from the globe and mail
1) It's going to get worse
No silver linings and no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop.
2) The future isn't going to feel futuristic
It's simply going to feel weird and out-of-control-ish, the way it does now, because too many things are changing too quickly. The reason the future feels odd is because of its unpredictability. If the future didn't feel weirdly unexpected, then something would be wrong.
3) The future is going to happen no matter what we do. The future will feel even faster than it does now
The next sets of triumphing technologies are going to happen, no matter who invents them or where or how. Not that technology alone dictates the future, but in the end it always leaves its mark. The only unknown factor is the pace at which new technologies will appear. This technological determinism, with its sense of constantly awaiting a new era-changing technology every day, is one of the hallmarks of the next decade.
4) Move to Vancouver, San Diego, Shannon or Liverpool
There'll be just as much freaky extreme weather in these west-coast cities, but at least the west coasts won't be broiling hot and cryogenically cold.
5) You'll spend a lot of your time feeling like a dog leashed to a pole outside the grocery store – separation anxiety will become your permanent state
6) The middle class is over. It's not coming back
Remember travel agents? Remember how they just kind of vanished one day?
That's where all the other jobs that once made us middle-class are going – to that same, magical, class-killing, job-sucking wormhole into which travel-agency jobs vanished, never to return. However, this won't stop people from self-identifying as middle-class, and as the years pass we'll be entering a replay of the antebellum South, when people defined themselves by the social status of their ancestors three generations back. Enjoy the new monoclass!
7) Retail will start to resemble Mexican drugstores
In Mexico, if one wishes to buy a toothbrush, one goes to a drugstore where one of every item for sale is on display inside a glass display case that circles the store. One selects the toothbrush and one of an obvious surplus of staff runs to the back to fetch the toothbrush. It's not very efficient, but it does offer otherwise unemployed people something to do during the day.
8) Try to live near a subway entrance
In a world of crazy-expensive oil, it's the only real estate that will hold its value, if not increase.
9) The suburbs are doomed, especially those E.T. , California-style suburbs
This is a no-brainer, but the former homes will make amazing hangouts for gangs, weirdoes and people performing illegal activities. The pretend gates at the entranceways to gated communities will become real, and the charred stubs of previous white-collar homes will serve only to make the still-standing structures creepier and more exotic.
10) In the same way you can never go backward to a slower computer, you can never go backward to a lessened state of connectedness
11) Old people won't be quite so clueless
No more “the Google,” because they'll be just that little bit younger.
12) Expect less
Not zero, just less.
13) Enjoy lettuce while you still can
And anything else that arrives in your life from a truck, for that matter. For vegetables, get used to whatever it is they served in railway hotels in the 1890s. Jams. Preserves. Pickled everything.
14) Something smarter than us is going to emerge
Thank you, algorithms and cloud computing.
15) Make sure you've got someone to change your diaper
Sponsor a Class of 2112 med student. Adopt up a storm around the age of 50.
16) “You” will be turning into a cloud of data that circles the planet like a thin gauze
While it's already hard enough to tell how others perceive us physically, your global, phantom, information-self will prove equally vexing to you: your shopping trends, blog residues, CCTV appearances – it all works in tandem to create a virtual being that you may neither like nor recognize.
17) You may well burn out on the effort of being an individual
You've become a notch in the Internet's belt. Don't try to delude yourself that you're a romantic lone individual. To the new order, you're just a node. There is no escape
18) Untombed landfills will glut the market with 20th-century artifacts
19) The Arctic will become like Antarctica – an everyone/no one space
Who owns Antarctica? Everyone and no one. It's pie-sliced into unenforceable wedges. And before getting huffy, ask yourself, if you're a Canadian: Could you draw an even remotely convincing map of all those islands in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories? Quick, draw Ellesmere Island.
20) North America can easily fragment quickly as did the Eastern Bloc in 1989
Quebec will decide to quietly and quite pleasantly leave Canada. California contemplates splitting into two states, fiscal and non-fiscal. Cuba becomes a Club Med with weapons. The Hate States will form a coalition.
