IN THE YEAR 2000....you will be able to be who YOU want to be...

When reading Snow Crash I couldn't help but see the parallels to our current world. The metaverse is CLEARLY a representation of what Stephenson thought we would end up being if we let technology control us. Little did he know that in 2003 a new world would be created that would allow users to be whoever they want to be...fly where they want to...and most of all, have sex without facing the repercussions....oh Second Life. Although the users of Second life could have used it for some other sort of technology, it was instead used for wild and crazy sex. This was, however, done entirely out of the choice of the users. Those participating in Second Life created the code to fuck a random skank with a makeshift phallus. This is where I feel critics of technology need to pull their heads out of their asses.... Yes, technology does have SOME power over us...it does not entirely own us. This is where I feel that the thought of the cyberpunk genre changing into reality abruptly comes to an end. Until we entirely allow our lives to be controlled by technology...we SHOULD be able to resist the "inevitable" and maintain society as we know it.

Who could think that WTF and LOL would change the future?

How could the ideas of the cyberpunk be conceived of as a technology? There is no mechanical ideologies present within the idea itself, but it is a result of the extremes of technologial cooperation. It is a CONCEPT, but with rather mystical qualities. I say "mystical" in the idea that perhaps the certifiable thinkers that think up cyberpunk are visionaries of the future. Think ancient Greek oracles, only cooler and much more in tune with technological marvels.

I do like the idea of cyberpunk being accepted more and more through cyberpunk movies such as Blade Runner and Akira. They have accomplished what the sad, lonely Trekkies have not been able to accomplish: the beginnings of a growing accepted practice with hints of technologies that we already have, and with which we are comfortable understanding.

Part II - Boring as hell and not proof read.... This is the last time I write this much.... The important parts are in bold print....

One of the first people I saw was a woman.... completely naked. I said hello. No reply. I looked around the area a bit and returned to the woman. Now she had on nothing but a very skimpy pair of overalls. Hmmm. I took my leave and looked for somewhere I could fit in. After a little searching with the Second Life search engine, I found a go-kart track. Nobody was around, but there were free go-kart rides. I went for a spin and I must say, I kicked some serious ass. From what I read, I beat the guy before me by nearly three seconds. But I didn't rest easy. I needed some interaction with other people. I was off in search of fresh meat.... preferably clothed meat.

From the track I found a transport that took me to a medium sized city. Not a ton of people, but I walked up to what looked like a bum on a park bench. I said hello. No reply. I found a woman standing in front of a store. I asked her where I was. She said in a German Sim, and then she blew me off. Apparently she had more important things to do. I feel a little overwhelmed. There are so many places I can go. I wanna get out of this place, but where should I go? Hmmm.... do a quick search.... Got it!!!! SEXY LAND!!!!!

After exploring SEXY LAND for a bit, I came upon a platform on the ground. Upon touching the pad, my avatar began masturbating himself, bent over! On the other side of the room was a sign that had ten different sex positions shown on an advertisement. Across the hall was a store called Cocks 'N Pussy. I bet you have an idea what kind of pictures lined its inner walls. The whole are was filled with sex stores. Most of which had things available for actual purchase.

I then entered what appeared to be the orgy room. Everybody in the room was naked. Most were lying together around the room. I didn't feel like interrupting, so I decided I would find a lighter social setting.

I found a jazz lounge on an island, but when I first showed up, I found myself, and the island overtaken with hundreds and hundreds of bouncing Super Marios. Apparently some guy wanted to be a jerk so he coded them in. See the above pic. Upon their departure, I came across the owner of the lounge. This was the first person to begin a conversation with me of all the people I've seen passing by so far. We made small talk for a minute before I made my leave.

I spent about 8 hours on Second Life before calling it quits. It was nothing short of uninspiring. All of that time spent starting a second life and completely neglecting my real life; looking for the secret to cyberpunk thought. I haven't found it yet.

Second Life isn't cyberpunk. I don't think the Metaverse is even cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is a genre like romance, sci-fi, western, horror, or whatever. It's a means of putting these technologies in a context of a distopian future where corporations rule the political and economic landscape; where everyday hackers fight the good fight for little or no fanfare; where seeds of discontent with corruption in government and corporations can be planted. Cyberpunk is NOT a technology. Cyberpunk is a voice.

