Eli's+Idea+for+Digital+Project

Hello. I'm Eli, and my head is filled with lots of theories that are either crackpot, extreme, nonsense or (very rarely) intelligent. The one I am about to propose may fall under any of those categories, I'm not just not sure which. I would like to bring my idea to internet life and am looking for potential help.

As technology and media advance, the future of western society looks to mirror the futuristic visions of the famous novel "Brave New World" and the Pixar movie "Wall-E". After looking into these two stories, you can see that the catatonic futures Huxley (B.N.W.) and Staton (Wall-E) project seem more and more realistic everyday. This, in a sense, is a cause for alarm which i would like to address via some sort of medium. Understanding that companies like Apple and the ideology that the present isn't good enough is steering us down a dangerous path. The generalized other's dream, it seems, is to remain seated on a comfy chair and spend all day looking at screens. I seems like everyone is determined to buy the catatonic and desensitizing iPad! The ideology today is that if it can be done on a computer screen, it is better. Going outside and operating on an interpersonal level = bad. Staying inside locked on to a screen = good. Does this freak anybody out? Is anyone interested? I'll explicitly explain what my exact plan is once I know people are interested.

-Eli

OK! Here's the revised plan. I'm not gonna ask everyone to read brave new world, that's too much. I would like everyone to watch Wall-E (it's fucking awesome movie) with a paper and pad in hand.

Notice the movie takes place in 2805 (distant future) and is uninhabitable due to the amount of garbage as the result of decades of mass consumerism which, we can conclude is from the western world's knack for finding "new and exciting" ways to advertise more and more things in less space. Then we see the humans who have been living in a space colony orbiting Earth. It's far enough into the future that these humans have figured out a way to operate completely through screens as they move throughout the colony on a scooter which surrounds them with screens so they cannot witness any reality. They are all quite content and maintain very social lives because their screens are capable of social networking yet they VERY rarely see people face-to-face. It has gotten to the point where they are so out of touch with reality that they don't even fucking notice they're orbiting Earth!! These are de-sensitized humans who have been conquered due to their own apathy, I believe that Apple's iPad and iPhone are prototypes of these screen scooters and are steering us down the path of mass-desentization and they are doing this though making everything more convenient and overloading us with information.

SO! This has now become the "Wall-E media project". Just some notes down about the impression the movie had on you and why it's (i think) message is significant to media at large. I will pool these ideas together and then we can discuss what kind of format we would like to present my/our theories. Sound good?

-Eli

It is freaky. Technology is making us a little less active nowadays, and it seems there some Marxist vibe to your whole observation. Marx is cool, we should figure this out Eli.

- Braeden

dude! I havent joined a group yet, would be dope to work with ya man. so down to throw something together. let me know if youre recruiting still, ill get my resume ready and everything ;) cheers! -Michal

I'd really be interested to hear how you're thinking of making this into a project. I can relate to the media/technology fear in the world. I'd love to help with a project that explores those fears. -Jordan

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Let's do it! All i have is floating ideas right now. I pronounce this our official place of discourse for whoever's in and whoever would like to join. im doing a shit load of reading right now but i'll write up an outline probably after or during class tonight.

For now take a look at this link. It basically turned me away from Orwell and liberals and onto media skepticism. Orwell vs Huxley -Eli

Hey Eli,

I'm glad you posted that orwell vs huxley link, I forgot that I had seen that last year in my intro to media studies class. Anyways, I really like the concept that over-stimulation due to technology can instill fear into society and would love to be apart of this group. If needed I could produce some music for a website or video. Looking forward to hearing what you have in mind.

-Dean M

Hey Eli, Maybe getting everyone to write a short paragraph which they then create a word cloud from could be a cool way of presenting different ideas surrounding a similar topic, and then you could make a word cloud including everyones paragraphs and see what sort of words are prominent within that. Just an idea! - Tessa