Internet Rant
Only a week or so into January and I already notice the instances of 21st Century-this-or-that tapering off in the media as the hype surrounding this particular non-event begins to wane. Isn’t it interesting to note, though, that in many ways we exist today in the future our grandparents imagined for us? That is, except for all the Internet porn.
Just look at us today. We wear strange garb and talk into cell phones and wrist watches. Advanced robotics produce artificial creatures more close than ever to the lifelike machines dreamed up for us by science fiction visionaries like “Doc” Smith, Ray Bradbury and, er, Douglas Adams. Instantaneous global communication is simply taken for granted. In fact, putting aside the oft-predicted vision of flying cars, you might say we have everything they thought we would back then.
Plus Internet porn, of course. How many people saw that one coming? Or, seeing it coming, had the guts to come right out and say so? Sure, any armchair futurist can hold forth on the myriad technological possibilities lying dormant in a still-young Internet–business process re-engineering, enterprise application integration, IP telephony, etc.–but where were the real cyber-seers with the true grit necessary to step forward and pronounce with authority,
The single most powerful appeal of the Internet, and the key driver for its development and expansion is surely the heady possibility of transmitting porn to the desktop. Streaming video porn, image archives, bukkake, donkey shows and interactive, multimedia sex games. That’s what will drive the Internet and the technology that fuels it.
I read a lot of technology magazines, both online and off, but I’m sure I’ve never stumbled across a prophetic gem like that even once. Which is odd, because I think it’s more than plausible to consider the growth of the Internet and related technologies–DSL, cable modems, fiber optics, video encoding and others–as being based on the simple rational “If you build (porn sites), they will come.” You think I’m being silly, but actually I’m dead serious.
I was reminded of this possible rationale, and the reason it makes so much sense, the other day watching last year’s mediocre The Thirteenth Floor, another in a parade of B-grade, post-Matrix techno-thrillers that attempts to stimulate the viewer with the now-overdone idea that the world, or “our reality,” is not what we imagine it to be, but is instead (gasp!) a simple construct within which we exist as unwitting tools.
Two characters that stood out for me as I watched the film were one fellow who used the fabricated “our world” to act out homicidal fantasies, and another who used a similar setting as a kind of sexual playground. I was reminded then that, if given the proper technology, we will more often than not use them to titillate ourselves in two predictable ways–sexually or violently. These two figures represented for me this trend I have seen take shape through the development of computing technology and the Internet. It may simply be a consequence of the disproportionately large number of men in most, if not all, areas of Internet technology–design, development, funding and consumption–but it seems that we crave one or the other more than just about anything else.
Case in point:
The majority of technically savvy people I know–and I know many–are serious computer gamers. Mostly these are networked, multi-player games where the participants arm themselves to the teeth and then engage each other in grisly combat. Sometimes you’re fighting demons, other times it’s other “soldiers” like yourself, or spaceships or zombies or whatever. The point is that the true rush, the strong appeal of these games is the gruesome realism with which your own skill and prowess (with a joystick, sadly) are rendered on the screen before you. Having a multi-player, real-time setting where you can wreak the same havoc is that much more enticing. If you can blow someone’s head off and have it legitimized though a garish fount of CG blood, well hey, all the better.
Now, these folks are up on technology and like to have the latest, fastest, biggest and best when it comes to gaming hardware. Take, for example, the video adapter. A really great graphics card these days is one that works best with the latest video games. Painting pixels on a screen isn’t rocket science, but producing realistic, full-motion 3D graphics (of, again, shotgun exit wounds and spectacular carnage) takes lots of R&D dollars and cutting-edge technology. In this sense it’s fair to say that games like Quake, Doom, and Half-Life are some of the key drivers behind the development of PC video technology. Card and chip makers design and produce better video cards simply based on historical and current market data that predict people will be willing to pay a premium for the next level of simulated slaughter. Just like the basic business model in any other industry, they know what we want and they give it to us for a price.
