Hacking the Future

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Arthur and Marilouise Kroker raise many prophetic, insightful, and at times, shocking ideas about humanity and technology in their book "Hacking the Future." There are several fascinating theories discussed, but the essence of their thought lies in the idea of "The American Algorithm." Because America has such a brief, multifaceted history, we are able to build any identity. In our reign as a global superpower, America's identity has become technology. In their words,

"Shucking off talk of a social contract or a divine right of kings and spitting on the noblesse oblige of "civilizational discourse," American identity is technology. And we don't mean technology as prosthetics or technology as a servomechanism of the struggling inner self, but two-fingered tech, make that straight up and no ice please. Like a chip factory running flat out, the American self plops off the electronic conveyor-belt with wired flesh."

The Krokers assert that Americans are truly disconnecting from their humanity, adopting a "web consciousness" rather than linear thought. This is an awareness that involves thinking about many things simultaneously, similar to the way a computer operates. In fact, it seems that Americans are beginning to desire more technologically advanced presences in every sense of their being. The Krokers call today's superficial society "Artificial Life," and see a retrospective alienation of humans from their own bodies. Arthur and Marilouise believe that human flesh is the "best android flesh of all," and we strive harder than ever to alter ourselves to look less human. This reminds me of something I recently came across on Geekologie: Terminator toys that make you into a convincing half-robot. The most interesting of these toys is a Terminator fist that actually shoots off to hit your long-distance enemies.