I recently saw "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," a play written by Mike Daisey and performed locally by M.T. Pockets Theatre Company.
The local performance was directed by David Beach, starring: Laura K. McKenzie, Travis Teffner, Tawnya Drake, Sean Marko, Mara Monaghan, Tracy Nicole Lynch, Shenendoah Thompson, Chris Adducchio, and Vance Coombs. (My personal thanks to the hard-working director, cast and crew & my deep thanks for their work bringing Mr. Daisey's important work to our local community.)
The words in the title, "agony" & "ecstasy," are quite fitting... To my mind, "ecstasy" and "agony" speak to the grand promises of today's exponentially increasing technology, and also to the serious costs...
The play, which is a series of monologues, covers the history of Apple and specifically addresses the realities of the workers who make electronic devices in Foxconn's massive factories.
(To quickly get started learning about the working conditions, I'd suggest "Riots, suicides, and other issues in Foxconn's iPhone factories" by Jay Greene, published by CNET Magazine.)
About 10 years ago, when I began the first drafts of "The STARLING Connection," I'd been reading news reports about the 19th-century like atmosphere of these overseas factories, the long hours, the inability to unionize, and ultimately the suicides of workers leaping to their deaths from several stories up in the on-factory-site Foxconn dormitories where the workers live. The shocking "solution" by the company has been to install "suicide nets" on the outside walls of the dormitories to catch workers trying to kill themselves.
(It's noteworthy, the manner in which these dormitories are on-site of the factories brings to mind images of the company towns in West Virginia's history, in which workers lived in company houses and were not paid with real money but with scrip that could only be used at the company store.)
Here's what Greene, who traveled to Foxconn's factories in China, writes:
The local performance was directed by David Beach, starring: Laura K. McKenzie, Travis Teffner, Tawnya Drake, Sean Marko, Mara Monaghan, Tracy Nicole Lynch, Shenendoah Thompson, Chris Adducchio, and Vance Coombs. (My personal thanks to the hard-working director, cast and crew & my deep thanks for their work bringing Mr. Daisey's important work to our local community.)
The words in the title, "agony" & "ecstasy," are quite fitting... To my mind, "ecstasy" and "agony" speak to the grand promises of today's exponentially increasing technology, and also to the serious costs...
The play, which is a series of monologues, covers the history of Apple and specifically addresses the realities of the workers who make electronic devices in Foxconn's massive factories.
(To quickly get started learning about the working conditions, I'd suggest "Riots, suicides, and other issues in Foxconn's iPhone factories" by Jay Greene, published by CNET Magazine.)
About 10 years ago, when I began the first drafts of "The STARLING Connection," I'd been reading news reports about the 19th-century like atmosphere of these overseas factories, the long hours, the inability to unionize, and ultimately the suicides of workers leaping to their deaths from several stories up in the on-factory-site Foxconn dormitories where the workers live. The shocking "solution" by the company has been to install "suicide nets" on the outside walls of the dormitories to catch workers trying to kill themselves.
(It's noteworthy, the manner in which these dormitories are on-site of the factories brings to mind images of the company towns in West Virginia's history, in which workers lived in company houses and were not paid with real money but with scrip that could only be used at the company store.)
Here's what Greene, who traveled to Foxconn's factories in China, writes:
There are other, less obvious issues adding to tensions in these teeming facilities. Wages may be high compared with other jobs in China, but they are sometimes barely enough to cover rent in the huge dormitories in which employees typically live, and still leave workers with money to send to family members in villages who live on even less. Managers can subject employees to harsh public ridicule that would be unthinkable in Western workplaces. And employees are often reluctant to make waves simply because there are so many other people who would happily trade places with them.
I took pains in "The STARLING Connection" NOT to single out any particular entity, as these issues apply to more than one corporation, group or individual. This is why every entity in "STARLING" is fictional: TEMPLE, PATRIOT SECURITY, etc.
However, at the time I began writing "STARLING," I'd begun to notice, among other concerning trends, the super-hyped Apple product launches, how people would camp out for DAYS and / or wait for hours in long lines in front of the company store to get their hands on the "latest device."
Something about the whole "camping out for DAYS" thing seemed extreme and off-balance to me, particularly the way in which so many people today seem to have a kind of religious devotion to a transnational corporation and appear to have no care or concern whatsoever about precisely how those devices are made, what is going on across the world, the working conditions of the folks who make said devices, etc.
Today's electronic device product worship strikes me as cult-like, as a kind of technology worship or worrisome use of technology. It appears to be much more "see my latest phone / see my status symbol," rather than "I have in my hands a powerful tool of communication and I'll use that tool as best I know how to advocate for human rights around the world."
Of course, many of us enjoy the benefits of our "smart phones," the ability to communicate from any location, to work from any location, to extend our brainpower by quickly finding information via the World Wide Web (apparently we ARE now "cyborgs," as Mr. Daisey's insightful play seems to imply...)
Of course the issue is larger than only the technology-obsessed individual camped out at the company store to get his hands on the latest device because suddenly last week's device is no longer "good enough."
