finish one task before I move on to the next, and if I don’t I can’t focus on anything else. Obsessively moving from task to task doesn’t leave me with the need for human interaction. Media has a similar effect on me. The satisfaction that comes from working my way through video games encourages me to spend time alone staring at a TV screen.

Now that I’ve typed it up, the connection between Adderall and media isn’t as strong as I initially imagined. I think their relationship seemed so defined in my head because both affect my thinking and work process tremendously.

Kindle

After several month of mental debating, I’m still not sure what I think about Amazon’s Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Generation/dp/B00154JDAI/ref=amb_link_83624371_1/192-3781136-6222461?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1M0TZ3G9HJ8REYS54BQ8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=469942651&pf_rd_i=507846). As a regular reader I feel it is my obligation to protest this “advancement.” The book is a pretty perfect form. There’s nothing better than the sound of a book being opened for the first time, the new book smell, and the excitement that comes from flipping through pages and pages of words you’ve been anticipating for a long time. There’s also the appeal of displaying books. Books tell a lot about a person, and bookshelves are a quick and modest way to highlight aspects of your personality that you’re most proud of. I can’t bring up Les Miserables in every conversation, but I can put my copy of it on display.

But I can’t help thinking Kindle is to books as the ipod is to CDs. That seems like a connection Amazon wants people to make. The choice of the color white and focus on thinness are reminiscent of Apple products. Itunes is commonly considered innovative, and CDs are almost obsolete, digital books are a logical next step. I don’t want to turn into one of those people who is wary of technological innovation because I’m stuck in my habits. I’m afraid rejecting Kindle would liken me to the people who refused to use the internet when it started to get popular.

Amazon is also really good with advertising. I’ll be book browsing and find something I want to read right away and then I see I have the option to download the book on to my Kindle. The Kindle button tells me about a world with no more disappointment when I find out my public library doesn’t carry something, no more waiting a week for a book to be delivered, and no more faded excitement when the book finally comes and I’m too busy to read it.

I just can’t imagine Kindle being the way of the future. No one wants a single purpose electronic device anymore. Sure it can get on the internet (http://xkcd.com/548/), but so can my (much cheaper) ipod touch.

The Prius Brand

With the memory of four dollar gas and the trend of social consciousness, fuel efficient cars are in high demand. My parents bought a Prius to make weekly two hundred mile round trip from Auburn to Birmingham a month into my ASFA career. In the three years since I’ve become familiar with Priuses, they’ve been popping up everywhere. At the Toyota dealer in Auburn the Prius waiting list is at least twenty people long at all times.

Like I mentioned in my previous blog entry about sustainability in pop culture, I recognize that it’s a good thing, but it’s easy for me to get frustrated with it. The Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship has about one hundred members. Approximately seventy percent of the members are over fifty, and every Sunday there are at least ten Priuses in the parking lot. Those numbers translate to me hearing old people talk about how hip their car is every Sunday for the past couple of years. I love driving the Prius, and I’m I enjoy not feeling extremely guilty for driving as much as I do, but the popularity of the Prius has put me into a group consisting mainly of people over the age of sixty who like to flaunt their wealth and activism.

Lots of famous people drive Priuses, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A2587-2002Jun5) but it takes more than celebrity to shake the old and self righteous people that I associate with Priuses. The only thing that has made me feel awesome about driving a Prius is when they made an appearance on the television show Weeds. The drug dealing mom bought a Prius in the second season, and in the third season her supplier bought Priuses for all of his dealers because of how quiet they are. The only people that can counteract the uncoolness of old people are drug dealers.