The Committee to Nuke Elysium

“Television, computers, all of these things are de-socializing us… expensive technologies take energy and resources and complicated sometimes toxic materials and processes to manufacture….”

*Well, the net and cellphones definitely are de-socializing us – in the sense that former social structures are visibly dissolving. Last night we had dinner for guests and we brought out some fine silverware from the 1930s. It was amazing how archaic it looked and felt compared to our mismatched plates, re-used jelly-glasses, constantly bleeping cellphones, a digital flatscreen at our elbows, and the other globalized bric-a-brac of our multinational existence.

*It’s beautiful social technology, silverware. Henry Petroski wrote some very nice design-studies things about silverware. Silverware is pretty. To eat with tools almost as heavy as lead makes you very conscious of proper table-manners. We have almost none. Except that we are kind to our friends. Everyone was comfortable; we are how we are. The silverware didn’t feel much like sociality any more; it was a party trick, conversation pieces.

*Being de-socialized doesn’t mean falling into an asocial abyss. The 1930s were horrible times. If you try to return to the sociality of the 1930s you are heading straight for what they used to call “the Dark Valley.”

*I don’t have 1930s catered dinner parties, but I do have stuff like this WELL conversation.