The Tellings of a GT Freshman
Hmmmmm....... "E-TOPIA"
Imagine a world where leaving your home is never necessary. Where your work, your family, and your recreation are all found in one central location. This is the idea behind William J. Mitchell's essay "E-TOPIA". Mitchell theorizes that eventually (probably soon) technological advances will make all the different aspects of our lives converge and all of our responsibilities can be taken care of without ever leaving your home. Much of this is based on telecommunication and the idea that it will allow people to work from home rather than actually going in to work. He explains how with the help of the internet and other technologies people no longer have to run errands, they simply telecommunicate and it shall be done! For some this may seem like the perfect life, but I however must disagree. The first thought that came to my mind was the novel "Anthem" by Ayn Rand.
The thought behind that book is that all individuality has been removed from society and people do not make chocies, instead their lives are decided for them. The two topics may not seem to relate, but the do to me. In the book people communicate by television and they live in small uniform communities. This concept is how I imagine society going wrong under the conditions Mitchell speaks of. I think that somehow technology (or the people creating it) would seize power over the population and people would becomes puppets to "society" AKA technology. I am not worried about this too much however, because I think people are responsible enough to control technology and not let it control us. At least I hope this is the case!!!!!
Tara McPherson's Reloaded was an interesting article that discussed the internet and television and the roles that they each play in society and how two things that appear to be closely connected are in fact two very different things. My response to this is that I agree that they are two separate things. There are a number of differences. Television is definitely more restrained and more structured. Normal people have no say in how television is organized. They must fit teleision into their lives by working their schedule so that they have free time to watch their favorite shows. The internet is quite different on this level. The internet is always available and the material placed there is bound to be available for an extended period of time so that you can look at it at your own convenience. There is also a lot more variety present on the internet. There is information on any topic you want to find, and you can even create your own webpage. When you use the internet it's almost as if you are entering a whole new world. There are other people to connect with unlike TV where you are simply there to watch a structured show. Through chat and e-mail people are able to contact one another and use the internet as a tool for connecting poeple. This article was interesting and evokes a lot of thought. If you get some free time you might look it on the web, I doubt that there will be a TV show about it anytime soon!!!!
After reading selections from Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida I am pleased to admit that I am intrigued by many of his thoughts and ideas on photography. There were a number of times I had actually had the same thought myself, and it was interesting to know other people, or at least one other person had thought the same thing I had. For instance, when he began talking about the picture of his mother and how he recognized her but that it was not the mother he knew, I understood exactly what he meant. I feel that way every time I look at a photograph of someone I know that was taken before I knew them. I have even had that feeling looking at childhood pictures of myself. I know they are pictures of me but I do not remember those times and it is so hard for me to connect to the picture and see it as me. I also related to his section on posing and becoming an object in pictures. I think that pictures are meant to capture something special. Something beyond faces; a moment in time, or a feeling. Whats strange to me is that although I think this way I prefer posed pictures. I like the sense of order and getting eveyone in the picture to look their best. I'ts a strange conflict that I struggle with. I think Roland even struggled with it a bit himself. He talked about how he posed and knew that he wasn't himself in photographs, but yet he always posed and became an object despite his knowledge. The selections were what I think of as a series of thoughts. I found them to be quite interesting and mentally challenging. I reccommend this reading to anyone who is looking to think a bit deeper and question things for a while.
