The Boy's First Piano Recital

I continue to be amazed by this kid!

The Future of Humanity...

...as envisioned by sci-fi cinema

I have an unhealthy fascination with the movie Idiocracy. The main character, a man of average intelligence by our standards, finds himself 500 years into the future by way of a failed army experiment. Society has become increasingly stupid with each generation and this everyman is revealed to be, by far, the smartest man in the future world. A warning: tender ears will be offended by the language and some themes. The "mastermind" behind the film is none other than Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butthead*. The premise, however, is infectious.

I often find myself processing the news of our day through an Idiocracy filter. Octomom, Jon and Kate, Britney idolization, and reality TV all fit well with this "idiot dystopia." Death panel fear mongering, US soldier misconduct at Abu Ghraib and reports of Heart of Darkness-style outpost orgies at our embassy in Afghanistan, denial in Katrina-era New Orleans, lack of big-picture thinking and extreme selfishness on Wall Street and our ability to deal with it a year later also make me feel like we're inching (racing?) down a path to a vastly less intelligent future. Oh, and what about the breakdown in partisan discourse and an inability to address big issues like health care, social security and climate change? I often feel eerily close to the future predicted by this movie.

That's pretty pessimistic, isn't it? Is it that bad? Isn't there hope that we might possibly make some hard, unpopular choices that will be for the common long-term good? If Idiocracy is the future I don't want, what movie might offer a glimmer of hope? I've landed on Star Trek. Sure, they're at war, but not with each other. The Borg or the Cardassians or whoever. I have to admit, I'm not into Trek like I once was, but they seem to have figured out how to live peacefully amongst themselves and they've gotten pretty smart in the process.

So we have here two points on a continuum; Idiocracy on one hand, Star Trek on the other. And then I remembered a conversation with Dave Moody a few years ago where he admitted that he doesn't really get into the future dystopia genre. That's why I love talking to Moody. He always makes me consider the world differently. I hadn't even considered the tone of these kinds of movies as a genre. I left the classification at sci-fi and called it a day. But if you think of "future dystopia" as a genre and you then consider that there is a continuum, you can have all sorts of fun plotting where on that continuum any number of these films lie.

The natural outcome, of course, was a drawing on the whiteboard in my office, an exercise that quickly roused the interest of several passers by - one of the nice things about having glass instead of walls on one's office. We ended up with a matrix. Warmongering / Peaceful on the X-axis and Smarter / Dumber on the Y-axis. Like this:

How could we enhance this further? In addition to considering where other movies would fall on the chart**, I'm thinking it would be interesting to create a framework for processing news and pop culture events and assessing whether that news places us closer to Idiocracy or closer to Star Trek. Kanye disses Taylor Swift? Does that indicate we're on the path to Idiocracy or Fifth Element or something else? Joe Wilson calls Obama a lier on the floor of the House? Where does that baby-step toward incivility lead? The House then devotes cycles to reprimanding Wilson. Wilson and his opponent both bring in bags of cash from the publicity. Jay Leno makes Kanye cry. The President calls Kanye a jackass. Perez Hilton. Problem here is that most news, the kind that "sells papers" (read: creates clickable impressions) trends toward Idiocracy. Boy scout uses iPhone to tweet help for kitten stuck in tree may trend toward a Star Trek future, but it just doesn't gather eyeballs.

Anyway, we could create a Sci-Fi Future of Humanity Index. Kanye decides to take a break and go serve in the Peace Corps? That's a (5,5) on the chart. Octomom decides to do a reality show? That gets a (0,-5). Something like that.

Maybe another use for the model could be to encourage the collection of more positive stories.

Let me know what you think.

* I must admit, just thinking the words "Beavis and Butthead" brings a smile to my face and makes me chuckle. Could it be that I already more closely resemble the idiot future foretold in Idiocracy than the intellectually superior critic/observer I fancy myself? Don't answer that.

** Don't suggest Star Wars. Astute readers will recall that it takes place "A long time ago." We're talking about the future.

Spin Workout - Yahata

When I was a missionary in Japan, I came to know the Yahata family. They were about the nicest people you'd ever meet. Their little boy was a HUGE Michael Jackson fan. So naturally, when MJ gave up the ghost last week, my thoughts turned to the Yahata family. Young Yahata is now probably about 24 years old. Crazy talk.