21) We will still be annoyed by people who pun, but we will be able to show them mercy because punning will be revealed to be some sort of connectopathic glitch: The punner, like someone with Tourette's, has no medical ability not to pun
22) Your sense of time will continue to shred. Years will feel like hours
23) Everyone will be feeling the same way as you
There's some comfort to be found there.
24) It is going to become much easier to explain why you are the way you are
Much of what we now consider “personality” will be explained away as structural and chemical functions of the brain.
25) Dreams will get better
26) Being alone will become easier
27) Hooking up will become ever more mechanical and binary
28) It will become harder to view your life as “a story”
The way we define our sense of self will continue to morph via new ways of socializing. The notion of your life needing to be a story will seem slightly corny and dated. Your life becomes however many friends you have online.
29) You will have more say in how long or short you wish your life to feel
Time perception is very much about how you sequence your activities, how many activities you layer overtop of others, and the types of gaps, if any, you leave in between activities.
30) Some existing medical conditions will be seen as sequencing malfunctions
The ability to create and remember sequences is an almost entirely human ability (some crows have been shown to sequence). Dogs, while highly intelligent, still cannot form sequences; it's the reason why well-trained dogs at shows are still led from station to station by handlers instead of completing the course themselves.
Dysfunctional mental states stem from malfunctions in the brain's sequencing capacity. One commonly known short-term sequencing dysfunction is dyslexia. People unable to sequence over a slightly longer term might be “not good with directions.” The ultimate sequencing dysfunction is the inability to look at one's life as a meaningful sequence or story.
31) The built world will continue looking more and more like Microsoft packaging
“We were flying over Phoenix, and it looked like the crumpled-up packaging from a 2006 MS Digital Image Suite.”
32) Musical appreciation will shed all age barriers
33) People who shun new technologies will be viewed as passive-aggressive control freaks trying to rope people into their world, much like vegetarian teenage girls in the early 1980s
1980: “We can't go to that restaurant. Karen's vegetarian and it doesn't have anything for her.”
2010: “What restaurant are we going to? I don't know. Karen was supposed to tell me, but she doesn't have a cell, so I can't ask her. I'm sick of her crazy control-freak behaviour. Let's go someplace else and not tell her where.”
34) You're going to miss the 1990s more than you ever thought
35) Stupid people will be in charge, only to be replaced by ever-stupider people. You will live in a world without kings, only princes in whom our faith is shattered
36) Metaphor drift will become pandemic
Words adopted by technology will increasingly drift into new realms to the point where they observe different grammatical laws, e.g., “one mouse”/“three mouses;” “memory hog”/“delete the spam.”
37) People will stop caring how they appear to others
The number of tribal categories one can belong to will become infinite. To use a high-school analogy, 40 years ago you had jocks and nerds. Nowadays, there are Goths, emos, punks, metal-heads, geeks and so forth.
38) Knowing everything will become dull
It all started out so graciously: At a dinner for six, a question arises about, say, that Japanese movie you saw in 1997 (Tampopo), or whether or not Joey Bishop is still alive (no). And before long, you know the answer to everything.
39) IKEA will become an ever-more-spiritual sanctuary
40) We will become more matter-of-fact, in general, about our bodies
41) The future of politics is the careful and effective implanting into the minds of voters images that can never be removed
42) You'll spend a lot of time shopping online from your jail cell
Over-criminalization of the populace, paired with the triumph of shopping as a dominant cultural activity, will create a world where the two poles of society are shopping and jail.
43) Getting to work will provide vibrant and fun new challenges
Gravel roads, potholes, outhouses, overcrowded buses, short-term hired bodyguards, highwaymen, kidnapping, overnight camping in fields, snaggle-toothed crazy ladies casting spells on you, frightened villagers, organ thieves, exhibitionists and lots of healthy fresh air.
