Not-so-Futuristic, The Chapter Mason is Missing

When we think about the future, our juvenile minds take us on a journey to a land where sky scrapers are higher than the twin towers, where cars hover, and we are all wearing sunglasses that wrap around our heads as if it is a virtual simulator. I recently viewed a video on YouTube that portrayed a potential future that is more realistic to the road we are currently travelling; regarding media communication, and everyday tasks. The video depicted a day in the life an average working man, from waking up and turning off his alarm clock by sliding his hand over his phone without touching it. It proceeded to show a girl in the bathroom brushing her teeth, the mirror doubled as a touch screen giving her a day calendar, a clock, with a news feed of current events that she could instantaneously share with whomever she clicked on. The idea behind the video was that new technology is not that far off when we consider how far it has come, and the touch screen has literally swarmed our nation. Cellphones, ipods, and ipads are leaving their mark and sparking the imagination of pirates everywhere.

Although the video was created through editing and adding the touch screens in after the video was taken, the idea is still there. All that needs to happen is for the right pirate to create, or rather manipulate existing software and make this video a reality.

The reality as of right now is that there is technology that exists at this moment of wireless power. Systems currently exist that deliver electricity to devices without wires at all. What needs to happen now is for a skilled programmer (when I say this I can’t help but think about pirates) to tackle the technical aspect of this concept, and design the physical and metaphoric interior.

Our world has mad in necessary to give hands on opportunities to gain insight and real experience. Touch screens are literally hands on equipment and I believe it brings more connectivity to the average thoughts of media such as video games, Facebook, and YouTube. Instead of moving your mouse a few inches to the right you can physically touch where you want to go. In this sense it could minimize frustrations of use of a mouse. Sometimes it’s slow, sometimes it doesn’t connect properly and this is a mild solution to that. Not to mention, we already take our phones with us everywhere and if this desktop mechanism could actually collapse and expand at your desired touch it would round yet another corner in technological myths.

This technology is out there, it just needs to be tweaked and adjusted to our society’s desire.  

Hip-hop Is Facebook

 

 The internet has become an industry in itself. Like the hip-hop music industry, or brand name clothing (accessories etc.); both of these industries are discussed by Matt Mason, in chapter five of The Pirates Dilemma. The music business has branches known as genres, the fashion business has branches known as labels or “brand names”, and similarly the internet has branches too, I would call them outlets. Since Web 2.0 has evolved the internet has transformed into a source of entertainment, education and communication. As Mason compares hip-hope to the brand name company FUBU he say, “like hip-hop, FUBU is a grassroot D.I.Y outfit that came up from the streets, remixing existing media into its own pirate material and forging a strong authentic connection with a massive audience.” (Mason, 180) This is exactly where the internet came from, and what is has become.

Clothing, and music have existed for centuries, and on the same wave length so has communication. By taking something as simple at as a sound, or a hat (as FUBU did) and reproducing it with signature changes one can create a whole new product. As Mason frequently states that pirates are entrepreneurs, I must agree with this and defend it. Pirates are not coming up with brand new ideas that have never been heard of, instead they are elaborating on current ones. Mason shares in chapter three: Remix Culture, that our society is lacking originality in our ideas, and pirates are the entrepreneurs that repurpose, recreate and build upon these existing ideas.

Like hip-hop, which is a recreation of disco music the internet extrapolated from letters, telephones, advertisement flyers to emails, outlets such as Skype, Facebook and web pages created by companies to gain clientele.

Hip-hop was a new music that wanted to gain attention, and the internet is thirsty for the same recognition.

Mark Zuckerburg came up with a networking idea that exploded on the internet which we all know as Facebook. Facebook is a rendition of hip-hop, with the same aspirations and growing off MySpace instead of disco the same path was followed to obtain the ultimate goal of audience satisfaction. Along this path Facebook was critiqued, changed, adjusted, and manipulated to perfection as was hip-hop. As Jason Russell, creator of the Kony 2012 video states: “right now there are more people on Facebook then there were on the planet two hundred years ago” this is a staggering statistic it unbelievably believable. Facebook is an outlet the people resort in moments of boredom, curiosity of what others are doing, a desire to talk to friends or family, or to post their own thoughts, photos, and updates statuses.

It does sound superficial as I say it now, but this is the way society has creatively altered the way we communicate, as hip-hop altered our sound interests.

Similarly YouTube has certainly altered our source of entertainment, and elaborated our idea of “home videos” by broadcasting everything and anything an individual does in the comfort of their own home (at their discretion of course).

My point is that hip-hop is a culturally accepted form of music, like anything in our world: some people love it and some people hate it. It is impossible to please the entire population, but it is probable to create an outlet that will impact the majority.