In Soviet Russia, Computer Use You

lab1
Originally uploaded by revraikes.

I've been teaching people how to use computers (and sometimes build them) for a while now. Maybe not so long in the grand scheme of things, but enough time to make an observation.

I've analogized to my victims- er, initiates -that computers are just tools. They are very complicated, yes, but still... This is to diminish the perceived power (and subsequent fear of such) and allow the learner to relax into the ease of use.

However, I think the computer is one of the first tools to be so responsive to its wielder. I think this is the problem. You see, we, our society, aren't even used to a real dialog with fellow humans. Talking often results in a one-way diatribe with no valid connection.

When you use a complex system or tool like this, it asks questions of you. I remember one of the early Windows screensavers asking, "Where do you want to go today?" That can be a toughy. We also don't really know what we want anymore in our particular brand of Western culture.

As we work with these systems, we are teaching them how we draw, write, move. Those of us generating content and tagging it, in a local and external sense, are creating entities cell by cell.
This is the scary thing to people. If there is nothing there, if the soul is undeveloped from a kind of orchestrated atrophy, the system acts as a mirror to that void.

Though I have a feeling that sense of emptiness may be a skewed perception as well. We all have a history, talents and assets. And now we have the tools to make real connections - to rebuild ourselves and our confidence - to forge a collective consciousness more apparent than our dreams convey.

For what it's worth, I think we are on the verge of an awakening. That is all I wanted to say.