44) Your dream life will increasingly look like Google Street View
45) We will accept the obvious truth that we brought this upon ourselves
Showing posts with label consumerism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consumerism. Show all posts
January 17, 2010
more bike shit!
last night paul and i spent maybe an hour on the path near eau claire nearing 2 in the AM, effing around on our bikes, and i am very happy to report (brag) that i can finally put my "nuts" to the handlebars and skid. i also learned a less geeky way to mount my fixie. trackstanding and to a greater degree riding backwards still elude me.
also big news, i made my first ebay purchase ever! i got a leather cardiff seat. annnnnd my second ebay purchase ever is going to be a biggie. i need a touring bike for the trip so... meet the raleigh sojourn:
can you believe it comes with the rack, seat, frame pump, and the fenders. for $800!
also big news, i made my first ebay purchase ever! i got a leather cardiff seat. annnnnd my second ebay purchase ever is going to be a biggie. i need a touring bike for the trip so... meet the raleigh sojourn:
can you believe it comes with the rack, seat, frame pump, and the fenders. for $800!
November 15, 2009
engineering consent
oh geez. ok.
part 1:
if you have the time, please watch this documentary series on Advertising/PR/Consumerism/brainwashing. - it's called Century of Self, it's split up into 4 sections, all are available on google video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151# it's pretty fucked up, even though i already have read a lot of similarly related information, i found this shocking.
for one thing, a single man named edward bernays seriously did a number on us. he is known as the inventor of public relations and is the nephew of freud. if you watch the movie you can really see the full extent of his influence, not just on the above industries, but every aspect of our culture.
just a small sample of his legacy (he lived to be 100+) we have him to thank for the following:
• 1920s, working for the American Tobacco Company, he sent a group of young models to march in the New York City parade. He then told the press that a group of women's rights marchers would light "Torches of Freedom". On his signal, the models lit Lucky Strike cigarettes in front of the eager photographers. The New York Times (1 April 1929) printed: "Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of 'Freedom'". This helped to break the taboo against women smoking in public.
• Bernays used his uncle Sigmund Freud's ideas to help convince the public, among other things, that bacon and eggs was the true all-American breakfast.
• Bernays helped the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) and other special interest groups to convince the American public that water fluoridation was safe and beneficial to human health. This was achieved by using the American Dental Association in a highly successful media campaign.
• In the 1930s, his Dixie Cup campaign was designed to convince consumers that only disposable cups were sanitary.
BUT GET THIS ONE!!!
You know the term Banana Republic?
During the cold war, Bernays (working for the United Fruit Company) and the US government made everyone believe that the President of Guatamala was an evil communist, so that they could overthrow the democratically elected leader and put in a puppet government who would allow cheap labour, and therefore cheap production of bananas.
part 2:
we're purposely being kept complacent and calm. they don't trust us and our irrational "animal instincts".
i urge you, please please please turn off your TV. stay away from hollywood movies full of product placements. keep the newspapers shut. don't go to the mall and don't use shopping as therapy.
we are already unique and different through our ideas and actions. we don't need products to "express" our unique selves. we can talk, paint, write, dance, create or destroy to express ourselves. don't fall for the planned obsolescence - if it hasn't worn out, you don't need a new one!!
i know i'm not the first person to say these things, but we have to stay on guard. through the use of psychology our minds are bombarded constantly and they understand how to sell us our "desires" very very very well.
again, please watch that documentary, but most importantly, if you haven't yet, get rid of your fucking TV.
part 1:
if you have the time, please watch this documentary series on Advertising/PR/Consumerism/brainwashing. - it's called Century of Self, it's split up into 4 sections, all are available on google video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151# it's pretty fucked up, even though i already have read a lot of similarly related information, i found this shocking.
for one thing, a single man named edward bernays seriously did a number on us. he is known as the inventor of public relations and is the nephew of freud. if you watch the movie you can really see the full extent of his influence, not just on the above industries, but every aspect of our culture.
just a small sample of his legacy (he lived to be 100+) we have him to thank for the following:
• 1920s, working for the American Tobacco Company, he sent a group of young models to march in the New York City parade. He then told the press that a group of women's rights marchers would light "Torches of Freedom". On his signal, the models lit Lucky Strike cigarettes in front of the eager photographers. The New York Times (1 April 1929) printed: "Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of 'Freedom'". This helped to break the taboo against women smoking in public.
• Bernays used his uncle Sigmund Freud's ideas to help convince the public, among other things, that bacon and eggs was the true all-American breakfast.
