Hello, people of the future. Not a very far future, perhaps (I scheduled this to appear tomorrow, I hope it will/did), but the future none the less. As you read this I am no doubt being chased by bears in the woods of the wild north, unable to get any wi-fi reception or even find a bathroom that flushes. It’s all good.
The success of Transformers 2 made me consider what the future holds in store for us. Maybe there will one day be giant robots that can transform into GM vehicles fighting on our surface for the survival or destruction of the human race, but for some reason I find it hard to do so. What I, coincidentally, found far more worrying and of more acute interest is the state of our intelligence, and how it’s evolving.
In a way this guy prompted it, because, while he is very passionate in his defense (which is admirable), he is espousing stupidity. “Don’t think so hard, dude. There are robots. Look at Megan Fox’s tits bouncing!” Don’t be boring. Don’t be a “snob”. Be fun. Be dumb. I’ll admit I will sometimes resort to this kind of defensive attitude over things I like but others call stupid (hello Brian thinking of Indy 4, hello me thinking of the snooze-inducing Bandits), everyone does it, but you have to draw the line between willing suspension of disbelief and retardation somewhere.
Idiocracy covered one possible outcome of where this kind of laissez-faire-les-Transformers attitude might lead us.
A film that’s been growing on me lately. Disappointed when it came out, since it could have been much better, but there’s something oddly topical about a show called “Ow my balls” and all the reassurances of “it’s got… electrolytes”.
Yet a cure for stupidity exists! Reading! Books! But for those disinclined towards such arduous activity there already exists a machine that can raise your talent level temporarily. Developed by Allan Snyder, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation can enhance your cognitive abilities for a limited time through electro-magnetic stimulating pulses to your brain (the name sort of gave it away). That already sounds like science fiction, but it’s been available for quite a while now. Its main use has been for helping people with depression and schizophrenia.
On top of all that there’s the future of controlling objects with your mind. This fall a toy will be released where the amount of concentration you use will determine if and how high you can keep a ball floating in the air. It’s not technically telekinesis, but close enough.
Two things struck me while watching that clip. One was that that thing is going to get real old, real fast. It’s the kind of toy that the boring geeks buy to impress and distract people at a party, and it does so for an hour or two. A $100 well spent? Second was that of all the things they could come up with using that technology for, all they could come up with was keeping a ping-pong ball floating in the air? Not even having something where you can compete with someone in concentration, trying to force it towards your opponent? Give him an electric shock if he loses, thereby making it harder for him to concentrate next time. Or mental Pong? The possibilities are practically endless already. And they chose to have it in a Star Wars package, with Yoda mewling in the background. It almost went from being cool to being sad.
So, in conclusion, while our intelligence may drive us to create the most amazing technology to realize the most profound things, be sure that we will use it in the dumbest and most commercialized way possible.
