SAMPLE CHAPTER FOR STORYLINE #2 (CHAPTER 35)
TECHNOLOGY REPLACES PHYSICALITY
In the hot, summer sun, the locals sauntered through their daily
rounds and thought of ways to escape the rigors of the city's unbearable
humidity. Most resigned themselves to a less active lifestyle, lounging
away hour after hour in some cool shelter. For Matt, Tim, and Greg,
Albert's continued to be the same potential portal to new realms as it
was in all seasons.
However, one of the highlights of any summer excursion to Albert's was
the fresh lemonade that cooled and sedated them. The stifling heat
provided a glaring backdrop and contrast to the gentle yet perky cold
lemon drink. The tall, plastic semi-translucent cups that held their
milk or juice during the rest of the year were suddenly transformed into
majestic chalices brimming with liquid salvation. They became
supplicants of Albert's lemon manna. It was the one refreshment that
could not be rushed, and, perhaps for this reason alone, it fit the
tempo of the lazy days of summer at Albert's.
The restaurant did not have functional air-conditioning. There was a
machine, though, fitted into a window near the ceiling that groaned and
squeaked through the afternoons. But, it had long since been clogged
with the vapors of grease that emanated from the grill and flowed out
any opening that presented itself. To combat the heat, Jack and Clarence
set up an intricate system of fans, and usually, Clarence would position
himself in front of one of them and smirk happily and playfully.
The heat, however, could not stop Albert. Albert believed that the
heat was just another reason for his customers to eat fast and be on
their way. He would rasp at any unsuspecting soul, berating them with
comments that he thought would make them promptly pay their check so new
customers could sit down: "You have air-conditioning in your house,
don't you? Well, you should go back there, it's too hot for you in here.
How are you going to stay cool in here, huh? You should go back to your
home and enjoy that air-conditioning. It's too hot in here." And he
would continue until whomever was listening finally agreed and pushed
along.
As always, Albert's antics and sweaty pestering never bothered Matt,
Tim, or Greg; his hot-blooded agitation merely added some welcome comic
relief and slightly inane theatrics. They often became enamored with
their tall glasses of lemonade and sat quietly as if in a transcendental
reverie, escaping the high temperatures and heavy air. Yet Albert would
never allow them more than a few moments respite from his capricious and
self-righteous brow-beating.
"Oh, you guys, again!. Hey, Jack, how can we get rid of these guys?!
Look at them now! They're just sitting there like a bunch of lazy dogs!"
Albert bellowed as he interrupted their silent, gradual sipping of the
icy lemonade. "You should be out there working and doing some thinking
with your heads," he moaned hovering over their table and breathing
heavily and impatiently.
"But, Albert," Greg replied, "computers do all the thinking for
everybody now-a-days. The only thing we can use our brains for is to
figure out how we got into to this mess," Greg sighed as he looked up at
Albert for some kind of a response.
"You guys! You've always got a reason to not work! You're all crazy
and you'd better get your heads looked at," finished Albert as he turned
away and looked for his next prey.
Suddenly, the three of them looked at each other and realized that
Albert's harangue had energized them and sparked their collective
thoughts.
"I am struck daily by the impact that technology has on all of our
lives and the ongoing transformation that is occurring right before our
eyes as we integrate the computer into nearly every facet of society,"
began Matt. "The general pattern is a process of reducing human physical
action and increasing our interaction with mechanical and technological
devices."
"With the advent of each successive epoch of human activity, whether
industrial, technological, or informational in content, the resultant
changes have gradually lessened the scope of tangible action and
simultaneously broadened the range of intangible action. There has been
a consistent shift from human work done in the three-dimensional
corporeal plane to work completed in the virtually non-dimensional
electronic realm. Whether we are demonstrably more cerebral or not is
less important than the fact that we are less physical, and our
technology has become an intermediary which affects tangible action and
bridges the gap between our minds and the natural earth."
