Natalie Garcia

For this week we read, Warren Ellis’ Normal: A Novel. As we discussed in class, Ellis here wanted to experiment with the idea of futurist, such as foresight strategists (civil futurist) and strategic forecasters (spook futurist) becoming the mentally ill ones. In the text these individuals eventually experience the “abyss gaze,” which leads to their mental illness. They are then sent to Normal Head, which is relatable to a mental hospital.

I enjoyed reading the first two chapters. To be honest, chapters three and four I feel are not necessary since the issue within the text is solved within chapter three. In addition, I believe the readers can pick up what Ellis is wanting his readers to realize. Which Ellis wants his readers to question these core principles of why and how we think about the future.

Brian K. Vaughan’s, Marcos Martin’s, and Muntsa Vicente’s The Private Eye, have created an intentional retro world in which internet no longer exists. In a capitalist society, they take the issue of privacy in a hyperbolic concept which deepens the idea of understanding identity. Currently, we are accustomed to publicizes our secrets and desires on social media. So, a ‘What If’ idea such as this one can either interest us or trigger our anxities of a possible future.

The Private Investigator’s grandfather and interactions with him alone convey the backstory. Throughout chapters one through five, the grandfather attempts to connect with devices that used to have WiFi, such as a smart phone or gaming console. In addition, he is not seen with a secret identity like the rest. Furthermore, what is intresting about the grandfather’s character is its an image of the millennium generation years from now.

As an individual in my mid 20s and a life still ahead of me, I fear what future will become. Does the idea of a roboticized economy subside that fear? No, automation that produces too much and possibly decrease the probabliity of labor causes me to anticipate humanity’s purpose. The mayhap of the future comparable to WALL-E or iRobot doesn’t thrill me.

My response derives from Peter Frase’s “Four Futures: Life After Capitalism,” when he mentions automation as one of the two (in his case “twin”) anxities. He argues that books about automation and labor fail to include politics as part of the issue, as well as social stigma of being unemployed. As humans we desire to find a purpose and worth in our lives and for that to be accomplished we need to be challanged. So, the thought of a roboticized economy intimidates that.

Joe Granato, creator of the NESmaker (Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/nesmaker-make-nes-games-no-coding-required/) gives individuals an oppurtunity to uphold humanity’s purpose with his product. I say this because the product already challenges us to be creative and produce what we design. Which is why a part of me would like to believe that automation won’t completely take away our thunder. Our world needs creative minds to invent new possiblities.

I’d like to think that my dreams of being an executive editor and published writer will be accomplished. However, my hopes of my loved ones having finacial stability to surive this world can cause my dreams to be unsustainable. I don’t mean that in a negative aspect. I say that because instead of focusing on those dreams my concern will be my famliy and I having a roof over our heads, which in today’s world everyone struggles with. What brought me to think of this?

Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby’s “Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming” states, “...younger generation doesn’t dream, it hopes; it hopes that we will survive...that we will not destroy ourselves.” Whether this statement is wrong or right, it made it clear to me the reason why scoiety now can’t progress to a future we dream to achieve. Dunne and Raby propose that in order to advance to a future of accomplished dreams, design needs to have principles of ideology and values. Conceptual designs deal with unreality, which can compell us to design ideas with those principles.

Given this point, I analyzed how my Kickstarter prjoect, Joe Granato’s NESmaker applies to this. Even though the NESmaker is not ideological, the product can be a value. By giving us an oppurtunity to create our own game and story plot, makes it the first step in developing ideas, which will eventually become dreams. This way our minds are becoming active and being challanged, which is what we need if we want a future of possiblities. Humans are meant to be challenged in order to create.

A Japanese, Horror RPG developed by Sen in 2012. I wanted to use this because the father is an example by portraying his desire to accomplish his dreams, even though in a twisted way.

Grace Wong’s “It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature: The Rise of Glitch Art,” touches on the concept of glitch art by recasting it’s digital faults and interruptions into works of expression and beauty.

Glitch art reminds me of Nintendo’s NES games. Why? If you think about it, glitch art has been around since computers and video games were created. Think of pixels like intentional glitches for entertainment. So, why not make glitches intentional? 

As I read Wong’s article, it made me think about my archaeology project of Joe Granato’s NESmaker. He took an old NES to create a video game (only pixel) without coding required. Like glitch art, Granato took something technological and digital to express his own form of art. Another example, Adam Sandler’s “PIXELS,” fits with the concept. 

Here is the link to Granato’s NESmaker Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1316851183/nesmaker-make-nes-games-no-coding-required/ 

Fair warning, I was having a difficult time understanding Sharma’s argument. So, correct me if I’m wrong, however this post discusses what interested me.

As humans we desire an escape from reality, whether it may be for entertainment or undemanding tasks. Sarah Sharma’s “Exit and the Extensions of Man,” discusses this topic as part of her argument over male fantasy. She states all media provides a gateway for exits, mentioning the world of doors (sliding, movement sensing, etc.) as a case. Sharma’s statement interested me, which furthered me to analyze other media that portrays this exit.

Bathrooms have transformed into an exit by making our trips faster, easier, and hygienic. With just a swift left is water from the faucet or a paper towel dispensed (yeah, barley enough to dry your hands with), or the toilet flushed with any body movement (which is annoying). These simple and undemanding tasks that have been taught to us since toddler years and are a part of our day to day lives have transformed into a demanding exit. Are toilet dispensers next (if they are, heaven forbid the dispenser releases a only piece...)?

