The Tech Culture Intertwine
Featured in the New York Nuu Muse Gallery show, “Visions of Tomorrow”
is the sandbox of culture and its recorder. A place for exploring ideas and capturing its history.
Nailed it
George Jetson in his flying car as if being excavated from an archeological dig
Meet George Jetson
Forget flying cars for the moment (and maybe self-driving cars too?)
The Jetsons nailed it on the future as much as anyone and probably better than most in terms of the cultural impact of technology.
Hanna Barbarra seemed to have a clearer view on future reality than anyone. It wouldn’t be the first time a cartoon had the edge on reality.
George Jetson's nemesis,
Intelligent robot shows up George Jetson's office. Its name is Uniblab. Not only is it threatening to replace George by appearing to outperform George, Uniblab tricks him into doing and sayings things that gets George fired on the spot.
AI, the Boss’s Favorite
The fact is, Uniblab is a poor performer exhibiting the worst tendencies possible in an employee. Yet the boss is so enamored with automaton that all these flaws are overlooked.
Tech gets a free pass
They got this one right. I’ve witnessed plenty of times when computers on the job made serious errors, lost data, wasted millions of dollars, and were forgiven without a flinch - All blunders that would be considered “career limiting” for a human.
See post by Maria Palombini, MBA on the topic of telemedicine,
The Jetsons on Telemedicine
This image was from an article about telemedicine for IT professionals. Do you think Hanna Barbara had any idea their cartoon might be used someday as a model of how such a system should work?
Jetsons demo TeleMed
Telemedicine was in its infancy. Then COVID happened and remote technologies suddenly became critically important. Dependency on these services remains strong post-COVID.
Who knew The Jetsons would be a best predicter of the future?
Humans are the moral crumple zone, taking the blame for failures of “smart technologies”.
To get a take on a place in time, start with the art
What were they thinking?
Art is a star witness of culture through time.
The Ideas, values, struggles, grief, celebration, what was the human experience of the times. Technology was a part of it, primitive or advancing.
For all these, look to the art, official AND unauthorized. It talks.
For example…
Trajan’s Column
Trajan’s column was not the name of the emperor’s daily blog. It was more like a graphic novel wrapped around a tall pillar of stone.
Why? Because it was too much for an email and Rome had no internet access anyway.
Trajan’s Column - Rome 107 AD (the pointy thing )
The Story
It tells of the emperor’s great victories.
And….
It also speaks of his vanity and political standing, the skill levels of artisans and engineers using the technology available at the time. And the considerable labor devoted to such a structure for the sake of it. (the unauthorized story)
The Artist
Wikipedia lists the emperor Trajan as the builder. Somehow, I’m pretty sure he didn’t create the art work or chisel the stone all by himself. :-)
How about our culture right now?
# of ethernet cable says conversations online
What does the art of today say about our culture in this digital age?
Symbols?
Are there images or symbols of this digital culture that exist outside the glass?
Or is the entire record of this digital culture contained within a digital format?
You’ve got @ in orange ethernet cable
Because, what if?
Asteroids or Armageddon
If something happens to the digital world - Will all cultural awareness go the way of those photos on that old laptop you broke? Or those Flash videos? Or you sister's old MySpace account?
Daleks, or Doomsday,…
Will it be Lost forever like when the ancient Library of Alexandria burned with no off-site mirroring or disaster recovery plan?
My dog ate the cloud
Dogs have been eating homework for centuries. One is said ro have swallowed an armada of space destroyers.
A mismatched mashup of a Dalek and Doom
What the Fschwarz?
“No one is to watch this video ever again!”
Those who fail to learn from history are the only ones who believe that intro about long ago and far away
Throw the Future a Bone
A very young analyst / designer at a famous aerospace manufacturer
Even the dinosaurs managed to leave pieces behind for us to chew on after that asteroid incident. God bless ‘em.
What do we leave for the future to remember us by?