"Quite obviously, we are gradually separating ourselves from the
physical plane and making the procedure of work an intellectual function
through an abstract medium. Our technologically accessible machines bear
the burden of any necessary physical toil, and we, in essence, are able
to complete actions through the processing of mental energy. If we were
to predict the possible and most extreme outcomes of such a trend, it
wouldn't be farfetched to imagine a time in which human action is
eliminated and replaced by constant thought."
"Look at the development and potential advancement of language
expression and dissemination, for example. When writing was initiated
the process was very labor intensive in terms of preparing all the items
required to eventually have words end up on a piece of paper. Printing
presses were an advancement which increased volume, and subsequently,
the typewriter enabled the individual to achieve a more efficacious
level of free expression. Computer-based documents have empowered
individuals as well as groups to complete an even more extensive variety
of tasks. Voice-generated machines take the process a step further while
simultaneously lessening the physical requirements of its users."
"The next logical step is clearly technology which responds to the
internal thoughts of its user. Conceivably, humans will embed various
apparatuses within their bodies in order to transmit their thoughts and
in turn complete actions without moving or speaking. The overall result
will be a paradoxical form of human life: an abstract realm from which
tangible movement emanates."
"As we move away from an inveterate existence on the physical plane
through a nearly total interactive and a partial corporeal integration
with technology, we edge closer to entering a purely intangible and
mental state of being. None of us would expend any physical energy yet
we would still be functional human beings. In this scenario, our
thoughts would become the focal point of our existence. Of course, we
have always used our ability to think as a means to differentiate
between ourselves and other creatures, yet when our thoughts can affect
instantaneous action then we have crossed over into another sphere of
existence. In this instance, physical reality is an objective entity and
we reside in our own subjective reality exploring the endless
possibilities."
"What had been an axiomatic perspective, namely that the physical
limitations of the tangible world are the only restraints which prevent
our imaginary realm from becoming our functional reality, is suddenly
challenged as we transform our physical world with the power of
technology. As our physical actions are eliminated through technological
means, our conventional reality shifts into an abstract realm blurring
the dichotomy between what had previously been real and imaginary, and,
in essence, unifying the two parts. We become the personification of
pure thought uninhibited by our physicality."
"One technological manifestation that allows our abstract world to be
expressed without limitations is the device of electronic imagery. In
this sphere, we can create a visual reality that defies all scientific
laws and depicts every possible aspect of our imaginations. When we
integrate this visual spectrum with mechanical apparatuses that connect
our senses directly to this realm, the barriers between our notions of
conventional reality and the abstract universe begin to dissolve as our
powers of perception are altered and overwhelmed by the influence of
technology. We begin to process intangible information as if it were
tangible and react accordingly. Our emotions move in accordance to the
electronic stimuli infused into our sensory portals by technological
impulses."
"We have long employed tangible symbols to represent conceptual and
factual meaning through our development and utilization of language and
numbers. This process of physically constructing an entity to express an
intangible idea has always required the establishment of logical
assumptions which often evolve into axiomatic thought. This process has
enabled us to develop theories and intellectual constructs in myriad
forms. Yet, through this process, our minds have always controlled the
magnitude and flow of information allowing for an implicit recognition
of the divide between our tangible and intangible perceptions of
reality."
"However, the introduction of technology removes the natural
dimensional separation between our conception of the limitless and our
rational axiomatic perception of reality because the totality of stimuli
usurps our mental acquiescence to defining parameters. We begin a
transformation of thought in which we gradually accept the intangible
output of technology as a replacement for conventional perception. Soon
even our entire physicality is linked and impelled by the electronic
signals and messages," Matt finished as he reached for the last of his
lemonade.
"Perhaps, in some cases, the process of replacing physicality with
technology will lead to positive developments," Greg started. "Physical
barriers that have limited people in the past will dissipate as
technology becomes the basis and focal point for decision-making and the
completion of actions. Those who were physically-challenged before will
no longer have to endure or overcome explicit or implicit prejudice or
scorn because there will be more emphasis put on intelligence and
creativity and less on physical markings and status. External appearance
will become less important than inner mental fortitude and
expansiveness. When all of us interact through the medium of technology,
the exchange of information will be free of the confrontational and
destructive aspects of the human character."
