kobebeef

Fisher really clarified for me what I’ve always sensed in the back of my mind. That time has in a sense stopped. I was always into futuristic things as a kid, and I still am. But today I’m left with a feeling that “the future”, or how we imagined the future, was more futuristic back then than it is now.

As someone working in the tech industry, I’m eager to work on something exciting and futuristic. But what I find is that any project is constrained by the logic of neoliberal capitalism. Social media sites have to be designed to be addictive and pull people’s attentions away from real family and friends, otherwise you can’t earn profit and compete. The future doesn’t excite us anymore because all technology has given us is a boring, robotic, and atomized life.

Do you speak or understand any Japanese yourself? If you ever tune into channels like ABEMA Prime and look at their political discussion of Japan's future you'd see everyone from left to right on the political spectrum all share a very bleak view of Japan.