Changing face of journalism
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
IN THIS age of instant information people tend to believe everything they read even the most ridiculous.
Just over a month ago, the North Denver News, a monthly community newspaper with a circulation of about 35,000, ran the following story. One Thomas Martel from Bonnie Brae in Denver finally succumbed to the pressures of this world and decided to take matters into his own hands. Quite literally!
From my old Treo, to my BlackBerry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses, said Martel.
Unhappy with his big hands and stubby fingers, this 28-year-old native of Colorado took the obvious recourse and went under the knife for a new procedure called whittling. An incision was made into each of Martel's thumbs, the bone was shaved down, and his muscles realigned. His thumbnail was then reshaped to help bring it all together.
Although his new streamlined thumbs look somewhat out of place with his other fingers, Martel claims that the time and frustration hell save makes it all worthwhile.
Within minutes, the story was all over the Internet. Within hours, the tech-blogs and online newsmagazines were overflowing with thousands of comments by readers from all around the world.
Now as a self-confessed tech-junkie, as someone who exists in the spaces between Steve Jobs keynotes, I tend to think differently from almost everyone else. Now I should be thinking: That's absolutely disgusting. It's just further proof of how technology continues to corrupt our society! Instead, I find myself thinking: Boy, smaller thumbs sure would come in real handy. Practical too!
The story turned out to be a hoax.
There were quite a few things about this event that left me unsettled. There were the tech-blogs and online news magazines, and how quickly they reported the story, sans any thought, let alone critical analysis on their part.
There was the ever-changing face of journalism in this age of instant information. But what was more important was just how accepting we were of this young man's willingness to conform to new technology.
We may have questioned the virtue of his actions, but it didn't occur to us that such surgery in itself was utterly ridiculous. Whittling, seriously? Wouldn't polexoplasty have been more convincing?
If we are to believe everything that we've read in books and seen on film, then there will come a time when technology will rule the planet. Humans will become the slaves to their robot masters, usually following some earth shattering war, like in the Terminator movies or the Matrix trilogy. Like in Asimov, laws of robotics or no laws of robotics, they always win.
But fear, for such a future is very unlikely. I am certain that there will be no war. There will be neither the extermination of humanity by a superior robot army, nor will there be any enslavement by force. And I can offer you these guarantees because in reality, such drastic measures are entirely unnecessary.
It's already happened. It's too late. A coup d'tat. An insurgence from within.
The world is constantly changing and in our effort to keep with the pace, we seem to have forgotten some of the simpler pleasures.
So read a book. Buy a newspaper. Dig up those old records. And keep an eye on your computer, I think it's looking at you funny. The Star/ANN
Just over a month ago, the North Denver News, a monthly community newspaper with a circulation of about 35,000, ran the following story. One Thomas Martel from Bonnie Brae in Denver finally succumbed to the pressures of this world and decided to take matters into his own hands. Quite literally!
From my old Treo, to my BlackBerry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses, said Martel.
Unhappy with his big hands and stubby fingers, this 28-year-old native of Colorado took the obvious recourse and went under the knife for a new procedure called whittling. An incision was made into each of Martel's thumbs, the bone was shaved down, and his muscles realigned. His thumbnail was then reshaped to help bring it all together.
Although his new streamlined thumbs look somewhat out of place with his other fingers, Martel claims that the time and frustration hell save makes it all worthwhile.
Within minutes, the story was all over the Internet. Within hours, the tech-blogs and online newsmagazines were overflowing with thousands of comments by readers from all around the world.
Now as a self-confessed tech-junkie, as someone who exists in the spaces between Steve Jobs keynotes, I tend to think differently from almost everyone else. Now I should be thinking: That's absolutely disgusting. It's just further proof of how technology continues to corrupt our society! Instead, I find myself thinking: Boy, smaller thumbs sure would come in real handy. Practical too!
The story turned out to be a hoax.
There were quite a few things about this event that left me unsettled. There were the tech-blogs and online news magazines, and how quickly they reported the story, sans any thought, let alone critical analysis on their part.
There was the ever-changing face of journalism in this age of instant information. But what was more important was just how accepting we were of this young man's willingness to conform to new technology.
We may have questioned the virtue of his actions, but it didn't occur to us that such surgery in itself was utterly ridiculous. Whittling, seriously? Wouldn't polexoplasty have been more convincing?
If we are to believe everything that we've read in books and seen on film, then there will come a time when technology will rule the planet. Humans will become the slaves to their robot masters, usually following some earth shattering war, like in the Terminator movies or the Matrix trilogy. Like in Asimov, laws of robotics or no laws of robotics, they always win.
But fear, for such a future is very unlikely. I am certain that there will be no war. There will be neither the extermination of humanity by a superior robot army, nor will there be any enslavement by force. And I can offer you these guarantees because in reality, such drastic measures are entirely unnecessary.
It's already happened. It's too late. A coup d'tat. An insurgence from within.
The world is constantly changing and in our effort to keep with the pace, we seem to have forgotten some of the simpler pleasures.
So read a book. Buy a newspaper. Dig up those old records. And keep an eye on your computer, I think it's looking at you funny. The Star/ANN
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