The Rambling Writer: NeoLuddites Unite!

Despite sometimes writing science fiction and maybe because of writing and reading it, my questions about proliferating technology inspire me to declare myself a NeoLuddite.

The Luddites as a movement rose in the early 19th century in England as a protest against industrialization destroying traditional livelihoods and skills. Tolkien, in The Lord of the Rings novels, especially The Two Towers, seems to echo the sentiment that the tranquil, natural beauty of the British countryside had been destroyed by the pollution of the Industrial Age. Saruman (gone over to the dark side) orders his Orc minions to cut all the trees, build forges, and make weapons. From the film version: “The forests will burn in the fires of industry.” The former natural beauty is transformed to a steaming pit of mud, ashes, and smoke.

I’m certainly not the first to recoil at human destruction of the natural world, but the recent acceleration of technology adds the dimension of transforming our identities and function as humans. In short, we are so “plugged in” to digital technology that most of us can’t imagine life without our devices. And, indeed, our worldwide culture is built around it now. Most people just grab for the newest techno-gadget without thinking about the price: What does this latest gizmo offer me in exchange for what I’m giving up? Should I give up a hike in nature to plug into a recording of a trip to Hong Kong or an orbital satellite?

Studies have shown that constant use of digital media is physically altering human brain functions. Do we know where we’re going? Do we care?

When I wrote the early drafts of my near-future thriller THE ARIADNE CONNECTION, my projection of NeuroLink technology seemed distant. Now we are moving ever closer to “plugging in” directly to programmed experiences, as my character Leeza Conreid does with direct nerve linking. She can record or experience “life” without moving. She’s addicted to the constant stimulation of Linking, and requires more and more extreme content to keep her going.

When another character recoils at the thought of a neural probe Linking him, she scoffs: Leeza rolled her eyes, coiled the leads, and stowed her gear. Typical NeoLuddite,
freeze at the sight of a neural probe.

My main character, Ariadne Demodakis, is concerned about her old friend. NOTE: ironically, my blogsite technology cut up the following excerpt into jagged bits and won’t let me fix it….

Leeza slung camera and recorder over her shoulder and hustled up the ladder,
avoiding Ariadne’s eyes.
She made a show of Linking in on deck, raising the camera, and it was good stuff,
sheets of rippling aurora lights against dark sky, cool breeze off the water, rhythmic
sway of the boat. “I’m getting some super material.” Transmission and reception were
still blocked by turbulence, but she could record to chip. “You want to Link into my files, check out a replay of that storm? It’s a rush.”
“No.” Voice emphatic.
Leeza lowered the camera. “Not you, too! Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the
NeuroLink.”
“Have you thought about what it could be doing to you? It’s addicting, Leeza.
Have you read the studies raising questions of longterm nerve and cognitive damage?
And there may be a higher incidence of RP-Hansen’s among Link users.”
“NeoLuddite buzz crushers! I’m telling you, the Link’s a mind-blower.”
“Maybe literally!” Ariadne touched her arm. “Leeza, what about taking a break
from it? And the drugs? Use this trip to slow down, see how you feel without this
constant overstimulation.”
Leeza wrenched back from the pity, that old goddamn arrogance. “Save it for your
adoring peasants, Saint A.” Jaw clamping, she jerked the camera to her eye and turned it on the shimmering auroras.

*****

Interestingly, I just read a brief news article about a young musician, Chelsea Cutler, whose Twitter post about the pressures of social media on artists went viral. Ironically, she was writing in social media about the constant need to post “content” from her life on social media, in order to stay visible in the saturated world of information. A lot of other artists rose up to echo her concerns that such immersion in “digital reality” (my term) was destroying their creative energy. As an author, I feel the same relentless pressure to produce a regular stream of social media “content” or sink into oblivion.

Are there still choices we can make?

Maybe I’m not the only NeoLuddite!

*****

You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and a Pulpwood Queens International Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky).  Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com