• Bernays helped the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) and other special interest groups to convince the American public that water fluoridation was safe and beneficial to human health. This was achieved by using the American Dental Association in a highly successful media campaign.
• In the 1930s, his Dixie Cup campaign was designed to convince consumers that only disposable cups were sanitary.
BUT GET THIS ONE!!!
You know the term Banana Republic?
During the cold war, Bernays (working for the United Fruit Company) and the US government made everyone believe that the President of Guatamala was an evil communist, so that they could overthrow the democratically elected leader and put in a puppet government who would allow cheap labour, and therefore cheap production of bananas.
part 2:
we're purposely being kept complacent and calm. they don't trust us and our irrational "animal instincts".
i urge you, please please please turn off your TV. stay away from hollywood movies full of product placements. keep the newspapers shut. don't go to the mall and don't use shopping as therapy.
we are already unique and different through our ideas and actions. we don't need products to "express" our unique selves. we can talk, paint, write, dance, create or destroy to express ourselves. don't fall for the planned obsolescence - if it hasn't worn out, you don't need a new one!!
i know i'm not the first person to say these things, but we have to stay on guard. through the use of psychology our minds are bombarded constantly and they understand how to sell us our "desires" very very very well.
again, please watch that documentary, but most importantly, if you haven't yet, get rid of your fucking TV.
June 27, 2009
MJ RIP KING OF POP CANT BELIEVE IT OMG!
everybody is facebookin' the shit out of michael jackson's death, but i'm better than that; i'll BLOG about it. it's really weird, and surreal and stupid. i hate the facebook reaction to these big "universal" events. we're all so predictable.
jonathan is leaving tomorrow night. i will definitely miss him, but it just has to be over for now.
sled island is happening this weekend, but i'm just trying to keep my head down and ignore it. head down, blinders on, and wallet closed. i really really wanted to see final fantasy, but meh, i'll forget about it soon enough.
April 05, 2009
it's a blitz.
i went to 4 different music shops today in search of the yeah yeah yeahs new cd, and it was sold out at ALL of them!
what the heck? i normally am never hip enough/motivated enough to buy music anywhere close to the release date, but i really really love the yeah yeah yeahs so i went out to do my duty as a FAN. is this normal? i've been told over and over that "nobody buys cds anymore".
so... i downloaded it on pirate bay. sowwy!
i bought some other junk instead; i got sold on this War Child compilation because it has the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are covering the Ramones and Peaches is covering Iggy Pop.
oh i'm very excited to see this:
what the heck? i normally am never hip enough/motivated enough to buy music anywhere close to the release date, but i really really love the yeah yeah yeahs so i went out to do my duty as a FAN. is this normal? i've been told over and over that "nobody buys cds anymore".
so... i downloaded it on pirate bay. sowwy!
i bought some other junk instead; i got sold on this War Child compilation because it has the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are covering the Ramones and Peaches is covering Iggy Pop.
oh i'm very excited to see this:
January 29, 2009
marathon of hizzope.
today was a pretty great day.
work was busy, boring and whatever. i left at 1 to go volunteer with my 50+ craft group/esl class of immigrant women. they are so adorable.
at 4:30 i left and decided to check out a couple grocery stores in china town, which is right on my way home. it was fantastic. i ran into this guy who works at safeway (i forget why i know him actually. its the safeway beside my other job... between the two jobs i'm starting to have a lot of random people recognizing me around downtown). we talked about not living up to our potential (he studied hydro engineering in algeria, and now works in a produce department). that was kind of nice.
i didn't buy anything because i was intimidated by the lack of english labels on products. but i will go back; there are TWO grocery stores right beside each other there and a meat shop across the street.
the grocery store thing had me feeling really good for some reason; a brief moment where i feel like i might miss calgary if/when i leave.
after i finish this blog and put on some pants i'm going for supper with erin at the heartland cafe. i'm excited she invited me to go there, i'm kind of obsessed with it lately. they have the most amazing cider there.
last night jonathan and i ended up at Walmart, checking the Toy Department to see what we could get for his 2 year old cousin. nothing at all. toys mostly suck, and walmart... also sucks. BUT jonathan let me buy/bought me Terry, the movie about Terry Fox starring Shawn Ashmore (it was 2/$10, and he bought dracula). when we got home i suggested we watch it and he agreed. i love terry fox. i cried like a million times, at all the same parts that made me cry last time.
