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Have you heard about this?
The premise is that 40 children, age 8 to 15 are left to their own devices in a make-believe ghost town in New Mexico. Their goal is to build a society without any adult supervision (except for the host, the camera men, the boom mic operators, the psychiatrists and the emergency medical personnel standing by), facing the same trials and tribulations that their forefathers faced in the late 19th century; missing my teddy bear, diet coke withdrawal syndrome, etc.
The entire production is a sham of course, and just another tragedy in a long list of TV misadventures. That being said, the idea will inevitably pique the public interest in the same way that Lord of the Flies did. I think that, collectively or individually, we’ve always wondered what humanity would do if faced with a catastrophic regression in terms of population, technology, culture and government. Would we survive? Would we once again thrive as a species? Possibly. Would we repeat the mistakes of the past? Of course we would. But is it delusional to wonder what we would do right this time around, now that we are the only ones left to make the rules? Probably.
It may be a morbid fascination, but the possibilities presented by an extinction level event are nevertheless interesting. If you will permit me to revive a quote from Fight Club:
Tyler Durden: In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You’ll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You’ll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you’ll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.
Of course, such fantasies are chock-full of fallacies and rose-tinted illusions. While life in a state of nature may not be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, neither would it be a walk in the park. Many of the things we take for granted today (prompt medical care, for instance) would be in short supply, or altogether non-existent. You may think it would be “cool” to have to hunt for your food, and make your own clothes, and go exploring through the jungle with your tribe - but that notion will soon wear off once you go hungry for your first winter, or you accidentally slice open your hand and realize you have no penicillin and are now probably going to die from a simple infection.
It is common (though certainly not new) for humans these days to pine for a ’simpler time’. Unsurprisingly, longings for those ‘good old days’ are conspicuously absent on answers to questions such as: When were they? and What was so good about them? Often, vague references to a lack of dependence on the technologies of the present are thrown about - but this is pretty much bullshit.
Every generation thinks that the next generation is “lost”, and that the previous generation was the “golden” generation - perhaps even the last of its idyllic kind. And then we grow up and realize that every generation is a lot like the one before, and while the names may have changed, the problems are pretty much the same.
As far as technological innovation goes, this is nothing new (pun intended). When the printing press took its stride and began spewing out ubiquitous copies of the daily news for one and all, I am certain there were those who looked back fondly on the times when you had to talk to your neighbors in person to get the news, perhaps over a shared cup of tea. And now that the delivery boy can bring that news right to your doorstep, people will no longer feel the need to leave their house and society will degenerate into anti-social hermitages.
Well, the truth is that people still meet together face to face, to share news, stories, and a glass of their favorite drink. Even with digital wonders that allow instant communication with anyone, anywhere, we will still call each other up on that ancient relic, the telephone, and organize a time and place for us to meet, shake hands, and reminisce on the glory days of our youth.
head for the hills, the kitchen’s on fire
Posted by Aaron on August 21, 2007, 12:15 pm permalink top | general
No Updates Bad!!!!
Me going to jugglingMike.com…where crazy adventure await behind every link click
So, ummm…. seriously dude, where’s the update! Gotta have something to do this morning!!!
You raise a lot of good points, and I find myself sometimes looking back at the past and asking myself what the hell we are doing now. While examples like the newspaper may have stopped some of the news when it arrived, it cannot really be compared to the internet, or something like online gaming. That medium allows people to interact even more (no shyness, full anonymity, etc), yet they never leave their computer chair. We are getting in a world where, in my opinion, technology is taking over, and the human race embraces it. I work in technology, so I am a hypocryte for saying that, but that is how I feel.
Probably if I went and hunted for my own food I would encounter the problems you mentioned, and that would be terrible, but if you do manage to get your own food, it would be plenty more satisfying. Imagine the technologic present and imagine what would happen if we lost all electricity. A very high percentage of what we own would be of no more use. I am sure that some people would have no idea how to open their cans anymore since their electric can opener stopped working.
I find we live in a crazy world, and I sometimes look back at the golden age of when I was a kid. Of course, my vision is skewed since I was but a mere youth in the day, and now I am older and wiser, but yet… those were MY years. I miss them.