But has this tech-crazed person seriously considered the amount of hours he himself works to obtain each & every "latest" device? And more importantly, who is he or she working for? Is he or she working for oneself or, like the overseas factory worker, working his or her whole life for someone else? How much opportunity for a whole life as a fully developed human being who knows a measure of peace and love do individuals around the world truly have in today's system? Today the corporation you work for may give you no choice about whether you will carry your "latest device" 24-7 where you can be reached 24-7 and work 24-7 for someone else 24-7. Are you profiting? Or are you running ever faster and losing ever more of your life, time, humanity, family? Do we have balance or humanity or are we losing balance and humanity?
Seems a "new" device comes out each year & EVERYONE MUST get it or risk being left behind or social stigma. Yes, I have had at least one individual outright judge me on no other information than seeing my phone. My phone isn't a "smart" phone because I don't want a phone that's "smarter" than me (that's a joke, folks). Unfortunately, this kind of judgment of a human being based on whether or not he/she has the latest technology seems to be growing more common... And what if, just what if, the "free" trade "globalization" doesn't in reality pay you enough to afford the latest $400-$600 "smart" device every year? Will you be stuck forever in poverty because you can't afford to keep up with the fast-paced technology? Should you go into massive debt to afford this technology, or afford the constant re-training / education the ever-more-fast-paced "global" economy demands? (Full disclosure: I'm currently getting around to reading Thomas Friedman's book, "The World is Flat." My thanks to Mr. Friedman for the well-written perspective of the beginning of the 21st century.)
Has the person camping out for DAYS in front of the shiny company store with the tantalizing fruit symbol asked the critical & necessary questions each individual must ask him or herself to develop his/her consciousness:
Or are the "smart" devices actually serving to distract thousands & thousands of folks from fully facing these questions?
It's true we can't necessarily say this technology is "all bad," but we also clearly cannot say it is "all just peaches & cream" either. I am VERY concerned that our society is rushing full speed into a world that many of us may not want to live in, a world we may not necessarily realize we are creating. I take a hard look at this world, and the possible resulting end game regarding what it could mean for our humanity, in"The STARLING Connection."
The issue of course goes beyond "smart" phones to gaming & the rise of virtual "reality."
Then we must seriously consider the extent to which we are slaves to consumerism and become slaves to technology, to artificial "reality" and a particular system-Construct. Are most of the people in the world truly free in today's "globalized" Construct? Or are most of us working all our days under a tech-enabled form of slavery?
The issue runs head on into the serious extreme issues surrounding what is commonly called "globalization" and the question of whether or not there can be such a thing as "free" trade? How much has truly changed, in terms of the level of human consciousness, since the transatlantic slave trade? Have we not today simply shipped slavery and pollution overseas while pretending we're "free"? But how can any person or nation be truly "free" if another is enslaved?
I worked on "The STARLING Connection" for almost 10 years, between other jobs. One of my goals was to try to dig deeper into the issue of how and why people have come to worship their devices and technology so much and appear to put more faith and trust into technology than perhaps is truly warranted, considering the infinite face of the unknown, including the nature of our humanity or why we are here.
"STARLING" looks deeper into what this all means and whether or not our unbridled faith in our devices and technologies will truly bring us to the "Promised Land," as advertised? Or are we rushing frantically to further build something far, far, FAR different than a technological so-called "globalized 'free' trade" "Heaven on Earth"?
Without further explanation, I'll continue with the excerpts from the first few chapters of "The STARLING Connection," which I've been sharing this year on theodorewebb.com. The person speaking is the novel's narrator, 15-year-old Simon Laramie. "STARLING" is set in "America" in the year 2045:
However, at the time I began writing "STARLING," I'd begun to notice, among other concerning trends, the super-hyped Apple product launches, how people would camp out for DAYS and / or wait for hours in long lines in front of the company store to get their hands on the "latest device."
Something about the whole "camping out for DAYS" thing seemed extreme and off-balance to me, particularly the way in which so many people today seem to have a kind of religious devotion to a transnational corporation and appear to have no care or concern whatsoever about precisely how those devices are made, what is going on across the world, the working conditions of the folks who make said devices, etc.
Today's electronic device product worship strikes me as cult-like, as a kind of technology worship or worrisome use of technology. It appears to be much more "see my latest phone / see my status symbol," rather than "I have in my hands a powerful tool of communication and I'll use that tool as best I know how to advocate for human rights around the world."
- What happens when a population wholly devote themselves to technology, yet lack compassion?
- Is technology making people more compassionate or less compassionate?
- Are the "latest devices" increasing critical thought or decreasing it?
- Who has the power regarding these technologies? (I've written many posts here on theodorewebb.com regarding information, data and privacy issues. Scroll down to see previous posts...)
Of course, many of us enjoy the benefits of our "smart phones," the ability to communicate from any location, to work from any location, to extend our brainpower by quickly finding information via the World Wide Web (apparently we ARE now "cyborgs," as Mr. Daisey's insightful play seems to imply...)
Of course the issue is larger than only the technology-obsessed individual camped out at the company store to get his hands on the latest device because suddenly last week's device is no longer "good enough."
