Jacked In (only without a jack) by Chipka
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Description
There was once a time when I would have thought that guys wearing sunglasses and fiddling with high-tech gadgets was terribly futuristic. This is only natural, I suppose, after reading everything William Gibson wrote since first breaking onto the literary scene in 1984 with Neuromancer…the quintessential Cyberpunk novel. Admittedly, he’d made a few brilliant splashes with his short sprawl stories featured in OMNI Magazine: The Sprawl is the milieu in which Neuromancer and its companion novels: Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive take place. The Sprawl is future (present?) Earth, as seen from…well…the 1980s.
William Gibson has since moved away from the fast-forward world of Cyberpunk. Since the turn of this century, he’s turned his attention to a form of fiction that isn’t exactly science fictional. I can’t name the genre in which he writes, but in reading his two most recent novels, I’m struck by the fact that he’s writing about our world as if it is science fiction. In his two most recent novels (Pattern Recognition and Spook Country) Gibson is the outside observer, looking in at our world from somewhere else…the only thing is, Gibson, as is true of many of the initial cyberpunk writers in the 1980s, is exceptionally plugged into this world!
I bring all of this up because cyberpunk has become something passé. People who know nothing of Science Fiction or techo-sociology, but a lot about women dressed in black leather, have virtually hijacked the genre. Once, Cyberpunk had something to do with a mentality, a rather protean relationship with computers, noontropic drugs (smart drugs) and all of those weird interface regions between the human nervous system and the outside world…Cyberpunks, in one sense of the word weren’t about gadgets and sunglasses and tight, black leather…they were more about…communication, blurred boundaries, and non-corporal sensualist philosophies.
When I think of Cyberpunk now, I still think of William Gibson’s Sprawl Series…of Molly Millions, the woman with switchblade fingernails and mirrored sunglasses surgically implanted into her eye sockets. I remember her strutting into a scene and brushing her fingers over a guy’s chest, only to leave his tie in shreds. I especially remember her killing a guy simply by inducing culture shock, and telling her friend that her tear-ducts were re-routed through her slavary glands. I was amazed that Molly Millions never cries. She spits instead. When I think of cyberpunk, I think of this sort of stuff, and even now—after having seen The Matrix trilogy, I cringe and wonder when something as brilliant as a world-changing literary genre could be reduced to a Keeanu Reeves entertainment vehicle with a kickin’ soundtrack. There was a time when Cyberpunk meant that you could read something and scare yourself with the thought that you were immersed in the mind-space of a gonzo journalist on astonishingly high-grade psychotropic drugs. There was once a time when Cyberpunk promised—if nothing else—a good read and a cross-sensory nightmare or two.
Now, we live in a world terrifyingly like William Gibson’s Sprawl. We don’t have cyberspace cowboys and cowgirls, wrangling data with noting more than the meat of their brains and a few wires plugged into various nerve junctions. On the flip-side, we have the sunglasses and the hand-held gadgets. We speak an oddly organic form of Volapuk (text-speak) though it’s graceless and utilitarian. We stand at bus stops on Broadway, or wherever, and chat with friends in Helsinki. I kinda like that, but it makes me aware of the patina that classic Cyberpunk has acquired. That world and its wonders has fallen into decay…bit-rot creeps in around the edges. Our lives are defined by this “signal degradation” and I’m quite curious as to where it leads. I thought of that as I made this image….
As always...thank you for viewing/reading/commenting!
Comments (27)
jocko500
cool writing and the post work of the image is wonderful.
NefariousDrO
Not to mention things like Wikkileaks, for instance! I do hope that the internet will break open the info-stream a bit, but I'll admit that I'm ambivalent. In a world of MySpace, Facebook, etc. our personal lives and our public lives are strangely blasted into a public domain that makes me uncomfortable. Not to mention security cameras, etc. everywhere you turn. Now our cell phones can even track our locations! Things no futurist could have imagined, all of the ugliness, none of the glitz, I'm afraid.
MrsRatbag
Reminds me a bit of that Ralph Fiennes film from the early 2000s, "Strange Days"; an eerie bit of not-too-distant futurism. Not very pretty, but pretty scary...
Sepiasiren
whenever I happen upon a scene like this one I always wonder just what the person is doing? Texting, looking at pics, surfing ye old web, thinking, musing on their lives...so many possibilities--the mystery is always so delicious--and you captured that mood here--awesome!
MrsLubner
Moody...as so many of your photos are. City life...city people... city survival.
auntietk
I remember reading ... what ... Shadowrun? Something like that. Years ago, anyway. The Dekker with the jack in his neck ... that sort of thing. There was a character on Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda with that same business. Your photograph in all its postworked glory makes me think of that sort of avatar-as-counterpart scene. The idea of someone physically ALONE yet not really alone at all. Fascinating! I mean ... we're doing it right now ... I'm talking to you, you're my friend, as if we were next door neighbors. But physically we're hours and hours and miles and miles away from each other. Makes me wonder when I shut down RR what mischief my avatar gets into! LOL!