A solid answer is sculpture
The Intertwine Zone
Submitted for your approval, a collection of ideas represented in a whimsical set of icons, with just enough narrative for a few anachronisms and misfit mashups might stand out - as they should.
Comical? Profound? Or perhaps just mildly amusing, depending on your point of view and whether your sense of humor has become twisted in the Tech Culture Intertwine Zone.
Rod Serling has much to say about our culture and technology. Some of it prophetic.
Tech culture series
This is one in a series on this topic that began with My Favorite Machine at Big Design 2011 in Dallas.
Making Art an Experience
Mario and Gameboy have been great friends for a very long time. They grew up together, went to the same schools, hung out in the same arcades, with the same friends and even celebrated Christmas morning under the tree together.
Creating Collisions
These are intended to stir up memories of real experiences in the mind of the audience to make strong connections which are naturally fused with this present experience.
People are often inspired to share personal stories with each other about what they are experiencing. This becomes more than a piece art. It is an event,
Connect > Recall > Collide > Challenge
Really, it’s about people
Me with my UX researcher partner Ann T. A great team!
To Build a Better UX
The social dynamics of these interactions are based on my many years studying and designing human- computer interactions in the business world. Art is my sandbox for further exploring the things i’ve observed that inspired me during my career of three decades in UX
Cool Nerds
Remember when cool was cool and nerds weren’t at all? Then suddenly one day without any warning whatsoever, nerds were cool. What? How did that happen? Well, I’m not certain exactly, but it did. And then Everybody wanted to be a nerd. Like me.
Sollid State Art
Here’s is piece of art that takes one small concrete step toward that goal. This six foot tall smart phone of steel speaks on the multiplicity of connections between technology and culture in this digital age
SKEUMORPHISM
It began with poking fun at Apple iconography emulating real objects. Objects mimicking screen icons was Irresistible.
Apollo 11 astronauts walking on the moon with stars in the background.
Iconic Art & Artifacts
Each has its own story, almost in chronological order, like an ancient story carved in Trajan’s Column, which is quite a relief
“What a relief” Warning, dad jokes may appear without notice
How can we know for sure that the Enterprise never encountered space invaders?
The Enterpise Shuttle
The Shuttle Mamesake
In Star Trek the Enterprise and the Space Shuttle were two different vehicles. The Star trek shuttle or Shuttlecraft or was a smaller vehicle for traveling to and from a planet from space. - The same mission as the NASA Space Shuttle, the first named “Enterprise”.
The Space Shuttle, Enterprise
USS Enterprise was the first NASA shuttle
Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour
Technology impacts culture
Technology impacts culture, sometimes according to plan. The genie keeps escaping and the world is never the same.
Culture directs and shapes technology.
Need and opportunity drive invention and discovery, sometimes according to plan.
The Intertwine
The chain of science and culture affecting one another is constant and deep.
It is a braided rope - A tangled web
This collection of icons is a cursory sweep across this rich topic.
A drive-by
The art piece
The Technology-Culture Interetwine
Material: Steel, concrete, aluminum, & stuff
This work is a mix of whimsical images with some serious overtones here and there. It’s but a small sampling of images on a vast topic.
For now, take it as a magnet for thoughts and conversation on this culture-tech intertwine and see all the interesting places it can go.
Thank you to:
Zoe, my art apprentice, a contributor to this art piece and a frequent consultant on numerous contemporary culture and technology topics,
Mary Belveal for ongoing support
VALA - The Visual Arts League of Allen
VAGF - Visual Arts Guild of Frisco
City of Frisco Public Art Board and staff
My Art fans and tech design network
Luigi and Slinky
Luigi explaining the benefits to the upgrade to your operating system
Kudos to You
Wow, if you're still reading this ,you deserve some kind of a prize, I am grateful. I know there’s stuff on Netflix you could be watching or old Star Trek episodes on Me TV. I’ll leave you with my favorite little Twilight Zone video.