Second Verse, Same as the First: Impressions on Meta Life - Part I

In case you didn't actually read any of Stephenson's novel, you should. It's very good, but I'm no critic. After awhile of reading, I couldn't get one question out of my head: How does cyberpunk relate to "communication" technology. Cyberpunk is a genre, not a technology, but it's the genre's world view of social, political, and economical contexts through technology that relate it to communication - communication in a virtual setting - the Metaverse - Second Life.

Yes, I put the book down, opened up my computer, and signed up for Second Life. I soon found out that I could become whoever I wanted to be. I could mold my appearance just as in the Metaverse. I could make myself weak or strong, short or tall, any color from white to brown, purple or gold. It didn't matter. And after spending a good hour or two just on my appearance, I was thrust into the tutorial mode of Second Life, basically orientation. Hear you learn the basic functions to communicating in the virtual world; how to walk, run, drive vehicles, talk, shout, gesture, dance, change your appearance. After spending another couple hours acclimating to the world, I was ready to go off on my own, away from the tutorials and help functions.

What craziness ensued? Stayed tuned for Part II.

I used to be a deliverator

I only had a chance to read the first few pages of Snow Crash. From what I read, there was a definite prominence of the Cyberpunk genre. All of the aspects described in the wikipedia cyberpunk article were contained in those first few pages alone. At first, I thought the idea of a dominating pizza delivery corporation was a little far fetched. After I thought about it though, it actually is fitting. According to the wiki article, the genre often uses symbolism to portray modern socio-political issues. I think the whole pizza delivery concept represents the idea that people need and rely on others for resources and those resources are controlled by corporate America.
I didnt really get into much of the technological aspects of the book. However, what I did read about it also went along with the wiki article. A term that the article used was 'high-tech, low life' and that also fit in with the book.
Overall, I think that cyberpunk is a pretty neat concept. In general, it has the coolness of technology, often contains violence and also holds deeper symbolism that would only be uncovered by close readings.

Cyber-crash

I am still trying to decide if I am a fan of Cyberpunk genre or not. I think it is most important to understand that in this type of genre, you will not find the everyday characters and settings. The Wikipedia definition of Cyberpunk described Snow Crash to a tee. From the plot to the characters to the setting, Stephenson has created a world that is not impossible to imagine, yet hard for me to picture. What I do like about this novel and this genre is the way it incorporates several different aspects together. After reading only a few chapters, Stephenson had covered politics, culture, religion and much more. I think there are many underlying meanings to what is real about topics he writes on, however it is not always easy to understand what they are. This “future world’ is almost easy to relate to, it is similar to the present. It’s interesting to me the different to try and figure out why Stephenson had chosen the settings for this certain time and place. A pizza delivery service… I thought this was very smart, I don’t know of anyone who has not ordered a pizza. I wouldn’t venture to say this is my favorite book so far, but I am curious to see where Stephenson will take us.

Information as a comodity

If information is a commodity, I can almost see the world from L. Bob Rife’s point of view; the more the world relies on information and the less on manufacturing the closer we come to Neal Stephenson’s world.

The Cyberpunk mindset is an easy response to this big business worldview. A lowly ex-delivery boy (with Shin Obi aspirations) in the real world wouldn’t really stand a chance, but by goggling into the metaverse (only one letter away from Google) he has complete power to slash you in half with his samurai swords—who cares that he is the one that wrote the sword fighting software.

Information takes many forms throughout the book so far; “Earth” (only a word away from “Google Earth”) and even know it all robot librarians that knows and remembers all. Coupled with the interconnecting networks of cyborg Rat Things for home protection, HyperCards, and even LED readouts on pizza boxes. Information is the future, both the good and the bad of it, one can only hope that it isn't half as bad as cyberpunk suggests--this might be why the authors wrote what they did, to scare us into preventing the bad from happening.

In the future...there will be pizza

I have been apart of two conversations in which Epley stated he has made poor predictions as far as what people will buy into. His example was camera phones. People bought them so much it is hard to find a phone without a camera on it. The difference between sending a poor quality image of your cleavage to your boyfriend and goggling into the metaverse is the magnitude of imagination separating the two. The simulated world of Snow Crash isn’t real yet, but it’s still a fascination that is bringing people to develop new shit to keep people from shitting until they die. The reality is that in small insignificant ideas such as camera phones there is the same progressive instinct as with “cyberpunk” novels, a push for more. Technological advances will not slow down because there is no demand for it to. People like “new”, that’s why there will never not be newer and more complex ways to become a cyber-samurai or a low grade porn star.

