Techno Drugs

I think the idea of drugs and technology interlinking is pretty relevant with the use of both today as well as in the past. The thought that drugs and technology both create a space of their own that is different than but similar to everyday life brings up many questions about drugs and technology.  If these two forms are somewhat similar is it possible to develop an addiction to technology just like an addiction to drugs?  I think that because it is very easy to lose yourself in technology the possibility of creating an addiction to it is pretty high.  Although the use of technology may not develop into a dependency, increased use definitely leads to habit and even though this habit of technology use may not be desired by the body because the brain is used to using it it is habit to use it again.  I guess continued use through habit is not addiction but more convenience.  

Interaction between the human brain and technology is very similar to the interaction between the brain and drugs.  Drugs and technology can both be used to ignore the thoughts, feelings, and happenings of everyday life and let the brain focus on something else than the users life.  This is not just a characteristic of illegal drugs but a characteristic of drugs used by much of the public everyday.  Caffeine for example lets the user step away from their own thoughts of being tired or moving slow in the morning and focus on what needs to be done.  Ibuprofen allows the user to ignore their aches and pains and continue being active. The internet also allows a user to step away from their own life by reading, scrolling and looking through pages a user can be mentally transported anywhere. 

Not only do technology and drugs both have the ability to transport the user away from day to day life but they also change the way that we work.  Technology allows for more efficiency, higher expectations and sometimes a seemingly easier work day.  Computers and the advanced communication brought on by cell phones and text messaging give office workers the ability to make more connections through communication, easier communications between business and overall a more efficient work day.  Caffeine allows laborers, office workers and many others start a work day early in the morning without drooping eyes, heavy breathing, and the threat of falling asleep. Acetametophine allows workers susceptible to headaches to work more efficiently without them.  Coca Leaves used by miners and other laborers in the Andes in South America allow the workers to combat the detrimental effects of high altitude and fatigue therefore allowing them to experience a longer work day. From these examples it is easy to see that drugs and technology change the way work is accomplished in similar ways.  The side effects of a work day, either combated through the use of technology or drugs, can be put aside and work can be managed more efficiently. 

Users of drugs and technology are similar in there need for progression and advancement.  Large drug companies spend enormous amounts of money on researching ways to produce drugs that are more efficient and have less side effects. Illegal drug manufacturers and growers strive to find cheaper ways to produce drugs that are stronger and create better highs for users. Drug users read about new medicines with less side effects.  Companies on the leading edge technology spend time and money to make computers or phones with less problems, longer battery life, and better connections but most importantly develop new software and constantly reinvent old technology. Technology users read articles and whole magazines focused on the development of new programs and software.  Surrounding both subjects there is an overall idea that there is always something better; a better drug, a better high, a better program.  Better technology and advancement of drugs create more desirable effects and in the end, ways to make work and life easier.

Miners chewing coca leaves

                 Worker using a computer                    

Skin

When I first heard about Shelly Jackson's "Skin" project I did not understand how word tattoos distributed between thousands of people would result in a book.  So many aspects make this project's end result of a book almost impossible to achieve. It would be very difficult to organize the people who were tattooed to make the story readable for anyone else than Shelly Jackson.  Then I started to think that maybe Shelly Jackson does not care about making a book, or even a story distributed among thousands of people, but instead came up with this idea as a story in itself.  Perhaps the text when put together person by person, tattoo by tattoo is meaningless and the only meaning lies in the willingness of people all over the world to be involved in a project that they have no idea what the underlying meaning is.  I think the amount of people involved in this project show that many people are so attracted to the idea of being part of something different, or even being part of a work of art, that they are willing to participate without knowing anything.  Having a word tattooed on the body for this project does not just allow a person to be a lasting part of a work or even give the person a lasting mark of Jackson's writing but allows the participant to claim originality in the project.  Each person who is tattooed with a word is a piece of an original document.  People are fascinated with original documents; song ideas scrawled on pieces of paper, the birth of a story handwritten on note paper, auctioned off and held in public view as valuable.  It is as if these original documents give the fan insight or a glimpse at the genius that created the document.  In some ways Jackson's project gives living people the chance to be a part of the praised original document, ink on a crumpled piece of paper.  However, due to the reproduction limits of the project, the people and their tattoos that make up the story are not only the original document but the only document, giving the participants even more reason to join the project. Perhaps no one joined Shelly Jackson's project for the reason of being a part of an original document, but it seems like reasonable motivation to join. 

Another interesting idea brought up in class surrounding this project is the idea of distribution. Essentially, Jackson's project once tattooed and finished is nothing but a story distributed among thousands and thousands of different people.  By distributing a work that is commonly found within hundreds of pages right next to each other, Jackson is making the distribution of not only her own book but everything in the world easier to see.  Each word in a story has been developed separately and among many different people.  As time advances words do not change but the connotations of words do, and this change in feelings surrounding each word is created through many different people, in many different places.  This development of a word shows that the meaning of each word in a book is distributed throughout the world, creating different ideas about a book over different times as well as between different places.   

 

Lipogram: Do Re Mi (without Guthrie)

You want to buy you a home or a farm, that can't deal nobody harm,
Or take your vacation by the mountains or sea.
Don't swap your old cow for a car, you better stay right where you are,
Better take this little tip from me.
'Cause I look through the want ads every day

But the headlines on the papers always say

Yo wan o by yo a om o a fam, a can' dal nobody am,

O ak yo vacaon by monans or sa.

Don' swap yor old cow fo a ca, yo bee say w yo a,

B ak s ll p fom m.

'Cas I look o wan ads vy day

B adlns on paps always say:

Wastes of Time

In class on Tuesday there was a discussion surrounding the use of comic books and video games and society's perception of these two forms of media being a waste of time.  Some argued that comic books are not seen as a worthy form of reading or media in society, but that they actually held worthwhile content.  Although I understand that graphic novels and comic books can be a worthwhile read for some, many people in society do not.  I believe that this aversion to comic books and not thinking of them as worthwhile is created in many people because of their understanding of what a comic book is.  Many people see comic books as on pretty low level when it comes to content and meaning, and dismiss them as fluff. This may be because the average person's normal interaction with anything close to a comic book is a lighthearted strip about nothing every Sunday in the local newspaper. Many people do not understand that comic books have evolved into a meaningful form of media, a form of media that is engaging and deeper than the fluff commonly found in the comics section of the newspaper. The same goes for society's common perception of video games and their regular users.  Most people who do not play video games see that they are a waste of time, an activity that has no worth or positive effect.  Mindless hand movements in response to visuals on a screen. Perhaps this is because a person who does not play video games and is not around them very much interacts with actual video games very little.  The "non-gamer" interacts much more with trivial studies about video game users or lighthearted news stories about excessive Playstation use leading to sores on the hands of users. This information fed into the heads of non users of video games shapes their ideas about the worth of spending time clicking buttons in front of a screen.  Perhaps these trivial studies and stories have shaped my perception of video games; because as someone who does not play video games, the only worth I can see in playing them is the slight relaxation a person gains from sitting down.  My understanding that video games are a waste of time probably is fostered by growing up in a society that values work. Looking at the very end of the spectrum of video game users I can understand more about why I see little worth in playing them.  

A teenage girl plays World of Warcraft for extended periods of time without eating, drinking, sleeping or taking care of her body until the point of death.

A man dies in an accident while working on the construction of a dam.

Which is a waste of time? 

Maybe it is both a waste of time, work or play, but I have a heard time believing that the time that girl spent in front of the computer all day was worthwhile.