Tag Archives: climate change

This is the modern world

Everyone recognises their epoch as the modern world. We live in a modern world. We have always done so, back to JC (not Jeremy Corbyn) himself, announcing wow what a modern world I have created (sic). What constitutes modern? AI or AC? We seem to be constantly moving towards Tomorrow’s World, futuristic presenters Raymond Baxter or Judith Hann pronouncing new inventions which will change our lives on the BBC programme. Kraftwerk robotically striking synthesised drum pads. The computer, that most modern world invention. Everything is controlled by them, from cavernous rooms filled with metal boxes and spooled tape to small passages of text on the first desktop computer, really the IBM personal or ZX Spectrum. These devices seem even more futuristic now, more modern than when they arrived in the world. We are looking towards AI as our future, our saviour, our threat. A world where we can sit twiddling ever-expanding thumbs, surfing through an ever-increasing array of social media, yearning for a newspaper or weekly journal to plop onto the doormat. A reassuring and exciting presence, rather than a mini world, on a little screen in front of us. The modern world should be better. More nature. More free time. Greater freedom. A life worth living. Supporting the planet and actually enjoying it rather than mercilessly moving forwards, striving for the next thing. Samantha Harvey’s wonderful Booker prize winning Orbital, providing an expansive view from above, defining the gaseous layers which sweep around the little fluffy clouds of our beautiful orb.

AI has been around for ages, having a greater impact in certain areas. Music has utilised AI technology since the 1970s, through automated synthesisers, Kraftwerk on Tomorrow’s World, still looking futuristic today. AI will suddenly be implemented at pace, when everyone realises it has been there for so long, waiting in the wings for its opportunity to pounce. Early Dr Who episodes through stricken derelict London sites, Mad Max meets the time lord. Earthy. Dated. Tomorrow’s world is here today, always has been, constantly striving for the new, pushing forward in ever increasing ways that is meant to mean improvement, subtle alterations aimed at de-snagging. The present or future is not always improved. Thinking about my generation, we were lucky to have existed in a world that straddled the internet, saw rapid changes in technology but had a grounding in the analogue basics. Relate to the past but be excited about new technologies, providing a grounding so that AI isn’t let loose without contemplating the past, thinking about what will be missed, experience of technological advancement. Is there life on Mars? 1984 predicted a future before Big Brother, nasty Nick, a dystopian world which always seems to hang on a date slightly out of reach. How about 2032? That currently feels far enough away to have mystique so that the truth doesn’t need to be connected. A dream date. An impossible reality where everything is shiny and silver, silent, smooth, sensuous. The human condition of constantly looking forward whilst burying collective heads in sand about climate change. I mean the planet is always going to exist, things will be OK, global warming is a myth made up in a lab by boffins who are always proven wrong. Experts eh! The future will always be there, temptingly out of reach, tomorrow’s world ahead of today. In the blink of an eye time moves on, tempting new ideas just about in reach. AI can help unlock our lives, reduce the amount of time needed to be spent on daily chores, gathering information in seconds, the robot the research assistant of the future. Or the present really as the future has always been with us, just moments ahead. Iconic German band Kraftwerk still feel so futuristic, ahead of the game, computer dummies producing evocative minimalist music to cycle to. But there is a stark coldness to the thought of AI, not something comfy and fluffy. Images of sheet metal glistening in a bright orange glow, the ozone layer thinning daily, the end of days feeling nearer as our world becomes increasingly dystopian.

Album cover of Kraftwerk album Electric Cafe and a copy of Orbital by Samantha Harvey

What is the point

What is the point of life. Arriving with a fanfare then relegated to a footnote. A few people make a mark on the world but the rest of us exist on the planet, stationary, moving, quiet, talking, blah blah blah. What is point? If everyone existed to make the world a better place, a purely philanthropic existence then I can see why we exist, to demonstrate the pure spirit of humanity. Buying stuff to fulfil empty voids shows the futility of life. It is only the internal that is going to be satisfied. When you achieve something like the creation of a new song, finish a book, create an amazing meal, put on an event, get married, see your kids pass exams, see your kids, swim in ice cold water, complete the Grizzly (marathon), move house, plant some veg, get rid of the rats, or have a good day at work. That means something, but it is sometimes difficult to put your finger on exactly that is. If you stop to think then danger.

What are the most pleasurable experiences of life? Making love to your wife? Getting an email from a publisher saying they love your book, are going to publish it and give you a juicy advance? Connectivity with friends? Those moments where you feel there is real purpose because you are in a group who connect. Prince (symbol) shone so brightly but then he was gone, suddenly out of view, a retrospective guitar wielding funky moment in time. A back catalogue to be cherished, but by who? Not Prince himself. He is gone. How will history look back on him? As a genius but with dodgy lyrics. Slightly reincarnated in the form of Thundercat, Janelle Monae, Orgone, Electro Deluxe, or Dirty Loops. From Dirty Mind to Dirty Loops. Prince defined a generation, the end of the 20th century, partying like its 1999 before the millennium crash.

What does life mean to me? Love and friendships, being creatively successful and having a nice place by the sea. Not worrying about money so that it isn’t a central block on the mind and imagination. It is amazing that our world is full of people who want to kill life, cut off the very supply we exist within. Life at the moment would be a couple of days where there is no rain, the possibility for the garden to dry out rather than living in a swamp. Currently hailstones are raining down outside my window. Will this climatic changing weather ever stop. What is wrong with the world. It feels like we are slightly off axis, out of sync, there is something deeply wrong with the patterns. The wettest year on record causing pollution to stream through our waterways. Wild swimming, which became such in vogue through the covid pandemic, is fraught with coli danger. I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime. During the first few months of Covid-19 the world seemed almost at peace, beautiful clear and calm days, birds awakening through our cities, animals taking control as goats roamed through the streets of Llandudno. We need some way of regaining our equilibrium, restoring the faith, shoving us back in the path. Maybe if a meteorite crashed at exactly the right velocity and point then it would jolt planet earth back into its happy place.

I love waking up and seeing the view from my kitchen. The endless variety that the same picture conveys, changed by seasons and the vagaries of the English weather. Coastal winds transforming the seascape unfolding in front of me. The variances as the sun rises from a slightly different position each day, although often there is just a greyness the flattens everything. Mood and perspective. Whilst studying for a PhD I used to cycle between Bristol and Bath most days, stopping at the same point and snapping a shot. Again I was entranced by the differences in similarity, the chance to look more deeply when you start to know every element in your picture. Not a set of holiday snaps which blindly take you around the pool, beach, lunch, church, beach, afternoon drinks, sunset, dinner, party. A beautiful view is to be savoured, unfurled through the ages, the chance to measure your life alongside the beauty of humans and nature.

A view from my kitchen window looking South East towards sunrise, the sea and some dramatic clouds after another crazy storm.