Shaping the future

My initial reaction to Snow Crash was a general distaste for Stephenson's vision of the future, a seeming implausible chaotic and hyper-commercialized USA with only four major brilliances: pizza, music, movies, and micro-code. After a few more chapters, I began to take step with the darkly comedic exaggerations of our nation's more Byzantine archetypes (check out Demolition Man, Hackers, Idiocracy). While dystopian and oppressive on levels, the city-state politics and world-wide connection to a universal knowledgebase began to represent itself as surprisingly free. With societal concerns as fore-front, Stephenson blends in a surprisingly large number of technological insights, many of which surprised me considering the book's 1992 publish. Virtual drugs, volumetric displays, avatars, and digital worlds are vividly imagined, along with super tools like a digital globe (and here, of course) and librarian. Even “infoastronomy” is discussed, along with the more central concept of viral corruption. What really strikes me about the characters is that none of them are truly in control of their lives – they are users instructed and willing to obey interface and protocol. Even the hackers don't wholly understand the compiled, and they certainly don't have the ability to peer into the source (though Hiro has some admin rights). In many ways, Snow Crash appears prophetic – while most of its technological ideas were certainly conceived by 1992, the Internet had yet to revolutionize the way people communicate. We are all users, and some of us know more than others... but no one knows everything. In a global computing sense, we normally have more control than are officially permitted, but never as much as is theoretically possible.

cyberfools

I know that the bulk of what we were probably supposed to write about was Snow Crash, and as I have opinions on that book, I felt the need to write about cyberpunk instead. When we had our class discussion on Thursday, and then when I read about cyberpunk, I came to a conclusion that I had known all along, but almost refused to embrace. People are just simply f*ing stupid. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I know there is a lot of dumb stuff out there, but when people are so addicted to a game, or even just the internet that they die, or cause bodily harm to themselves, that's just plain stupidity. This may sound kind of cynical, but as far as I'm concerned, if you can't take a break from a computer to get up and take a leak, you deserve to die and I'm glad you did. I don't want someone who is so into the internet that they can't take a 2 minute bathroom break, or get up to make a sandwich contributing to my society. And I don't just mean my society, I mean my parents, my future kids, and everyone. Everyone has their own thing, and thats fine. I don't always agree with everything, but thats fine. But this.. this is just insane madness. As a people, and I am talking about the whole human race now, not just Americans, Chinese, Laotian, or Mexican, but everyone, we everyone needs to help out just a little, and contribute to society. Even if it's the most minuscule thing, its still contribution. These people who are cyberpunks and are sucked in by the net and can't get out, to them I say stay out.

Future Technology Takeovers

Upon reading the first few chapters of Snow Crash, there were a couple of main points that stuck out to me. The first point I found very interesting was how the author made many of how our government services, such as highways and public transportation, into monopolies owned by by fictional major corporations. In Snow Crash, there were two main interstate companies: Fairlanes Incorporated and Cruiseways Incorporated. It is interesting to me that government services are no longer a standard, but are owned and operated as a business. The users of the roads choose which they prefer based upon what they offer; it's competitive businesses within public transportation. The author is using the idea that as we progress further into our technological world, we will enter into a monopolized and competitive environment.

The other somewhat related point I wanted to touch on was the fact the author has "franchised" almost every single element of life in Snow Crash. It is quite evident our society even today has shifted to franchises for some goods and services, but in Snow Crash, everything from haircuts to religion is operated in the franchise system. In fact, ironically, it seems the only non-franchise business itself is the Mafia-owned pizza delivery company the Deliverator works for. It is intriguing to see how our society can transition to this franchise style of life because it in fact seems evident today.

On the brink of cyberpunk

One virus, accepted by one of the three main hackers who created the Metaverse, could violently shove Snow Crash from postcyberpunk into cyberpunk.

According to the Wikipedia article, postcyberpunk is a variety of cyberpunk that exists “without the assumption of dystopia.” As defined by Merriam Webster Online, dystopia is an “imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and fearful lives.” The drug/virus called snow crash has the ability to wipe out people and information in the Metaverse, even though Da5id had “so much antiviral medicine in my system nothing could get through.” Consisting mainly of “static, white noise, snow” this virus is the anti-information. When Da5id has heard Snow Crash’s secret, his avatar suddenly stops reading any reaction he may be having: making this virus capable of robbing a hyper-realistic avatar of what humanity was coded into it.

