Week 9: Cyberpunk

This weeks reading Ghost in the Shell was really interesting. The whole topic about technology and a consciousness has been explored in many different mediums for a long time. I guess the stigma about if technology will take over humanity is always there and I believe will continue to be there for a long time. I love the way the author displayed the question of how the body was reborn into a younger shell and how the consciousness is slipping away. Do robotic parts make the person or does the consciousness make the person? But then does our consciousness change when influenced by these robotic parts? Then eventually what do we become, where do we go, how should we think, it is hard to separate the consciousness from what is truly them and what is being influenced by technology. The author presented this in a very artistic way which I truly appreciate. And also kept making us as the viewer question humanity and our thinking. 

The truth is we are already living in the 'traumatic future' we think is so far away. When apple made iPhones it changes the world. We had phones before but the iPhone changed the game in a sense that now everything is done through the phone. Apps and such all in one device. Humans really have bee crippled to living life through a screen. 

Don't get me wrong, I love technology and I think it has so many benefits and we use it everyday.. but i guess with power comes responsibility where we have to really be careful of how we use it and be aware of how it is affecting our emotional health. A lot of statistics have shown that this is a generation of depressed people, all getting more and more insecure because of the internet and stuff like that. 

I also think that it is really interesting how in the future, we might all be able to record everything that goes on in our lives ad store it as a video in our brains. That is freaky because we will not be able to forget something that causes us pain. Most of the time, our memories are not accurate, what we think has happened overtime we make things up to fill in the blanks. Part of human nature is to grow and forget and move on. With something like a record of everything it will be very hard to do that. it could be very beneficial but also dangerous. I am very excited and nervous to see where technology brings us in the future.