Thread by @owenbroadcast

LUXURY DEHUMANIZATION

how the car i rented today illustrates why the world is no longer cool, liquid modernity, ergonomic shunyata (being devoid of an instrinsic nature)

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i bought my car for 2,000 in a field. many people equipment or tools that were more expensive than my car.

i love my car. being an artist, i am naturally not in many vehicles that cost more than this.

until today, when i rented a minivan. a new minivan.

the minivan is fully encased in digital-ness: it is designed to be as modern as possible.

this is a great illustration of how modern design and technology is dehumanizing. we often use this word, but here we can see what it really means clearly: it strips out the human element.

that basically means: it sucks and is not cool. lets quickly go over our case study here:

1. you don’t put the keys into the car.

what is the most immediate, cool, tactile part of getting in a car?

the keys. starting the engine. well, don’t worry, that’s gone now.

has anyone on earth ever complained about gripping the keys, inserting them, and revving the engine? no, because it’s awesome and feels cool.

this is now replaced by the “keys” (functionally, a remote), simple existing. they just need to be there, and the car can start.

now instead of stabbing a piece of cool steel and cranking a machine i barely understand into violent animation, i get to look around for a metal box, to ensure i am proximate to it - or worse, i just know its there, and do nothing.

robbed. emasculated. dehumanized.

2. what else is cool about being in a car?

the radio. the sensation of pressing the buttons and turning the knobs.

gone. all digital

we could theoretically accept this. but look how it spills out, from the tactile experience, into your innermost being - your image of yourself:

you want to flip through the stations. thats cool. you enjoy this.

in a normal car, you can rest your finger on the button, and just push it, while driving.

but now theres no button. its a screen. you have nothing to rest on. the birds of the air have nests: you have nothing

now you have to just have your finger there: your flaccid outstretched finger, trying to keep its place over the virtual image of a button, constantly checking to ensure you have not drifted away from it

but of course you have. look at yourself. this is a shameful position

“oh jeez ah i accidentally pushed it uh let me just” - where’s the back button? you cant feel it. no one knows. its not there. look back off the road to find it. maybe you’ll crash and save yourself from this sorry state, off to a post mortal realm where they still have

buttons

every feature in the car is like this.

3. all gauges are digital

wow i really hated seeing actual meters turn to tell me how fast i was going and how much fuel i have. i hated being directly visually enmeshed with the analog nature of the machine im trusting my life to

just kidding that rules.

at least now its way cooler to receive the information “you are going 85 mph” from an interface that looks like it could also tell me “you have seven unread emails”

oh wait that actually sucks

that actually is not cool in any way, at all

good thing this is at least cheaper

actually its way more expensive

is it safer

lol no

is it more environmentally friendly? probably not. what are touchscreens made of? they feel like plastic. well at least people like touching and looking at plastic.

everyone loves that

every aspect of life is rapidly undergoing the exact process outlined here

humans are tool creatures. our tools are part of us. we live through the tools

i am the liquid modernity minivan. i have no “minivan nature”. i am a car without the things that make a car a car

for now