The characters in Snow Crash trade in information via the Central Intelligence Corporation (CIC), formerly the Library of Congress. If this virus is loosed into this digital storage unit of valuable data, barters will fear for a potential fiscal loss. And what is a culture without information to share, pass on, and learn about?

If this virus can rob the Metaverse users of their information and their humanity, it will be a story taking place in a dystopian future where all the other criteria for a cyberpunk story exist: overabundance of technology, breakdown of social order (“bimbo boxes,” segregated suburbs, decentralized government run by mega-corporations, etc), and anti-hero hacker protagonist.

Just for the record, I got a bit of a chuckle out of The Deliverator’s name: apt. :)

Archetypes, Semiotics, and other fragmented cultural references

First off, I must point out that I really enjoyed reading the sample from Snow Crash. Before I begin a small analysis, I'll do something for the benefit of everyone. This is the link where I found the free full text version.

http://reddit.com/info/8ui1/comments

Snow Crash follows many of the same archetypal constructs pointed out by the Wikipedia entry. Hiro the story's protagonist is indeed a version of anti-hero. A struggling "freelance Hacker" he is indeed the epitome of a cyberpunk hero.

There are several things that intrigued me when I read this. The first being several constant cultural references in a lot of dystopian portrayals of the American futurescape. Namely, superfluous automation. The Deliverator was merely a hyped pizza delivery man. It struck me as rather funny that so much technology, psychology, and overall analyzing went into the process of delivering a pizza. It's my opinion that this is a direct parody of all automation. I wonder if in the 1970's anyone was entertaining the thought of a self-flush toilet.

On a more serious side, another symbol seems to be a severe decline in central leadership. It was pointed out in Snow Crash that the government had lost the majority of its power. Such an argument always seems to coincide with innovation. I find it rather surprising (and perhaps I am missing a key element in the public psyche at this time) that most of the views of the technological future in the 1950's tended to be Utopian in nature. After all we were in the midst of the cold war. Perhaps it is because the last thing the US needed at that time was something to illustrate a loss of central power. I digress my point is, I don't think that the dystopic future archetype was always present, and I wonder what brought it into being.

There is a less serious topic on which I will chose to conclude. I remember a long time ago I watched a movie called Equilibrium. It told the story of a fascist American future where we relied on computers for everything and all human emotion was forbidden and kept in control via government sponsored (and legally required) medication.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/


Anyhow, the protagonist in that movie (whose name escapes me) also uses a Samurai sword just like Hiro. Is there something about the future that relates to the use of this sword. I own several of them and even seeing them in use in science fiction (for anyone who has played the Matrix Path of Neo video game....there are entire levels dedicated to samurai sword use.) I would have never thought of them as a symbol of the future. Ironically I think of them more as a symbol of the past. However, that perception has changed somewhat.


As much as I'd like to go into further detail about some more things. I can see I'm approaching my word limit and so I must conclude for now.

Oh, and if you have the chance check out Hackers too....
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/

If you teach a man to internet... he'll eat for life

In Sterne’s writing, “Thinking the Internet” he asks why we should even study the internet. Well, why NOT study the internet? To me it seems like an appropriate thing to do. After all Jane and all of her classmates use it on a daily basis for school work along with their own personal agenda. If it was then, then it certainly is now were all of our society is headed towards. I mean, I can’t even fill out a “Free 7UP basketball hoop” at the local grocery market with out those soda vender's asking for 3 email accounts and all my bank information. It is the internet that is slowly becoming the ultimate Bond villain, as it continues to dominate our world. And even if it told us how, I’m pretty sure we couldn’t stop it.

FREE MONEY courtesy of Microsoft

In case you all missed it, you can pick up enough for a large supreme pizza in the Iowa Microsoft antitrust case. See this coverage in Ars Technica and the settlement page here.

The Internet: A Way of LIfe

Out of the two readings, Sterne’s cultural analysis of the internet interested me the most. In so many words it seemed as if he were to say, the internet is taking over the world. Well, maybe not “taking over,” but he is right, it is everywhere. The internet is showing up on phones, iPods, television, you name it. I tried to determine if I thought this was a good thing or a bad thing and I came up with… both. As others have already stated, the internet can be used to find useful information and to learn, but at the same time, the internet can be destructive and used to find harmful information. I would disagree with Sterne and say that the internet has a major impact on societies and cultures as a whole. It should be studied separately; it’s different in that it is everywhere and continuously expanding everyday. I could write pages on how this has shaped culture, specifically in the United States, but I will end with saying, that the internet has not only shaped and influenced our culture, but it is a way of life.