Ilona-Krijgsman
Very moody photo.....this picture tells a story without reading......wonderful post work so as always
helanker
WHat a great capture this and I so love what you did to it. Ha, I have an old Paleur with Volapyk included :-)
whaleman
Excellent postwork! You have a fascinating mind. It makes me wonder what it would be like to spend a day wandering around with you in Chicago, or what you might say during a day wandering around my haunts with me...
myrrhluz
I saw "Metropolis" yesterday. An imagination of the future from 1927. A strange mixture of silent film theatrics, social commentary, and futuristic buildings circled by biplanes. It brought to mind the same kind of strangeness when the amazing becomes familiar. When you try to think back and put yourself back into a world where high tech gadgets were not a part of your world or were at least considerably bigger. Excellent image! I love the postwork! The way you have separated him from the scene. He's totally connected to his devise, but the world around has faded away from him. The supports of the bus stop seem to be fading in and out. Beautiful textures in the swirls of the fence! I love the look of the sidewalk too. LOL @ Tara's comment about her Avatar. Mine being a cat is sure to be prowling all over the place.
lick.a.witch
Hmm. We are, are you so rightly state, quite entrenched in technology of one sort or another. So much so (as far as I am concerned), that if it failed, on many levels, so would we. However, since time immemorial there have been those that watched and those that were watched - not with technological help perhaps, but watched nonetheless. It won't be some sort of future big brother that will be our downfall. It will be apathy.... As always Chip, this image speaks volumes and your narrative is a thought provoking way to begin the day. ^=^
aksirp
very authentic picture and great postwork- yes young people are always fiddling with cell phones.. dangerous i think, they do not sea or heare anything around:)
durleybeachbum
A beautiful image! I agree with Wayne about your mind, but I should quite like a wander IN it!
lucindawind
wonderful writing as always .. excellent shot and post work
flavia49
superb work!!
jmb007
superbe photo!!
tofi
Great scene and capture Chip! I like your take and outlook; and I couldn't help but laugh when you noted that people who know a lot about women dressed in balck leather have virtually jojacked the genre of cyberpunk... I never thought about it this way; and you're so very right! I read a book just recently by Richard Dawkins titled "The Selfish Gene", and it's a most fascinating take on us as human beings....if I really look at it, we are all nothing but ants on an antfarm; living a mere existence..... science is so fascinating; and it's way of debunking some of the many theories out there always blows me away and makes me feel ill at ease. In the next 20 or so years I do believe generations will see a lot of changes; and technologies that seemed so "out there" will all become just "passe".... who knows. A wonderful subject and issue presented once again, always stimulating to the mind.... Really great post work indeed; I do love the colours and the blending of them here!
romanceworks
And now we are attached and often held captive by our electronic gizmos ... even without wires, as the world observes us. Fascinating thoughts and interesting photo. CC
beachzz
I had to laugh at your mention of Facebook, etc. Do we really care who does what, when were or why? Oh well--we ARE the stories now, the future has arrived and it's every bit as crazy as the authors of yesteryear predicted. In very different ways, of course, but looking into the future can be a bit cloudy. I wonder what today's writers will see, though you have already given us a glimpse with the words you write. All we can do it wait. btw--I love this shot and what you did with it. I truly creates exactly the right feeling, of being isolated from the world around us while responding to yet another VERY important call or text. ttyl !!
sandra46
i find bus stops very inspiring! the postwork enhances the image and it's another great example of your very peculiar style i like so much. Perfect for an urban environmente, actually. Cyberpunk, i remember it and very long discussions in a very small room in the back of a very alternative bookshop. I was much younger, alas!
CoreyBlack
YEAH! You hit the nail on the head with this one. Maybe I'm just turning into one big mid-life crisis who wants his youth back, but that's only part of it. I want the FUTURE back! The one that involved cool gadgets but also was going to be a time of unbounded individuality, creativity and changing the world in new/cool/edgy ways. The promise of being a cyberpunk was like that of being a punkrocker: doing your own thing, finding your inner groove and then sharing it with people. With EVERYBODY doing this. Twenty five years later, we've got the gadgets all right, but they seem to be a lot more prosiac than in envisioned them. That, and the gadgets themselves seem to be calling the shots and not the people using them. And lets not forget the capitalist co-opting of the entire scene that has makes daily life, human imigination and the concept of personal space seem quaint, and passe in the overwhelming onslaught of never endinding advertising mind control. Sad, really, and very depressing. Unfortunately, cyberpunk has become just as co-opted and irrelevant as everything else in this mind numbing corporate culture.Perhaps it's time for something new to break up the monotony. The time is certianly ripe. Love this picture as well. Nice job on the postwork and overall feel. Great stuff.
kgb224
Stunning capture and post work my friend.
minos_6
I resisted getting a mobile phone (or cell phone to you guys across the pond) for years. But i ended up with one eventually. I had to get it for work. Honestly. I also resisted the i-pod, choosing other forms of mobile entertainment instead. But I got one eventually. The others were unreliable, and there was nothing left to try. Honestly. I'm currently having no problem resisting the i-pad, thankfully. I agree with you completely. The cyberpunk vision of the future was stimulating, but now that we have more technology at our fingertips than is safe, consumerism has gone mad! I sit on the tube going to work every morning, and no-one makes eye contact. We're all too busy cutting ourselves off with earphones and doing something fascinating with our Blackberrys..... Not exactly how I would have envisioned the future from the 70s or 80s! In your picture, I like how your subject seems unaware of the capture, being too engrossed in his technology to notice. Your post work is excellent. I'm guessing there are layers upon layers here, to create a unique effect which is identifiably yours. This is VERY nice work, and most thought provoking whilst I'm preparing for work this morning!
anmes
Very individual postwork has produced a great result. Love it
mermaid
superbe shot again, Chip and a wonderful story...smile
Alex_Antonov
Excellent!
sawade
Hi Chip, a really good shot. Ok. And I study again your postwork. Really good. Different parts of filtering and brushing (?) in your picture, especially the hardly changed person. This pic is a good stimulation for a new own way of postwork. I like the colours too, the little red, that´s good. The little green, much black, very graphic arts. Your picture is wonderful, good for the wall in a large format. All the best, Bernd