I'm also not an avid Sci-Fi, fantasy reader, but when I come to think about it, I love Sci-Fi, fantasy, and magical movies. Yes, I've read the books that surge throughout our schools and enjoy them, but I'm much more a fan of realistic, everyday storytelling...or am I? I need to think about this more. Maybe I am a LOTR book nerd. I just don't think I've self-described as one before.
Last night, before I went to bed, I actually thought, "You know what, Crandall? The original, one-of-a-kind educator of the future will be the one who detaches from technological tools and, for a very short while, asks students to detach and enjoy their humanity without digital tools" Or does technology bring us closer to humanity, as browsing Twitter, Facebook, Snap Chat, Linked In, TikTok, and Instagram also keep us mortal in this very human, yet unhumane phase of our evolution.
Many of the authors this week write about Feed by Anderson and Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games series. They both are successful on multiple levels, but I'm trying to tap the human teacher side of these things...what does it mean to be human in a digital age? I mean, AI is getting so good, I might even have it post morning blogs without me having to type or write a thing. It can do it for me. Ha! Maybe that is exactly what you're reading right now. A robotic script composed by a machine.
I know, for me, it's when I'm working with writers during #VerseLove or #WriteOut, detaching from technology for a while and collecting my thoughts, that I am most blessed. Then , I return to digital platforms to share, which is totally delightful. This, of course, leads me to think about ways to write of the outdoor world in the future. As always, Google didn't fail, as people have already been working on that...we'll have robots to assist our ecological meanderings. Cool! Cool? Cool.
Of course tonight's Sci-Fi reading included Foucault, surveillance, K-12 schools, and what adolescents experience as a position of their entire existence. It makes my head spin. We are all minuscule int he giant apparatus to control bodies (and finances). My life spans between On Golden Pond and Arcane. I definitely will not be alive to see how any of this will roll out, but the boys will...my nieces and nephews will....and so will their kids...and their kids...and their kids. It's really interesting to think about, if not disturbing.
And it's funny. My 1998 Masters Thesis opened with a scene from Total Recall where the outdoor world is totally experienced from screens across living rooms that are simulacra of what the outdoors used to be. It's all a facade offered visually through a screen. It's absolutely fascinating to be in such in-between spaces as my body ages (aches) and I enter the last periods of my life. I'm not sure if it is mesmerizing, perplexing, or maddening. I just take it all in.
Tonight, of course, we have two hours to talk about such things.