Trucks...Tubes....and the Interwebs

In “The Stories Digital Tools Tell”, Gillespie discusses the various ideas behind the structure of technology. Many of his arguments incorporate the everlasting question “does technology control our lives or do we control the development of technology?” The main argument that stuck out in my mind was the documentation included with the web development software “Dreamweaver”. This included instructional web site was created based on a fictional coffee company. The main argument behind this software is that as users go through the documentation to create their own website they more than likely maintain the original look and feel of the sample website. The problem with this is that this particular technology eliminates the creativity of the user by giving them a pre-made website to follow the instruction of, completely forcing the absence of individualism through the creation of a website.

In “Thinking The Internet” Sterne brings up the idea of context. With this we need to study the Internet not just how it is used but also in the context it will be used. The Internet needs to be studied in many ways in which it can be used. The other term which is brought up by Sterne is called “articulation” meaning, an relationship between two previously unrelated objects. The point of this is not to develop a pure theory but to use theory to explain the phenomena. Another thought brought up by Stern is that the study of the Internet should be completely objective. We must take a completely un-biased stand when forming an opinion of the Internet. The main point of this essay, that I got, is that we need to treat the Internet like any other from of computer-mediated communication. The Internet is becoming much like any other form of communication and we should not single out the Internet and study it in a different way.

The water in my toilet

Jonathan hearts Raymond.

"Yet like scholars in other fields, Internet scholars have a tendency to universalize their own subjective impressions and dispositions, thereby grossly overestimating the impact, magnitude, accessibility, and universality of their object of study." -Jonathan Sterne, who, if you haven't heard, hearts Raymond Williams.

Isn't that what Sterne was doing though? What makes Sterne's approach to the study of the Internet any less subjective, impressionistic, and removed from his disposition? Not a thing. Don't give me any "Cultures of Internet" changing the meaning of a book otherwise titled "Cultures of the Internet." You want overestimation? There you have it. And while I do agree with much of what Sterne was saying about the Internet not being autonomous and relating to other cultural phenomena, I think he overestimates the universality of "a cultural studies book entitled the Internet in the style of Raymond William's Internet." Anyone can make a good point, but cultural studies folk can't do it without boring the hell out of me or using more than one paragraph. I've decided that Academia is an art.... the art of trying to sound smarter than your peers. Academia is just like the water in my toilet. When I get done using it, it's not very clear, and usually very shitty.

Technology and Social Classes

There are many, many different areas to go with a post about cultural studies within technology. I was most interested in the notion of technology dictating social classes in the second article about "New Media". We briefly discussed in our first week's lecture that the cost and knowledge of a certain technological product can influence who can actually buy or use the product. This idea is the notion that a new product or innovation can actually dictate social classes or even create racial boundaries. The author says, "technology itself can engineer relationships among people that, after time, become just another part of the landscape." The example used showed how a certain bridge enabled wealthy New Yorkers a good commute while disallowing the working class a method to get to the same place. It just seems that technology starts to cater to certain classes for political reasons while covering up their tracks with over exaggerated benefits and bonuses. As technology progresses, is it possible it will be more inclined to regulate even more behaviors?

oRly?!

The "author in the authoring software" section caught my attention when I read Gillespie's article. All-in-all this section was about how technology and authoring tools change the way we look at authoring. I don't really think that technology and tools change the meaning of words. An author is an author no matter what tools are used or what works are being created. I liked the comparison about putting the audience in the place of the painter or photographer. Basically the viewers would feel as if they are there when the picture was being made. As a designer, I also try to think along those same lines. I imagine what other people would like to look at and what would be pleasing to the intended audience in general. At first I thought Gillespie got hung up on using the word "author" since he kept using it interchangeably. He also mentioned that the word author can be depicted with a writer sitting at a desk creating stories all the time. However, later on in the article, he states that the "act of authorship takes many forms." I would have to agree as well. An author can be anyone and everyone that in involved in the process of creating something. Just because there are advancements in technololgy, the meaning of being and author should not change.