Today’s excursion started with this photo↑ by Karro Lean and (oddly enough) led me to think about alignment, loyalty, zeal, and technological xenophobia . :)
Flavor Country↑ is the store and headquarters for Hybrid Productions↑ which is a fabulous mashup of soundscapes, “ancient futuristic design” and “abstract fantasy alien” prefabs and gadgets. Even their ad copy is cool!
My musings became a mashup of thought streams. One concerned the need to not only cling tightly to religious beliefs but also condemn any challenges to the “rightness” and inherent truth of a group’s way of thinking.
In one country a politician threatens the death penalty↑ for an asshat whose movie insulted a prophet and there’s a push for all countries to make blasphemy illegal. You might think that’s isolated to certain parts of the mid-east. However, this type of a rigorous defense of religious insecurity is wanted↑ by some even in forward thinking democracies.
It isn’t just religion that breeds such ingrained devotion or fervour. We picked up a tablet computer for my mother on her 91st birthday and, no, did not get the one made by a company named for a fruit (instead we chose the one named for a large section of the universe held together by gravitational force).
This generated much grumbling and discussion, even from her. She’s heard of the other one, this option she was unfamiliar with so she was afraid that, somehow, it was “less”. The various technology camps are firmly entrenched in bunkers and have been since the first Mac vs PC debates.
I don’t remember this issue back when choosing a television was your big techie decision. There wasn’t this level of passion or a need to condemn the “opposition”. You cared about function and reliability not logos.
I started to wonder today if aliens do the same thing. From our perspective each of these races we see use homogeneous technology. Is it just a peculiarly human trait to choose side, align with bits & bytes, and lob grenades at those who go a different path? Is this the future of religious thought? A secular world that actually worships different corporate gods?
I don’t have time to reach conclusions. I have to go explain again that, since it’s a touch screen, touching things will make things happen. sigh