Anyway, I named my spin mix this week "Yahata" in their honor. No, there is no MJ. He's not really spin worthy. Here's what is in the mix:

I Love to Move In Here (Style of Eye Piano Remix) -- Moby
Beat Goes On (feat. Kanye West) -- Madonna
Drown In the Now (feat. Matisyahu) -- The Crystal Method
Isaac -- Madonna
Learning to Fly -- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Bamboo Banga -- M.I.A.
Piku -- The Chemical Brothers
Gum -- Cornelius
Pink Houses -- John Mellencamp
A Seated Night -- Moby

Some days the music is ok. This week it was really good. Transcendentally good.

Today's Ride / MapMyRide

Thanks to Janean, I had a great ride this morning. I didn't go as far as I had originally planned, but it was much more hilly than expected. The high point, both figuratively and literally, was the Inner Defense Line Road at Valley Forge. They just repaved this road so the surface is smooth and the flora rather calming. And there's a great descent as well.

I recorded the ride via iMapMyRide on the iPhone. This is a pretty cool app that I'm enjoying a lot. Especially the elevation option.

Have you lived your fantasy life/tour?

The Tour de France starts tomorrow and it is shaping up to be more interesting than last year. I just picked my preliminary Fantasy Tour roster at Versus.com. I especially like the view below of all the heads of my team. Cyclists are a pretty sorry looking bunch. They may not look like much, but these boys are cycling gold!

Have a wonderful tour! Here's to hoping the drug scandals can be kept to a minimum.

The Look

My eldest daughter conquered her first "hill" climb today. She alternated standing/seated to pick up the momentum when necessary. She even turned around to give Jan Ulrich "the look." Havertown today, Ventoux tomorrow!

Dig Deep!

The Look

Push it!

That's my girl -- riding into Paris in triumph!

I'm sad because I'm selling my Passat

It has been a fantabulous car. Great pep from the turbo. Wonderful cornering.

Go check out my posting on Vehix.

(No, that isn't our house in the background)

The Wanderer

When I was in college, they called me "The Wanderer." I suppose I treasure alone time more than many and would occasionally be found off on my own during group activities. I like to remember it as being equally comfortable whether in a group or on my own. I'm not sure which mode is my default.

The other day, someone asked how many movies I had seen by myself in the theater. I had to admit that I have no idea. Too many to take note. What's wrong with that? I think the last movie I saw by myself was Slumdog Millionaire, while on a trip to Seattle.

With this as background, you can now likely better appreciate why I was so drawn to a passage that appeared in The Atlantic in 2003 called "Caring for Your Introvert." Jason Kottke recently reposted a link to the article and I'm glad he did. Introverts are an undeserved segment of the population. Don't mess with us. If you do, we're likely to go off to a quite place and write about our feelings.

Oh, and here's a photo of the kids.

Opposites Attract

I've been spending a lot of time on Twitter lately. I find the stream-of-consciousness-ness fascinating. Like a direct line to someone's brain. Some of it is drivel, but much is fun or thought provoking. (It could happen.)

I read somewhere that some know-it-all was declaring Twitter is an indication of our inability to concentrate and our need for instant gratification. I beg to differ. Tweeting can force one to be brief, more haiku than leftover brain waste. I also disagree on the grounds that I started to use Twitter while reading the most densely packed novels around; Wallace's Infinite Jest. I've referred to it here.

I finished IJ yesterday and feel a mild sense of loss at no longer having it to keep me company. The storylines are dark and the conclusions initially unsatisfying. But I'm convinced there is deeper meaning there for me if I take the time to ponder. I couldn't sleep at 3:00 this moring and thought that thinking about IJ would put me back to sleep. It did not. Quite the contrary -- it kept me up until it was time to go to work.

The book was written some 13 years ago and it predicts our day with unsettling accuracy. I suppose it wasn't too hard to see our present coming. I can by no means do a real review of this book, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I suspect that most people who read this (assuming that most of my readers are members of my family) will not be able to tolerate some of the darker themes of this book. So I'm not recommending it, but if you do read it, treat the footnotes like part of the plot. Don't skip them. Don't skip anything in fact. Some passages start out with abundant tedium, but the journey is well described and often nicely concluded. Don't expect the final conclusion to tie off loose ends. Be persistent and enjoy DFW's mastery of the craft of writing.

If you have read it, please let me know. I'd love to get your thoughts on Don Gately, the P.G.O.A.T., the cause of Hal's condition, and more.

Oh, and lastly, two thoughts from IJ that I hope will stick with me for a long time: 1) Building a wall around the day, and 2) You're not competing with the other guy. You're competing within the constraints of the game and your own ability to master yourself in the face of those constraints. The other guy is your partner in that pursuit.

That is all.