WIRED: adj. 1. The ability to function effectively and confidently while using computers, on-line services, video, and other "new" technologies. 2. The ability to appropriate new technologies to one's enjoyment and advantage 3. To be up-to-date, in the know, not caught by surprise.
MESSAGE: 1
DATE: 10.1.95
TO: <TOS_PA@ECUNET.ORG
FROM: <GENXLATINO@AOL.COM>
SUBJECT: GETTING WIRED: How MTV helps me find my way through the chaos
BODY:Have you heard? Soon our coffee makers will be attached to our alarm clocks. When the alarm clock goes off, the coffee maker will automatically start brewing. This system will also be smart: hitting the snooze button on the clock will make the coffee maker snooze, too.
How about video wrist phones? Technologists predict that many of us will soon wear video phones next to our wristwatches. I won't even need to know where you are to call you. I'll simply dial your personal code, and the labyrinth of satellites, phone lines, and fiber optic cables will find you. The only way I'll find out that you are hanging from a ledge in Yosemite National Park is that I'll see the crisp image of the Half Dome in the background when you answer.
OH, HOLD ON. I JUST GOT E-MAIL
TO: GENXLATINO@AOL.COM
FROM: CRK@DISNEY.COM
RE: STILL HERE. STILL GOT A JOB. B-BALL ON WEDNESDAY MORN?
O.K. I'm back. Anyway, coffee maker/alarm clocks and video wrist phones are still somewhere in the future. But don't keep your head in the sand for too long. The digital age is upon us. Disney buying out ABC/Capitol Cities is not about Peter Jennings reading the news with a Mickey Mouse hat on. It's about a multinational interest preserving its stake in the future by making sure it is wired.
Shouldn't we mere mortals--even Christians--consider the value of riding wire into the next millennium?
FLASH: ONLINE AP NEWS: NETSCAPE, DEVELOPER OF THE WILDLY POPULAR WORLD WIDE WEB BROWSER NAVIGATOR, SOARS FROM $28 TO $71 A SHARE ON ITS IPO, MAKING 24-YEAR-OLD NETSCAPE VICE PRESIDENT MARC ANDREESSEN THE RICHEST GENERATION XER IN THE NATION AT $58 MILLION. SAVVY INVESTORS MUSCLED THEIR WAY INTO A PERCEIVED INTERNET-BASED GOLDMINE, DESPITE THE FACE THAT NETSCAPE HAD NEVER BEFORE SHOWN A PROFIT.
For those who want to be wired but don't know where to start, I suggest a few hours of MTV.
Now, let me qualify something. As a Christian, I oppose the amoral values sometimes promoted in music videos. But I see a difference between the message and the look of the video. While the messages of a video may be non or anti-Christian, the strong colors, complex graphics, jolty editing, and heavy use of symbols that characterize videos are not inherently negative.
Many people--especially baby boomers and older--react negatively to all music videos, regardless of their message. They seem troubled by the way videos represent the world. Videos are not linear. They are not orderly. They are not word-based. They raise more questions than answers. They are less manageable. They represent a great unknown space in our reality. These people are likely to jam the remote to OFF and pick up a book, something more familiar.
But for those of us who must be concerned about living in the not-too-distant future, which medium will prepare us better: a book or a video?
E-MAIL ICON FLASHING!
TO: GENXLATINO@AOL.COM
FROM: AEJAC@PRIMENET.COM
RE: DO YOU KNOW HOW I CAN TURN OFF CALL WAITING? I GET DISCONNECTED WHEN SOMEONE CALLS WHILE I'M ONLINE.Life at the close of the twentieth century is much more like the typical music video than a novel. ANNA KARENINA has nowhere near the chaos, disorder, and rudeness of a music video. If updates on O.J., Susan Smith, Bosnia, affirmative action, and immigration press you from all directions, your very understable desire may be to escape with a good book or movie.
But ESCAPE is the telling word. While a good book might take us away from the struggles of the postmodern world, music videos reflect and engage that chaotic reality.
It's possible to read meaning into chaos. That's what chaos theory in math is about. That's what a fair share of economics and Wall Street speculation are about. That's what we are discovering with quantum mechanics. Chaos is nothing new.
And with the advent of a century in which options, technologies, and cultures are sure to multiply beyond our wildest imaginings, analyzing chaos may be a valuable skill. One way to develop this skill is by watching and trying to read music videos.
SEND MESSAGE
TO: Turbo@Forsythe.Stanford.edu
FROM: GENXLATINO@AOL.COM
RE: THANKS FOR APPLE'S WEB PAGE ADDRESS. I DOWNLOADED THE PATCH AND NOW I CAN RUN QUARK AND WORKS TOGETHER WITHOUT CRASHING.But don't ditch your books altogether. Regardless of how well you prepare, the future will still blindside you. What if a power shortage damages the software in the coffee maker/alarm clock, causing it to dump the grounds instead of fetching the water? Who will you call? Hopefully it won't be the same tech support people at the today's technology superstore who send the wrong repair disk two weeks late! And what will you do while you are waiting for the software in your coffee maker to be re-installed?
That will be a great time to escape for a few hours with a good book.
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