2004-12-03

Addicted to computers

A lot of people accuse me of being addicted to computers: sitting in front of them all day long, tapping away at the keyboard, eyes burning with intensity normally associated with heroin addicts.

They make it sound like a bad thing, that some how I am wasting my life, not enjoying the "outdoors" enough. They think I am one of those information junkies, those bums of the net who do naught but browse, and browse, and browse.

Yet the same people look on with awe and praise at master painters who spent all day and night inside their studio, facing the same piece of canvas, brushes moving rapidly from pools of color to canvas and back in fluid practiced strokes whilst their eyes burn with an intensity similar to mine. Understand I do not compare myself to the likes of Da Vinci, I simply draw parallels between a candle's flame to that of a roaring bon fire.

I would like for my accusers to know that I am addicted not to computers but to one part of life. Imagine if you will being able to realise your dreams in an instant. The old peopled call it magic, and rightly so. Through programming we can offload our very thoughts into silicon, then preserve and distribute them to the world and ultimately when executed they become reality. This marvelous ability to encapsulate segments of our mind and share them so the world may see what we see in our mind's eye is simply magic. Building on other's ideas and thoughts we can create works of art that defies tradition, music that no instrument or vocal chord can produce, and even more astoundingly, add to other's ideas. Computers give us a collective mind of sorts, bringing together the brightest and best ideas so the pictures we see in darkness, music we hear in silence, insights we have in stillness can all be made real. To this tool I am addicted; to this task of turning dreams into the tangible I am addicted; to this one vital aspect of life, I am addicted.

Humanity has always sought the means through which its ideas can manifest themselves in reality, some mechanism to turn abstract thought into physical constructs. For aeons we utilised the arts: music, painting, writing and more. We gave vent to our imagination through what talents and tools we had, and those who were blessed rose to become giants immortalised in history. Now humanity has at its disposal technology to materialise its thoughts more then ever, and not only of a single gifted individual, but of all of humanity. Never in history have we been so saturated in magic.

Instead of pointing the finger, why not join us? Expand your mind and give birth to your imagination - become an addict today.