ignore the lame song:
work was busy, boring and whatever. i left at 1 to go volunteer with my 50+ craft group/esl class of immigrant women. they are so adorable.
at 4:30 i left and decided to check out a couple grocery stores in china town, which is right on my way home. it was fantastic. i ran into this guy who works at safeway (i forget why i know him actually. its the safeway beside my other job... between the two jobs i'm starting to have a lot of random people recognizing me around downtown). we talked about not living up to our potential (he studied hydro engineering in algeria, and now works in a produce department). that was kind of nice.
i didn't buy anything because i was intimidated by the lack of english labels on products. but i will go back; there are TWO grocery stores right beside each other there and a meat shop across the street.
the grocery store thing had me feeling really good for some reason; a brief moment where i feel like i might miss calgary if/when i leave.
after i finish this blog and put on some pants i'm going for supper with erin at the heartland cafe. i'm excited she invited me to go there, i'm kind of obsessed with it lately. they have the most amazing cider there.
last night jonathan and i ended up at Walmart, checking the Toy Department to see what we could get for his 2 year old cousin. nothing at all. toys mostly suck, and walmart... also sucks. BUT jonathan let me buy/bought me Terry, the movie about Terry Fox starring Shawn Ashmore (it was 2/$10, and he bought dracula). when we got home i suggested we watch it and he agreed. i love terry fox. i cried like a million times, at all the same parts that made me cry last time.
ignore the lame song:
January 11, 2009
title
i've been searching the interweb for a milk steamer. kind of silly, but i really want to make earl grey or chai lattes. i could even make green tea lattes, i already have the matcha. but i can't find an actual milk steamer for sale. it's really frusterating. i want one like the following:
it's really annoying though. all the pages that look like they have them for sale are actually just pages of more links that seem to auto generate whatever i search. i think it's this whole google AdSense program gone wrong. i don't get it. how does endless links that never go to any products actually make money for anyone?
i started taking a look for jobs. we are back from quebec on feb 18th so i would love to have a new and good job set up for when i come back.
songs i like right now (song THEN artist which is annoying, but i CTRL Ced and Ved):
Pot Kettle Black - Tilly & The Wall
You Don't Know Me (feat Regina Spektor) - Ben Folds
Our Drab Ways - Jonathan Richman
Angels Black Mountain
Gardenia - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Confusion - The Zutons
Hospital Beds - Cold War Kids
kids (mgmt cover) - the kooks
5 Years Time - Noah And The Whale
Lake Michigan - Rogue Wave
Lindberg - Robert Charlebois
Up The Cuts - Against Me!
You Will You Won't - The Zutons
the year of the rat (MY YEAR) is almost over). that sucks.
it's really annoying though. all the pages that look like they have them for sale are actually just pages of more links that seem to auto generate whatever i search. i think it's this whole google AdSense program gone wrong. i don't get it. how does endless links that never go to any products actually make money for anyone?
i started taking a look for jobs. we are back from quebec on feb 18th so i would love to have a new and good job set up for when i come back.
songs i like right now (song THEN artist which is annoying, but i CTRL Ced and Ved):
Pot Kettle Black - Tilly & The Wall
You Don't Know Me (feat Regina Spektor) - Ben Folds
Our Drab Ways - Jonathan Richman
Angels Black Mountain
Gardenia - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Confusion - The Zutons
Hospital Beds - Cold War Kids
kids (mgmt cover) - the kooks
5 Years Time - Noah And The Whale
Lake Michigan - Rogue Wave
Lindberg - Robert Charlebois
Up The Cuts - Against Me!
You Will You Won't - The Zutons
the year of the rat (MY YEAR) is almost over). that sucks.
November 30, 2008
"hey i made a new post; check it out!!"
we got our bookshelf put together. it's so sexy.
the apartment is getting cozier and more pleasant by the day.
the apartment is getting cozier and more pleasant by the day.
February 03, 2008
the go in the go-for-it
phewf, what a week.
