Crazy Hobo in Pandemic Studio’s Destroy All Humans! said “The end is nigh! It's... really, really nigh!” The hobo could have been talking about the year 1972. After all, that was the year of the Watergate break-in. The war in Vietnam was still ongoing. An attempted assassination of Governor Wallace took place. However, those were as nothing compared to the 1972 arcade release of Atari’s Pong. That, along with the debut of the Magnavox Odyssey home video game system in the same year, may well have been the final nail in the coffin of civilization.

According to Van Rooij (2010), a growing number of people are becoming addicted to gaming. Suggestions have been made that manufacturers of games and gaming systems should provide referral services for those who are spending far too many hours in front of an Xbox, Nintendo, or other gaming device. The technology as it appeared in 1972 was quite primitive compared to the wonders of gaming which are now available thanks to advances in computer capabilities and software. The game of Pong is as far removed from World of Warcraft.as is the special effects of the film A Trip to the Moon (1902) compared to Avatar (2009). According to Tocci (2007), the day of the arcade is over. The advances in technology have turned gaming into an increasingly isolated experience.

Penny arcades first gained real popularity from around the time Louis Lumière began directing back in 1895. The simple amusements soon advanced technologically with the advent of motion pictures. This led to the development of nickelodeons where for a nickel the public could be entertained and amazed by the pictures moving before their eyes. Few if any people alive today ever set foot in a nickelodeon. However, many undoubtedly remember the experience of bringing a roll of quarters to the neighborhood video arcade. Kids met their peers down at the arcade to see who could get the high score at games such as Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and Frogger. Life for many kids after school revolved around hanging out with friends at the arcade.

The penny arcades, nickelodeons, and video arcades were not stagnant places stuck in time. Advances in technology meant that what was available one year could well be different from what was available the previous year. What an arcade managed to do was to act as a focal point for social gatherings. The meetings were not always planned, but the important thing is that they did take place. The video arcades which were highly popular until the mid-1990s were geared more toward those under 18. Adults were not forbidden but were not exactly comfortable with the youth culture busy feeding quarters to video machine coin slots.

The increasing advances in technological knowhow, especially from Japan, made it easier to have a full arcade experience at home. An initial investment in a gaming system such as Nintendo, Xbox, or PlayStation meant that both children and a growing number of adults could play hour upon hour from the comfort of home. The irony is that so much of what made this possible comes from a nation which is known as being very social and family-oriented. Video arcades are still very popular in Japan which says a lot about the mindsets of the people. The same popularity is something that the few remaining arcade owners in the USA long for.

As Fry in Futurama states “Space. It seems to go on forever. But then you get to the end and the gorilla starts throwin' barrels at you.” According to Griffiths (2010). an increasing number of parents have raised concerns that children are more interested in sitting alone in their bedrooms rather than be outside interacting face-to-face with friends. The children throw barrels and they throw fits, but they don’t seem to want to throw a ball around with the other kids. The famous couch potatoes seem to be coming in a younger form of spud than in previous years.

The parents may not need to worry as much as they think they should. The end of the world has been predicted many times in the past. This does not refer to a Mayan calendar or the famous prognosticator Nostradamus. Humanity has survived Pompeii, the fall of the Roman Empire and the British one as well. Life did not end with the coming of jazz, rock and roll, or hip hop. The world has survived films such as Ishtar, Battlefield Earth, and even John Wayne’s portrayal of Genghis Khan. The Pop art of Andy Warhol has not led to tumult and turmoil.

The earlier mentioned World of Warcraft has millions of fans around the world. The sword and sorcery game is very much an interactive experience. People who have never met unite in pairs and groups to face the challenges which the game keeps throwing at them. Many other popular games such as The Sims and DC Universe are designed to be played with and against others. Children are learning social skills even though in a way that was unknown to their parents. The children are learning how to play and how to win and lose. As Professor T. Bird says in the game Battletoads, “Got too tough for you, huh? A few pigs and monsters and you guys crash and burn!" No player wants to be the one who gives up and quits. The boys and girls will be alright in the end. As Crazy Hobo says, “Oh, who am I kidding? The end isn't nigh. What does "nigh" mean, anyway?” Good “nigh” and goodbye.

  References

Barkan, S.E. (2011). Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Comprehensive
        Edition. Online. Flatworld Knowledge.

Griffiths, M. (2010). Online video gaming: What should educational psychologists know?. Edu-     

        cational Psychology in Practice, 26(1), 35-40. Retrieved from https://ehis.ebscohost.com.

Tocci, J. (2007). Arcadian rhythms: Video games, public space, and the off-screen experience.

         International Communication Association, 2007 annual, 1-29. Retrieved from

         https://ehis.ebscohost.com.

Van Rooij, A.J. (2011). Video game addiction and social responsibility. Addiction Research &  

        Theory, 18(5), 489-493. Retrieved from https://ehis.ebscohost.com.

Karl was the least funny of the Marx Brothers. That is likely what Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo would have said if they had been asked. Perhaps it had something to do with Karl’s beliefs when he wrote On the Jewish Question. Marx states (2012), “What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money.” (p. 31). Karl was far too serious to ever let himself be called Karlo. He never lived to see how much the Communists became like the capitalists. The similarities were hilarious at times.