As I was reading James Bridle’s “Something is Wrong On the Internet,” half the time my eyes and mouth were wide open, processing the ridiculous and disturbing graphic content that children have access to.

I too can relate to Bridle when he speaks about his own experience growing up with the internet. Like him I had my first desktop computer with internet access at the age of thirteen. Unlike the generation today, I only had internet access at home in my room and at school, however it was not the same because I had limited time and was being monitored. I remember getting impatient throughout the school day and wanting to come home to watch YouTube videos that were related to anime and popular music videos. Whereas now, younger children than thirteen have their own YouTube Kids app that they can access to from either their parent’s smart phones or if they have their own tablet. Which that is completely fine and like Bridle states at the end of his essay, “ What concerns me is that this is just one aspect of a kind of infrastructural violence being done to all of us, all of the time, and we’re still struggling to find a way to even talk about it, to describe its mechanisms and its actions and its effects.” However, I have to slightly disagree with Bridle because even though this infrastructural violence is an issue, especially towards children, we as adults have the power to teach each other and our children right from wrong based on our experiences.Parents need to keep a watchful eye on their children even if they’re on a kids app that is expected to be safe. One NEVER knows what those rabbit holes will lead to. We shouldn’t just blame the ones that are bringing the violence to us, but also ourselves because we let this go too far. As an adult and (if you are) parent you have the responsibility to take care the ones you love. Don’t just slap a screen with internet access at a child and just hope for the best that they’ll learn right from wrong by themselves. Your called an adult and parent for a reason.

Through my seventeen years of YouTube experience, there was a time where I took a moment to contemplate if YouTube or bots of some kind were the ones making certain videos popular by just placing million of views. Because honestly, I found it difficult to believe certain ridiculous and disturbing content was getting views like YouTuber, PewDiePie does. My question was answered.

“Exploitation is encoded into the systems we are building, making it harder to see, harder to think and explain, harder to counter and defend against. Not in a future of AI overlords and robots in the factories, but right here, now, on your screen, in your living room and in your pocket. Many of these latest examples confound any attempt to argue that nobody is actually watching these videos, that these are all bots.”

The image below is my take on Bridle’s statement.

In Bruce Sterling’s “The Epic Struggle of the Internet of Things,” he defines Internet of Things (IoT) as an electronic automation going through digital surveillance by wireless broadband, in short a network society. 

From what I understood from the first part of Sterling’s essay and his definition, the IoT will eventually or it already is turning every piece of technology we have into this network society, That is great for the human race to advance, but I don’t think I want to slap a screen on a vacuum and go around my house bumping into things as I sparkle my house clean. As much as I hate to admit this, I do that enough with just my phone... Another thing, why would I want internet on every piece of technology I have when there are more important matters to intend, such as spending time with family and friends, going to school or work?

Sterling’s repeatedly mentions a talking or chatty refrigerator as the standard, or was the IoT pitch. Well hello to you too refrigerator bot...

No fridge, all I want is some pizza rolls I don’t want to know the weather or time when I have a perfectly (at least me) working phone, tablet and laptop to check those things.

Speaking of these three devices, Sterling states that smart phones were the faster, stronger and more popular than the desktop and laptop. To me, of course smart phones were going to be the most popular because it is easy and convenient to get a hold of someone. Not to mention when its an emergency. Then again, I was raised to think of phones as a means of emergency and having internet access is a privilege and not a necessity

This post is a negative Nancy towards these ideas Sterling discusses, but there are a few topics I agreed with, such as the wrangling between the Big Five. However, I personally feel like NOT EVERY little technology we have should be a IoT because we have enough already.

In G. L. Ercolini’s and Pat J. Gehrke’s “Writing Future Rhetoric,” they discuss over writing future or as they call it fictures, which are pictured fictional futures that can fissure. They mention how these fictures can offer the possibility of a fissure with the present, relationships to time and to ourselves. As I read and discussed this subject in class did I grow interested to find other fictional futures that portray a fissure. A prime example of this is Jukki Hanada’s animated series, “Steins; Gate.”

Steins; Gate is set in Akihabara, Tokyo where mad scientist, Rintarou Okabe invents future gadgets with his lab member, Hashida Itaru, a perverted hacker who goes by the name of Daru. Both work on the “Phone Microwave,” which can only morph bananas into piles of green gel. That is until their gadget sends e-mails (D-mails) to the past, altering the flow of history and causing mysterious happenings. Later their main goal is to prevent World War III from happening.

 Well, we have all heard of the possibility of time travel when the word “future” is mentioned. That is nothing new… However, I found it interesting for an anime to take an overused idea and create a means of time travel by using a cell phone with text messages/e-mails and including thriller elements. With our modern civilization interested in fictional futures more than ever before, anime industries have begun to create science fiction series. As an individual that has watched anime since at a young age, within these few years I have seen the genre rise in ranks.

Steins; Gate portrays fissures between the threads of past, present and future when their main goal ends up preventing World War III to happen. Between that time each character’s relationship with one another has been affected to cause the war in the future. Okabe, however, is burdened throughout the series because he holds the key to the realm of time. This further complicates his relationships with everyone else.

 I can go on to make a deeper analysis over the series with Ercolini’s and Gehrke’s academic essay, but then that would be a paper and not a blog… However, if you’re interested in the series then by all means go check it out!

https://myanimelist.net/anime/9253/Steins_Gate