Luditas y Tecnócratas

The world today is a machine of chaos. The virus is running rampant, killing 2700 in one day. Social media sows discord and division in our populace and politics. Things aren't the way they were before, you'd hardly even recognize it anymore. We, as an organism are so attached to our technology that most of us couldn't live without it, or even imagine a world without it. Would it be like the Utopia or New Atlantis or Sir Tomas More and Francis Bacon? Maybe. Maybe not. Would I even be writing this if I knew that nobody would read it? Without the support of the internet to share my ideas, would they still be worth writing about only for myself, or just family and friends?  

Everyday is a new construct in which technology is used to maximum effect. We leave our smartphones in our pocket all day long at work and even go on them when at home at night. Our computers, televisions, and video game consoles are bastions of the shiftless biomass, the state of nature in America right now, especially under quarantine. Social media is used to no end and will probably continue to be ad infinitum. 

But not all of it is bad. Tech can be used for the good of society but more often than not, when tech is left unregulated, it becomes a tool of the super rich, powerful, technocrats. They use their mathematical scientific abilities to create apps, or websites, or algorithms that potentially can last forever until eventually replaced by another one. 

You are not a gadget. It isn't normal for a human being or animal [for man is but an animal with sense of virtue of what is good] to walk around with a computer in their pocket, forever connected to a fantasy mini universe [the internet] at all times of morning, day, or night. But we let these things happen because we're moving with the spirit of the times. If everyone has the new iPhone, then it means it's time to upgrade my old iPhone and get the newer one. Is that what you should do?

The luddites that exist in society today are borderline living on the fringe types. They might live in the woods, on a farm, or Wisconsin, or Alaska, or a wood elf type of forest area with big houses enshrouded in darkness. Isolation and loneliness isn't as much of a problem for the luddites, for they always have the natural world, the natural order of things that makes them happy. On the other side of the equation, in comparison, the technocrats have their money, power, and grand influence over the emerging world to make them happy. Who am I to deny any of them happiness? 

The way of the old world is dying and/or already dead. Language learning isn't a focus in America. Music learning isn't a focus. We no longer read books or get our kids to be interested in them. Math test scores are very low. Science scores are very low. Kids from other countries come here to learn and learn more than our kids do, taking their knowledge back to their own countries and doing good things in their worlds. We focus on getting our kids through college and getting them to work, a very fine venture but if they don't actually learn anything, are we really doing a good job?

The old world is nature, animals, music, books, art. The new world is television, video games, movies, social media, and constant overuse of technology. There are good and bad variables regarding the characteristics of the old world versus the new world, but it can't be denied that the way of the world is shifting into a deified technological statehood, being and time of the digital age. 

The cyberpunk aesthetic of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is already here. Fundamentally, most Americans [most humans with smartphones and computers] are cyborgs. We're attached to our phones, computers, and tv's like they're an extension of our body, an extension of ourselves. Who needs to play Cyberpunk 2077 when we're living through it everyday of our lives. This is why it is important to always take time to reject technology, set it down for a set period, and come back to it at a later period. If you're interested in what a true gritty cyberpunk world looks like, read William Gibson's Neuromancer. In the Trump era, it goes without saying that we are living in the realm of science fiction and far right political ideology that is so fringe that it reminds us of Nazi Germany. The past is reminiscent of the future. When we stare into the abyss, it looks back at us. 

Will the future remember things like Plutarch, Homer, Mozart, and Charlie Bird Parker? Or will they focus more on what happened during the 2016 to 2020 elections? The world lives another day but tomorrow never knows.    

Avengers: Age of Ultron

     The new Avengers: Age of Ultron movie was a blast. Let me give you the good, the bad, and the nerdy. This movie is all about how Tony Stark wants to create an AI that will "save the world" because he doesn't believe that the Avengers can defeat any really tough enemies. What if aliens attack again like the last movie? Anyway, so Tony Stark, aka Iron Man creates this AI and the AI activates itself after Stark and Bruce Banner (Hulk) have been working on it for a long time. The AI is called Ultron and lets just say it knew everything about the Avengers before it even met them in person. It's goals was to initially save the world, but he went beyond Stark's initial plans and wanted to destroy all humans and start a new. Kind of simple minded right? So that's the main plot and story of this action fest.
     First off, Ultron kind of has jokey comments to make and even reminded me a bit of the Joker from the Dark Knight. Ultron is basically just a tall platinum robot, he doesn't really look all that cool nor interesting. Moving on, Ultron teams up with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to take out the Avengers. Those two agree to help him because they have a grievance with Tony Stark, a Stark missile hit their town and many people died. Later, they join the fight with the Avengers when they find out that Ultron is trying to kill people instead of help them. This movie is mainly all action and the action is pretty good! The fight with Ultron, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch against the Avengers leaves the Avengers in the dust mainly because Scarlet Witch uses her telekinesis to get into the Avengers' heads, making them see visions, leaving them in a cloud of confusion. Then, the Hulk ends up going crazy in a town in Africa, and Iron Man is the only Avenger up that can stop him. That was a pretty fun fight. Iron Man had to call something down from space, a giant Iron Man Suit that could compete with the Hulk. Needless to say, that town was leveled.
     Next, the Avengers seek refuge at a safe house until they can figure out what to do against Ultron. They were basically defeated at that point. Then Ultron decides he needs to keep evolving so she has this Korean Avengers scientist Cho create a body for him to use. But the Avengers come to stop him while he's being uploaded into the new body. I kind of couldn't tell weather his new body was going to be human-like or if it was just another metal thing. Anyways, the Avengers take the body and its brought to Stark's lab, where Stark and Banner work on producing the Vision, an AI designed to take out Ultron! Once they have the Vision on their side, they decide to take out Ultron for good and boy is the fight a good one.
     Later, they fight Ultron at some eastern European city. Ultron's goal was to lift the city up into the sky and drop it, the impact would have killed billions. But in order to actually defeat Ultron, they had to destroy each and every single Ultron body that he had. He had his main body doing all the bad super-villain stuff, but he also had probably hundreds or thousands of other smaller bodies that they had to fight as well. Basically, they were fighting for a long time. At this point Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch join sides with the Avengers, because they knew Ultron was actually against the human race, not trying to help. The Avengers end up getting everyone out of the city and the piece of the city that was floating in the air is destroyed thanks to Iron Man and Thor. The cool part is when The Vision tells the last Ultron body that he thinks the human race is beautiful and stuff. Then Ultron says that he's hopelessly naive. Then the Vision says "Well, I was born yesterday." Then he blasts the Ultron apart. Cut scene. Fin. After the credits we see Thanos with the Infinity Guantlet and he says,"Guess I'll have to do it myself." Pretty cool eh?
     Lastly, it was a good movie although the plot was simple minded. The action fills up most of the movie, leaving pretty much no room for much of a plot. There was an interesting romance between Banner and Black Widow, aka Scarlet Johannson. In the beginning Black Widow was actually able to calm the Hulk down by putting her hand on the Hulk's giant hand. That was an important part because it shows that the Hulk can actually be controlled and not just a rage monster. Also, the movie was kind of made better because I went to see it with four of my good friends that I have met here in LA. Good movie, but I think the first one was better, and I think the next one will be better too if it involves Thanos.