But has this tech-crazed person seriously considered the amount of hours he himself works to obtain each & every "latest" device? And more importantly, who is he or she working for? Is he or she working for oneself or, like the overseas factory worker, working his or her whole life for someone else? How much opportunity for a whole life as a fully developed human being who knows a measure of peace and love do individuals around the world truly have in today's system? Today the corporation you work for may give you no choice about whether you will carry your "latest device" 24-7 where you can be reached 24-7 and work 24-7 for someone else 24-7. Are you profiting? Or are you running ever faster and losing ever more of your life, time, humanity, family? Do we have balance or humanity or are we losing balance and humanity?
Seems a "new" device comes out each year & EVERYONE MUST get it or risk being left behind or social stigma. Yes, I have had at least one individual outright judge me on no other information than seeing my phone. My phone isn't a "smart" phone because I don't want a phone that's "smarter" than me (that's a joke, folks). Unfortunately, this kind of judgment of a human being based on whether or not he/she has the latest technology seems to be growing more common... And what if, just what if, the "free" trade "globalization" doesn't in reality pay you enough to afford the latest $400-$600 "smart" device every year? Will you be stuck forever in poverty because you can't afford to keep up with the fast-paced technology? Should you go into massive debt to afford this technology, or afford the constant re-training / education the ever-more-fast-paced "global" economy demands? (Full disclosure: I'm currently getting around to reading Thomas Friedman's book, "The World is Flat." My thanks to Mr. Friedman for the well-written perspective of the beginning of the 21st century.)
Has the person camping out for DAYS in front of the shiny company store with the tantalizing fruit symbol asked the critical & necessary questions each individual must ask him or herself to develop his/her consciousness:
Or are the "smart" devices actually serving to distract thousands & thousands of folks from fully facing these questions?
It's true we can't necessarily say this technology is "all bad," but we also clearly cannot say it is "all just peaches & cream" either. I am VERY concerned that our society is rushing full speed into a world that many of us may not want to live in, a world we may not necessarily realize we are creating. I take a hard look at this world, and the possible resulting end game regarding what it could mean for our humanity, in"The STARLING Connection."
The issue of course goes beyond "smart" phones to gaming & the rise of virtual "reality."
- Where are we headed with these increasingly powerful technologies?
- Have we created or are we creating a "god" out of our technology?
- Is our new "god" now become artificial virtual "realities" so many are now heavily involved in burning away their short lives?
- As we "connect" deeper into the Matrix, are we actually dangerously disconnecting from Nature and each other (observe in our daily routines how many people seldom look up from their phones, to see the sky, stars, wind, trees, animals and birds? or how difficult it has become to engage people in conversation, even on elevators...)
-
Are our "latest devices" increasing concern about the environment/the Real world we live in? Or decreasing concern about the environment / Real World? Many children and even adults today seem to be in pain if they are not constantly in the artificial worlds of their ever-more-powerful "video games," even as the world grows hotter, in many ways...
Then we must seriously consider the extent to which we are slaves to consumerism and become slaves to technology, to artificial "reality" and a particular system-Construct. Are most of the people in the world truly free in today's "globalized" Construct? Or are most of us working all our days under a tech-enabled form of slavery?
The issue runs head on into the serious extreme issues surrounding what is commonly called "globalization" and the question of whether or not there can be such a thing as "free" trade? How much has truly changed, in terms of the level of human consciousness, since the transatlantic slave trade? Have we not today simply shipped slavery and pollution overseas while pretending we're "free"? But how can any person or nation be truly "free" if another is enslaved?
I worked on "The STARLING Connection" for almost 10 years, between other jobs. One of my goals was to try to dig deeper into the issue of how and why people have come to worship their devices and technology so much and appear to put more faith and trust into technology than perhaps is truly warranted, considering the infinite face of the unknown, including the nature of our humanity or why we are here.
"STARLING" looks deeper into what this all means and whether or not our unbridled faith in our devices and technologies will truly bring us to the "Promised Land," as advertised? Or are we rushing frantically to further build something far, far, FAR different than a technological so-called "globalized 'free' trade" "Heaven on Earth"?
Without further explanation, I'll continue with the excerpts from the first few chapters of "The STARLING Connection," which I've been sharing this year on theodorewebb.com. The person speaking is the novel's narrator, 15-year-old Simon Laramie. "STARLING" is set in "America" in the year 2045:
ULTRAs are the computer-driven pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles you can fit two families or even a whole office full of people in. I guess the “grown-ups” all fly by so fast they don’t even see the kids that nobody cares about get thrown over the hill. Maybe they’re doing really important work with their noses stuck all the way up into their Me-Pages.
Me-Pages are TEMPLE’s main product. They’re high-tech, stretchable personal supercomputers made out of nanomaterial. Recons work 23-hours a day making the Me-Pages behind bars in the massive Reconditioning Center “dormitories.” Everyone has a Me-Page, even toddlers.
Has our "free" trade bought Freedom for the WHOLE World?
Or have we traded ourselves deep into a Cult of Tech-enabled Slavery?
Read "The STARLING Connection."