• started my job at the drug store - apparently doodling is NOT allowed
• had my first class of screen printing, which was so fun i said "this is FUN!" during the first project. a guy in my group, james agreed, and at the end he and our other group member, doug, high fived. but, there are no crush prospects in the class.
• made lunch every day for work (except for my trade day - mat made pizza subs mmm)
• i haven't been running - no time, too cold.
• finally went to broken city
• i bought a bus pass for february, but i can't find it now. guh-reat.
plus, the weekend.
• had caylie over and told her about zodiac signs and the science of sweating.
• bought the best socks ever
EDIT: here are some photos, weekend aftermath. my camera blows and i didn't get a good picture of all the embroidery hoop crafts we made, so take my word for it, they look super cute as a set. there's also some buttons i spilled after caylie left, our piles of sculpey crap, wonderful tea, and my amazing socks (me and the socks had a total photo shoot, i love them so much!).
• started my job at the drug store - apparently doodling is NOT allowed
• had my first class of screen printing, which was so fun i said "this is FUN!" during the first project. a guy in my group, james agreed, and at the end he and our other group member, doug, high fived. but, there are no crush prospects in the class.
• made lunch every day for work (except for my trade day - mat made pizza subs mmm)
• i haven't been running - no time, too cold.
• finally went to broken city
• i bought a bus pass for february, but i can't find it now. guh-reat.
plus, the weekend.
• had caylie over and told her about zodiac signs and the science of sweating.
• bought the best socks ever
EDIT: here are some photos, weekend aftermath. my camera blows and i didn't get a good picture of all the embroidery hoop crafts we made, so take my word for it, they look super cute as a set. there's also some buttons i spilled after caylie left, our piles of sculpey crap, wonderful tea, and my amazing socks (me and the socks had a total photo shoot, i love them so much!).
January 25, 2008
deux poteaux en un jour - comment boiteux!
follow-up to my earlier post:
i got a job at the super drug mart. it was the first place i went into and she didn't even look at my resume, sweet! i think my handshake impressed her. i start on monday. it's a perfect walk from my place and the hours are perfect.
to celebrate, i had myself a matcha smoothie - good decision, it was the best ever. i don't know if it's because i haven't had one for a long time (i used to be a bit addicted - "mighty matcha" at jj, "matcha monsoon" at bj), or my ipod just makes EVERYTHING better.
the celebration continued as i bought two jens lekman cds, and got a kwazy hair cut. it's pretty effing hip. i have the best hairdresser now, i'm finally settling down into a steady hairdressing relationship. [the corner salon, shout out]
i made a pretty life changing discovery today. headphones are better than toques - for the following reasons:
1. my hair doesn't get all staticy
2. people don't try to talk to you on the street
3. MUSIC comes out of them!
4. they are all-season
i'll never have an ear ache again! every time you see me henceforth, i will be wearing headphones. that's just the way it is.
ps. i just took a picture of myself showcasing my new hair cut and my new favorite headphones/ear ache protecters, but the camera died. hah... um...
i got a job at the super drug mart. it was the first place i went into and she didn't even look at my resume, sweet! i think my handshake impressed her. i start on monday. it's a perfect walk from my place and the hours are perfect.
to celebrate, i had myself a matcha smoothie - good decision, it was the best ever. i don't know if it's because i haven't had one for a long time (i used to be a bit addicted - "mighty matcha" at jj, "matcha monsoon" at bj), or my ipod just makes EVERYTHING better.
the celebration continued as i bought two jens lekman cds, and got a kwazy hair cut. it's pretty effing hip. i have the best hairdresser now, i'm finally settling down into a steady hairdressing relationship. [the corner salon, shout out]
i made a pretty life changing discovery today. headphones are better than toques - for the following reasons:
1. my hair doesn't get all staticy
2. people don't try to talk to you on the street
3. MUSIC comes out of them!
4. they are all-season
i'll never have an ear ache again! every time you see me henceforth, i will be wearing headphones. that's just the way it is.
ps. i just took a picture of myself showcasing my new hair cut and my new favorite headphones/ear ache protecters, but the camera died. hah... um...
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