"In such an environment, there is the potential for societies to
become more objective internally as well as globally. Political conflict
and personal prejudices would be relatively meaningless issues when
subjective perspectives are filtered out by the problem-solving and
dispassionate mechanics of technology. The technology would act as a
buffer zone and reduce friction as interaction could assume any form
that increased the possibility for success. A virtual level of
international conduct and communication could be established which would
respond to and incorporate input from people of multiple backgrounds.
Individualism and groupism would be able to merge their energies at a
common point of ideological and intellectual construction. Objectivity
would challenge the mental and physical spirits of everyone," Greg
predicted as he looked down to what was now an empty glass.
"The crucial aspect of it all is how humans will be affected as they
slowly withdraw from the physical world," Tim offered. "In other words,
how humans will react to the gradual dissolution of the dichotomy that
has existed between conventional reality and unlimited abstraction."
"When we complete a task without technology, for example, we utilize
our own physicality or an implement which becomes a direct extension of
our bodies because of the energy that we channel through it. However,
with technology, we lose direct physical contact with an object and the
energy that is required to achieve a particular purpose. The technology,
then, through its work, creates distance between us and a given object
and both the visible and invisible forces that affect and govern the
status of that object."
"Through this process of distancing, we begin to cross over into the
realm of the abstract as our own physicality is rendered irrelevant by
the substitute entity of technology. Yet, ironically enough, as we start
this transition away from a direct utilization of our own physicality to
a preponderance of focus towards our mental capabilities, this is the
first stage at which we can see that the supposed separation between the
concrete and abstract is not so much of a division at all: the
intangible forces that affect tangible objects link the physical and the
abstract spheres together and seem to exist in the slipscreen between
what we recognize as substantive and formless. Technology conveniently
connects our sensory and cerebral centers to the tangible plane,
bypassing the need for us to express direct actions and creating a
virtual world of abstract mental deliberation and causation."
"There seem to be several steps that we must take before we have
integrated with technology to the extent that we become completely
removed from our own physicality. One aspect of the transformation is
the decision to accept the validity of a specific technology as an
implicit recognition of its conceptual yet rational existence. Most of
this is done through the habitual use of technology which has attained a
role as a defining and functional parameter of an organized society. For
example, we no longer question the actuality of the voices that we hear
through telecommunications, and we no longer ponder the veracity of the
electronic images that we see through television - we accept them
through their functionality."
"However, as the technology that provides us with sensory stimulation
becomes more powerful and more fully integrated into our corporeal
realm, the structure and contents of our faculties of discernment and
perception will be impacted, and, more than likely, irrevocably altered.
Perhaps we will reach a crossroads at which the decision will be between
embracing a definition of reality based on a functional consensus or an
unmitigated reception and acknowledgment of all forms of stimuli as
being real. It will be as if we have taken our imaginations the first
step towards true activation. Perhaps the label 'virtual' is a misnomer
anyway given the promise of an eventual merging of active imagination
with that which can be created technologically and therefore purposely
activated."
"What are the repercussions of a reality, of a realm, in which we can,
for all intents and purposes, activate our imaginations? How does this
capability affect our notion and perception of what has up until now
been our tangible reality? If I can attach myself or interact with some
kind of technological apparatus in such a way that allows my sensory
faculties to achieve a workable and practical state that is seemingly
limitless, in other words a state in which I'm no longer restrained by
the scientific and axiomatic laws which we have come to recognize as the
defining limits of our tangible world, then what must that mean in terms
of my need to reassess my understanding of existence in the conventional
and shared realm that has led humans to this stage in their
development?"
"Quite clearly, I think it's a step towards some kind of metamorphosis
for humans. We can always try to rationalize by saying that humans will
remain unchanged, and that it is only through the employment of certain
mechanisms that we will be able to enter alternative realms. And yet the
most telling response to such a stance is the consideration and further
examination of what technology actually is and the relationship that we
have with it. The two words that describe and best answer these queries
are faith and narcissism"
"Surprisingly, the word faith hardly seems appropriate when we speak
of technology because most of what we have accomplished in this field
and the results we have seen so far appear to be based on our system of
logic. None of us would want to try to refute many of the aspects of the
remarkable systems of science and logic that have worked to wondrously
and amazingly change our lives. Yet we have become so enamored with the
magnitude of our technological accomplishments that we have concurrently
engendered a calculated and slightly passionate faith in our power of
efficacious methodology."
