Writing this morning reflection as an slew of F-16C/Ds dog-fight (or joy-ride)
in the skies above at a base operational cost of $20K/hour each, completely
drowning out the migrating bird sounds ...
Reflecting on the social integration of technology that is 'promoted' by
corporate players, there seems to be several discrete steps that are repeated
over and over with each 'wave' of technological 'innovation'. As I glanced
through http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32221363 it seemed to go something
like this:
(military-industrial) exploratory development of a particular root technology
(military-industrial) deployment of derivitaves of the technology within the
'defense' sector
early adopters just outside the military-industrial (academia and related social
areas in direct contact with the military-industrial)
corporate acquisition or simple corporatization of particular derivatives as
potential consumer 'goldmines'
hyper-advertising of particular product in targeted trade areas to extend the
industrial integration/base
early 'professional' adoption
more widespread hyping/advertising to the broader market
'prosumer' adoption
widespread adoption ('you have to have it')
then, on the side, a few smart/attentive/mindful individuals begin to realize
that the 'have to have it' paradigm for particular technology is merely a ruse
to ensure mass-adoption of what is essentially a technique for keeping the wider
popultion attention-enslaved by said technology. (nobody cares about this fringe
'nettime' phenomena)
the technologies comprise detailed methodologies for tapping the life-time and
life-energies of the widest swath of the population to ensure that there is a
constant power-base for those in power. they include energy-sapping feedback
mechanisms for making sure that the system is not compromised by infiltration of
countervailing ideas and processes.
(and it's possible to substitute, cultural-industrial, pharmaco-industrial,
bio-tech-industrial, media-entertainment-industrial, and so on, though I
personally consider that the entire industrial production complex is ultimately
rooted in a certain level of desperate violence that comes from that particular
dimension of human nature that demands Darwinian projection of genetic
information into the future, perhaps ... )
radio, TV, Internet, drones, bio-tech, over-the-counter drugs, cars, ...
rinse, wash, repeat.
we are Devo.
jh
--
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Dr. John Hopkins, BSc, MFA, PhD
grounded on a granite batholith
twitter: @neoscenes
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/
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