Programmed to Respond

Long before technology really had grasp on the world (because I feel myself to be oh-so-old), I recall spending an obscene amount of time ensuring that my MySpace was just so. HTML gave me and all the hormone-driven teenagers something to do with themselves when they should be writing up homework, but would much rather be stuck in the back of someone's car playing with the hem of their crush's shirt, their heart all aflutter- but alas! It's a school night. There was art to it that involved no small form of thievery. As anyone scrolled through MySpace looking for new exotic teenagers (not persons in general, because anyone over 25 felt creepy) and found themselves struck by that amazing new thing that Jessica (it was always Jessica who had so many advantages) had moving, dancing or otherwise tantalizing across their screen on her virtual home, anyone could rest easy if they only knew how to search through the code and pick out that unfamiliar thing. Copy and paste. It'...

Methods of communication have evolved and expanded dramatically over time. Humanity has used the word of mouth (as in runners), delivery animals (as in pigeons), the Pony Express, the train system, the telegraph, smoke signals, Morse code, and many other methods besides to communicate with others over vast distances… or right down the street. Many of the communication vessels above are still used, although some in less practical ways, and simply for the sake of nostalgia. The primary means of communication now rest in e-mail, text messaging, the occasional though rare phone call, and somehow, for some reason, the postal service. Why is that? How is that? The postal service has always had some advantages over the new(er) and therefore exciting electronic mail. We cannot, at the moment, send a physical package via e-mail… yet. This is an advantage that I believe will be called into question once 3-D printers are normalized, something to occur very soon. There is also the added fee...

Erik Hanberg hasn't had a full time job since 2008, he says that's because "I've been leaping from moving trains… piecing together a career.” His security comes from dipping his fingers into several different projects and using tech to keep the money rolling in.  And he’s not keeping his secrets to himself. He wants to spread the word, which he’s done as a guest speaker in the classroom (of Professor Andrew Fry, specifically), but has also put books out into the world to be gobbled up by those he can’t speak to personally. His success came, as it does for many great achievers, out of failure. Erik started at Tacoma’s Grand Cinema in 2004, where as the Managing Director accomplished the previously impossible task of putting the Grand in line to run itself using the innovation of technology. He was amazingly successful. So successful that he decided that he didn’t need to work for the Grand because he could do this on his own. “What if I owned this? I can own this a...

With the creation of the World Wide Web, a new dimension that is slowly merging with our reality has come into existence. Once upon a time, a person's imaginary existence was a private matter that few others may or may not have access to, depending on whether the creator chose to somehow publish this world. Now, those worlds can not only be shared, but the act of creating those worlds can be a shared act. Truthfully, it is the shared act of our time, the art of our century. Whether I want to or not, I am forced to know and interact in this world, but I want to be more than a pawn. The attempt to pull oneself away from this world can leave one out of the happenings of the truly physical world as it is now the central method of communication and exchange of everything, from the arts to basic necessities. I need to be an active player in the land beyond the electronic realm, or at least be able to communicate about it, thereby bringing me a step closer to not being a pawn. I wa...