Friday, February 02, 2007

Authenticity and sex

While at Barcamp SouthEast Ireland I mentioned to Conn Ó Muinneacháin that I had a backlog of podcasts to listen to. He recommended that I delete them, but I'm glad I didn't.

On the player when leaving the conference I heard the January 5 New Scientist Live podcast where Sherry Turkle talked about what the next 50 years will bring for life sciences and the interaction of society with technology at the New York Academy of Sciences.

She said....

"In our culture of simulation, the notion of authenticity is for us that sex was to the Victorians; threat and obsession, taboo and fascination"

-- Sherry Turkle quoting her own words from Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet

So it sort of qualifies as an overheard.

She wrote those words over 10 years ago (the paperback came out in 1995, and goodness knows the first publishing date, so it could be 20 years old) and while she was talking about the interaction of robots and people, the same applies to all tech and culture today.

We value blogs because they are written without a filter.... it's real.
Documentary makers are currently in the running for this years Oscars.
Bloody Big Brother and all the reality TV that bombards us.

We crave reality. We place a value on authenticity far above that of a parable.
Think about the reaction to the business blogs not written (obviously) by a person, but by a press release polished piece of drone. They are the abhorrent.

I have so got to start work on the "Carney Girls" series of fiction blogs.
Expect to see bits on Feb 15.

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