“The present and the future now coexist at the same time,” Coupland began.
“It’s why time doesn’t feel like time any more. We’re inside the future.” He
wondered if the constant acceleration of acceleration that we experience might
lead to some kind of “collective cracking point” for humanity.
As an installation artist Coupland said he was highly impressed by the short
truisms of the New York artist Jenny Holzer, such as “MUCH WAS DECIDED BEFORE
YOU WERE BORN.” And so he began a “slogan project” of sayings that “make
perfect sense now but would make no sense if you saw them 20 years ago.”
Examples included:
I MISS MY PRE-INTERNET BRAIN
HOARD ANYTHING YOU CAN’T DOWNLOAD
LIVES ARE NO LONGER FEELING LIKE STORIES (“I call this process ‘de-narration.’”)
WE’VE NEVER BEEN SMARTER. WE’VE NEVER FELT STUPIDER.
THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE MEANS YOU WANT SOMETHING
DEMOCRACY SEEMS INADEQUATE TO DEAL WITH THE PRESENT
For an installation in Shanghai, Coupland created some “slogans for the 22d
Century:”
MONEY WAS OVERRATED ANYWAY
DON’T MENTION THE CLOUD
YOUR BORDER IS YOUR BRAND
Coupland ended with what he considers the three leading questions of our time:
“Does the need to be remembered eclipse the right to be forgotten?” “Will the
internet favor the individual over the group?” “Will the internet favor
secularity or religion?”
At the end of the evening, Coupland looked at the camera and said, “Hello
posterity. What are we doing right now that is scaring the crap out of you?”
—Stewart Brand
s...@longnow.org <mailto:s...@longnow.org>
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