So that’s one half of the equation. Let’s turn our attention now to the even more enticing prospect of Internet porn. The Internet and personal computers are arguably the best porn delivery and consumption vehicle ever created. First off, it’s a completely private pornography experience. No loitering around in front of seedy “adult magazine” shops before getting up the nerve to slip inside, wondering all the while if you might be spotted by some neighbor or co-worker en route. No more explaining to your better half what that plain, bulky manilla envelope that arrived from PMR Productions today actually contains. Today, as a (credit) card-carrying member of the New Economy you can enjoy high-quality nudity and uncommon sex acts from the comfort of your own office chair–I mean, your “office chair” at home, of course–often for as little as 9.95 per month. And that includes unlimited downloads! New files every week! Amateurs! Upskirts! Lesbian and amputee porn! And so on.
Fact is, these sites make money. Lots of money, in most cases. They make money hand over pumping fist because people want porn, and they want it at home where they can enjoy it without fear of recrimination or embarrassment. Infrastructure providers, for example, know this. And knowing it, they make the business decision that shelling out millions of dollars to lay fiber optic cable and upgrade circuits will surely bring consumers in droves. Even if their press releases only talk about Hollywood blockbusters on demand and WebTV and network-based software distribution, these folks also know that people will gladly line up around the block for a chance at streaming XXX video, faster image downloads or a crack at the gory big time as an online, wannabe gladiator.
It’s true, and they know it. It’s what we want, even if no one is willing to say so. Welcome to the real New Economy. The Internet will keep getting faster, the experience will keep getting more realistic, and the industry press will still gloss over topics like the really popular features in the latest newsreader. And as for us? Well, my money says that we’ll continue to pay for it, and keep asking for more.
Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was the holidays.
I celebrated both Christmas and New Years in Tokyo this year. The roles of the two holidays are more or less the reverse of we think of in the States. On Christmas Eve in Japan, couples get together for a romantic evening on the town, exchanging a token gift or two and enjoying the time futaride. The following day people generally just go work since Christmas isn’t recognized as a holiday. The keenest awareness of “Christmas spirit” seems to be found in the minds of department store owners who festoon every square inch of exposed ceiling, facade and clerk with X-massy frop. People flock to the handful of “illumination” (Christmas lighting) viewing spots around the city in the evenings and on weekends to snap photos and join the seventy-four thousand or so other sightseers in mufflers and gloves to stare and point and smile at the gigawatt spectacle.
New Years, on the other hand, is a time to get together with the extended family and enjoy some well-deserved time off from work. In Japan most companies take the first three days of the year off, and others the entire first week. Everyone heads for their jikka (hometown) to spend time with relatives, enjoy traditional food, visit local temples and pay respects to deceased relatives.
In my own case, I decided not to return to the States this year and passed the time in Tokyo instead. I spent the evening with friends, first doing the countdown to midnight at the bar of a friend in Shinjuku, then taking off to visit a temple for hatsu-mode, the first visit to a temple during the new year. At Hanazono Temple there were literally thousands of people lined up to pay their respects, most not seeming to mind to strong wind and chilling night air.
Next it was off to another friend’s bar in Shinjuku for more drinks and well-wishing for the new year. We hung out there for a few hours before leaving to visit another temple before the sun rose. In a couple hours the morning was upon us, and we found a good vantage point for doing hatsu-hi-no-de, or the first sunrise of the new year. Many folks choose a mountaintop or skyscraper for this event, but we were content to enjoy the view from the balcony of Michael’s Den of Swank.
The next day (the same day, really, after a few hours of sleep) we went to the number one hatsu-mode spot in Tokyo, the expansive Meiji Jingu shrine. Most people don’t even bother to go to this place until after noon on the 1st because the crowds are insane. (Not “insane,” really, but huge. In an insane way. You get the idea. Just don’t think “rioting” or “amok.” It’s hatsu-mode fer Chrissakes.) Anyway, beginning late in the evening on the 31st, people descend on the shrine grounds in numbers that make the turnout at a Madonna concert seem like the line at any blood drive in Japan. They make the hour long trek to the middle of the compound (four hundred meters, maybe) just to cast some coins over the low wall before the shrine, say a prayer, then make the slow journey back to the entrance. We came in from the Sangu-bashi side and spared ourselves both the crowds and aggravation. In the main compound things were pretty intense, but otherwise we had an easy time of it.
It was a good day and half. I captured some of it on film and put together a short video that you can view online if you’re interested. Headphones are recommended.
And that’s it for now. Happy New Year’s, shinnen akemasite omedetou gozaimasu, and all that. ‘Til next time…