"Certainly this could be said about the majority of us who have little
or no true understanding of the scientific principles which support the
actual fruition of our technology. Instead of developing an
understanding of how a certain technological apparatus works, for
example, we merely use that technology based on the belief that it will
produce the desired results. As the technology becomes more complicated
yet simultaneously easier to use, we are in effect exercising a certain
level of faith when we use it. We should neither disparage this type of
faith nor the basic human tendency, yet any expression of belief without
a commensurate level of understanding is an oblique dismissal of the
underlying principles."
"In the same way, our faith crosses over into the area of results and
effects: if we believe that certain technology will accomplish a given
task without really understanding the process then it is easy to apply
that same trust in the outcome. We often have emotional reactions to
technological devices - yelling when we see something on television, for
instance, or becoming excited when we are stimulated by an electronic
game. When we become emotionally involved in the end-product of a
technological contraption, we have exercised our powers of belief in the
validity of the output of that apparatus. Our trust becomes so great
that we fail to pause to question the nature of those results and we
pass into an emotionally interactive state of mind."
"A certain balance of logic and intellectual faith has always been our
basis for forming a conceptual and rational understanding of our
functional reality. However, the mental processes of our minds are
gradually being replaced with technology, and that technology has the
power to alter our perceptions to the extent that we no longer are able
nor desire to differentiate between functional reality and the abstract
realm."
"Narcissism is the other aspect of our relationship with technology.
The process of constructing mechanisms and technology which replicate
and supersede certain human actions is the manifestation of a union
between both the projection and reflection of the self."
"Every apparatus that is produced by humans is an entity which is
separate from its creator. This separation can never be completely
eliminated regardless of the extent to which we interact or integrate
with a certain mechanism. That device, then, is an object which is a
projection of our ideas and axiomatic faiths."
"However, as the divide between our technology and ourselves is
reduced to the infinitesimal point at which they virtually merge, both
physically through increased interaction and perceptually as our actions
are replaced and we begin to exist in an unbalanced more abstract realm,
this same projection of our mental selves, this object, this
technological apparatus becomes an expression of reflective energy. A
mechanical arm, for example, becomes both an entity which represents the
sum total of various logical processes, and, as it replaces the
functions of a natural arm, achieves an integration in the corporeal
realm that intertwines it with the physical self to the extent that it
becomes virtually real and a reflection of the self."
"This process is narcissistic in that we embrace the functionality of
a certain form of technology based not only on a beneficial combination
of our logic and faith which is affirmed by the efficacious quality of a
particular apparatus, but also because our interaction with that object
leads to a virtual inclusion of the manifestation of our ideas with our
self. Our belief in our own abstract ideas has generated an evolutionary
step and entrance into a further realm of abstractness based on a
certain level of self-recognition which borders on self-love."
"Eventually, because the possibilities are apparently limitless, our
bodily functions will become tantamount to irrelevant. Imagine how we'll
be able to function without exerting ourselves physically: machines
activated with our thoughts; substances that satisfy our appetites; and
human interaction that is so diffused through the use of technology that
it will dilute our emotional parameters. It really is a gradual
distillation of the process of humans expressing their mental faculties
- the one characteristic that allegedly separates us from other species.
We will become physical entities which interface with apparatuses that
respond to our every mental discharge. It's the overall process of
creating a world and environment which is artificial to the point that
we could very nearly rescind our original connection with the natural
world," said Tim.
Their stomachs were full of lemonade and it was time to once again hit
the street and battle the incessant heat. They all gave an
unenthusiastic yet cheerful wave to Albert, Jack, and Clarence at the
counter and braced themselves for the enervating temperatures.
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