Suffocating technology

When I read Bruce Sterling’s “Maneki Neko,” I found it interesting how Tsuyoshi’s brother is leaning away from the new society that heavily relies on technology. As it is stated in the beginning of the story, Tsuyoshi’s brother cannot stand his profession. Although a career is just a career, it is consuming his life and Tsuyoshi’s brother sees more cons than pros to it. The more technology improves, the more stress it seems to put on our lives. As we progress into the future, technology will just continue to be more immersed into our lives. Take the telephone for example. In the past, people would use payphones and pagers were the mobile means of telecommunications. Slowly, cellular phones came about and only a limited number of people were able to afford such bulky and inefficient devices. However, over time, cell phones have slimmed down in size, and have been more affordable so that more people have the opportunity to purchase them. Nowadays, instead of just the simple function of calling, cell phones can do much much more. They allow people to listen to music on the go, text others, and take pictures and videos. With the texting feature, it just becomes so much easier to communicate with others. If a person want to send someone a message without wasting much time or effort, texting make it so easy to do so. Because of its effectiveness, many people have adopted texting as a major means of communicating with others. This just raises the value of having a cell phone.

The point is, everyone is moving towards relying on technology so much. Imagine a day without a cell phone. It’s almost as if you got a part of you cut off from the rest of the world because it’s just that much harder for you to communicate with others as it is for others to communicate with you. We are all just becoming so dependent on technology.

But that can also be a restraint on our lives. In the story, the pokkecon acts like some sort of robot that’s controlled by some sort of central artificial intelligence that somehow has access and control to every single person with a pokkecon. It’s like some artificial brain can track us all down and dictates us our every move. How then can we enjoy and live life? With that, I would rather live a life free of technology so I am not burdened. It’s no wonder Tsuyoshi’s brother opts for the “sacred place in the mountains,” where it is soothing to be free of technology. There, he is probably living life the way he wants to be. If technology gets to that point where it becomes way too immersed in life, I would want to run away to that sacred place in the mountains too.

- Brittany Judoprasetijo