Most people think that we should be using technology to make things in the world clearer. This is the line of thought that sees science as a giant spotlight of truth burning off the fog of myth and religion, shortening my to-do list while I sleep and ushering me into some kind of futurist washable dome that does my dishes for me. I think that’s kind of bullshit, but more importantly, it’s boring.
We need things to be confusing, magical and scary. That’s why I read so goddamn much HP Lovecraft. It’s why people like video games. It’s why my atheist friend Neal summoned a storm God into his vintage deadstock frames. It’s why every lonely white kid loves “Japan.” Without all that—even when we know it’s silly—what do we have? We need story. We need mystery. We need magic.
Super-famous quote alert:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” - Arthur C. Clarke.
Our technology is sufficiently advanced. Can we make it magic yet?
Take ghosts (or, as illustrated, my atheist friend Neal, dressed as no-face in a purple swirl caused by my highly deficient and now replaced iPhone case). A childhood spent obsessing over the restless dead (or, like, a google search) will tell you what makes a haunting. The top things:
1) unusually low temperatures
2) objects that move around on their own
3) weird noises
4) a feeling of being watched
5) seeing things that aren’t thereWe can make all these things happen. In fact, I would argue that the last two are a necessary aspect of our tech-drenched new order. We can make a ghost, we can make haunted houses, and they will be every bit as real as my facebook profile.
Someone get on this.
I love this. <3
