Technology as Context

In film, where special effects rule, we are writing scripts for technology.

In design, technology is replacing the conceptual framework as the context.

In the previous chapter I was making some observations regarding the general tendency of food writers to concentrate on technique at the expense of taste and trueness to the ingredients, but there is more to this than the texture of a chicken. It is another symptom of a larger societal trend, our obsession with technique, technology and tools, evident everywhere in our culture, from food criticism, to products and film.

According to the American author and social critic Neil Postman, "In our society, the trivialisation of cultural symbols is largely conducted by commercial enterprise. This occurs not because the corporate world is greedy but because the adoration of technology preempts the adoration of anything else."

Movies, like art and design, reflect how we think, how we behave and what is important to us as a society. In film, the obsession with technology becomes an obsession with special effects. The most common reaction to the film Jurassic Park is "Great special effects!" But what of the story? Little is said about the idea of cloning dinosaurs based on DNA, and even less about the human greed and betrayal portrayed in the story.

It could be said that as far as the plot of Jurassic Park goes, the movie was unnecessary. The story was already told in the original novel. The movie was merely a showcase for the special effects.

The original film Terminator presented an interesting concept: a man travels back from the future to father the child who would grow up to become his leader. This was a relatively minor film, with a modest budget and basic special effects. The story was overwhelmingly more important than the technique.

The movie's sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is best remembered for the tools used to tell the story than for the story itself. The movie is most often noted for its special effects and the $80 million it cost to produce.

Rarely is Terminator 2 described as the story of a villain who travels back in time to kill the boy who would grow up to be a world leader; it is remembered for the cop who changes shapes, the chase scenes and the excessive budget. Indeed, the special effects serve to create an experience for the moviegoer. The car chases and the explosions are sensational and thrilling. But they are not the Big Idea of the story.

The movie ET was another science fiction film but with very basic special effects. The main character, the extraterrestrial, was a puppet. The movie was immensely successful because it told a strong story.

Blade Runner is another science fiction film that is not dominated by technology. The strongest "special effect" is the notion of constructing replicas of humans that look and think and behave just like you and me. The only difference is they live for only four years. They understand mortality and ask the same questions you and I might ask. Why am I here? How long do I have? Here, the story is the Conceptual Framework. The special effect is the tool.

When you make all other considerations subservient to the tool, you begin to create for the tool. The tool might be a special effect, a computer program or a cooking technique. In film, where special effects rule, we are writing scripts for technology. In design, technology is replacing the conceptual framework as the context. When tools start to dominate, it reflects in many areas of society, from food to film to telephones. We become digital thinkers, obsessed with technique. Unless we stop to question the tools and the technologies that dominate our lives and guide our design decisions, the human element of our artifacts and our culture will be lost.

In other words, designing a better telephone that improves voice communication between people doesn't mean more voice mail. The sophisticated new voice mail capabilities come from engineers who keep saying "Look at what we can do now!" Voice mail features are created in the wrong direction; we have the technology, now let's find a use for it.

With all the new voice communication technologies like high speed fibre-optics and the ability to hear a pin drop halfway around the world, we're not getting better person-to-person communication; we're getting more voice mail.

We are expanding our breadth of awareness at the expense of our depth of knowledge; we know a little about a lot of things, but we know few things well. We use technology to search for more bits of information in place of the experiences that would provide a deeper knowledge.

There is a private brand of prepared foods available in supermarkets in Canada with names like "Memories of Singapore", and "Memories of Bangkok". This is clever but questionable marketing. Imagine selling memories on the supermarket shelf! It is an example of Neil Postman's "trivialisation of cultural symbols."(The frozen steak dinner named "Memories of Kobe" was not pulled off the shelf after the disastrous earthquake of 1995....)

The idea of exotic cookery is to at least acknowledge the cultural context of the food. These packaged foods replace the culture with a symbol (the packaging) and a technology (the ability to preserve and bottle the product). It's frozen pizza for yuppies.

The social implications of these prepared food products occur by design. Food preparation is, after all, one of the purest of design processes. So is its marketing. You can buy prepared, unbaked bread that cooks in your oven in 15 minutes. Somebody sat down and planned to put the corner baker out of business while giving you the impression you can bake bread.

If you want good bread, go to your corner baker. Purchase a baguette, take it in your hand and inhale the fresh aroma. Break the crust and listen to it crackle. Pop a piece in your mouth and enjoy the texture and the flavour. This is a design moment.

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