Capitalism is far closer to socialism than either the dictionary or popular thought would lead most people to believe. Webster’s Dictionary (2003) declares that capitalism is “an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are for the most part privately owned and operated for private profit.” (p. 198). The second definition states “the possession and concentration of private capital and its resulting power and influence.” The concentration of wealth in the USA is in the hands of the infamous one percent. The accumulation of wealth in the Soviet Union was held and controlled by the small numbers who were most politically connected. The result is the same even if the two C’s are supposedly different isms.

According to Bennett (2012), worker productivity grew more than three times the rate of wage increases for the average worker. This was in the period between 1989 and 2010. At the same time, CEO earnings grew from small multiples of the average worker’s wage to hundreds of times that level. This is the face of capitalism. Janus could be used to describe the face of socialism in the Soviet Union. There are two faces each looking in opposite directions. One looks East while the other looks West. However, they are still part of the same body. The well-connected in the Soviet Union had access to privileges which were unheard of and unobtainable for the average comrade.

This truth was put on display before my eyes when I lived in Lithuania in 1996-1997. For a few months I shared a flat with a mother and her two children. The father had lived for years in Lithuania in a position of rare advantage. He fled back to Mother Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed. He was a colonel in the KGB. He had good reason to flee as he was a hated man. The citizens despised his cruelty and were envious of his wealth. He and his family lived in a huge flat right in the heart of the city. They were a short walk from Parliament, the National Library, and all the best shops. Of course, they never needed to walk or take public transportation since they owned a new GAZ-24 Volga. Position means privilege in the USA just as it did in the USSR.

The Donald (2011) has stated “Part of the beauty of me is that I am very rich.” Trump made his riches in a nation which celebrates and honors the wealthy no matter how they gathered the “filthy” lucre. Many a KGB colonel was showered financially for torturing and murdering those who were not so highly placed. Money makes all things beautiful while poverty can only make life very dark indeed. Francis Archer in the play The Beaux' Stratagem (2007) states “Don't mistake me, Aimwell, for 'tis still my maxim, that there is no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty.”

Money makes politics and the world go round. William M. “Boss” Tweed ran a highly efficient and highly corrupt political machine in New York City in the mid to late 1800s. Even convictions for corruption could not keep him down. Very little has changed since that time. The United States Supreme Court in 2010 basically ruled that corporations are people. The “people” cannot have their free speech rights limited. “They” must be allowed to throw around as much money as they like to influence the outcome of political elections. For the first time in history bricks, mortar, flowcharts, bottom lines, and black ink now makes up a living, breathing human being. The one percent in combination with corpulent corporations can now spend the kind of money that the lower 99 percent can never hope to match.

People were told who to vote for in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The workers knew who to vote for if they wanted to keep their jobs and keep out of a gulag. The situation is not so extreme in the United States. Nobody will be hauled off to Leavenworth or Folsom if he or she votes for the “wrong” party or politician. However, the media documented several cases where CEOs did threaten to fire employees if Obama was elected. The very real consequences of buying elections is an issue which impacts every American. Citizens state overwhelmingly that they want clean air, unpolluted land, alternative energy, and good schools for their children. The ultra-rich and corporations see little necessity to make things better for those below.

Leaving the vast majority to wallow in the mire does nothing to ultimately advance the United States of America politically or financially. That might seem like an odd statement since the nation is still the richest on earth. What must be kept in mind is that the best workforce is not one which has to constantly worry how to pay the bills. The rich and the corporations in capitalist America are not so far different from the environment created by the Soviet Union. The USA could go the way of the USSR if the levels of public dissatisfaction continue to increase. The left and the right are not so far apart as they would like to think.   

References

Barkan, S.E. (2011). Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Comprehensive
        Edition. Online. Flatworld Knowledge.

Benne, B. (2012, Jan/Feb). Corporations or people? Restoring the common good. Humanist,    

        72(1), 29-32.  Retrieved from https://ehis.ebscohost.com.

Farquhar, G. (2007). The Beaux' Stratagem. Act 1, Scene 1. Retrieved from 

        http://www.gutenberg.org.

King, Jr., N. (2011, March 17). Trump on 2012: ‘Part of beauty of me Is I’m very rich’. The Wall  

        Street Journal. Retrieved from http;//www.blogs.wsj.com.

Marx, K. (2012). On the Jewish Question. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Kindle.

Read, A.W. (Ed.). (2003). The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the 

        English Language. Budapest, Bell Vista.

Artists make technology and technology makes art. Most technological advances made throughout history have come about because someone had a vision of how life could be better. Alexander Graham Bell, Marie Curie, and Thomas Alva Edison were innovators. They dreamed dreams that are still impacting civilization many decades later. The world now better understands radiation thanks to Nobel winner Curie. This is proven whenever a film such as Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman (1958) or The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961) is created. We can thank Edison for allowing visionaries the possibility to unleash such movie “masterpieces”. You can bet that people who had those cinematic experiences were on the phone to their friends to tell them all about it. Bell is responsible for all that chatter. Each of the above innovators advanced technology and created new jobs. They also caused others to lose their place in the workforce. Technology gives and technology takes away.

Technology and rust never rest. Many people have moved up the economic ladder thanks to the innovation and imagination of scientists. Others might feel like this line from The Beast of Yucca Flats best sums things up: “Touch a button. Things happen. A scientist becomes a beast.” (Cardoza & Francis, 1961). Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times (1936) presented a silent humorous yet poignant look at how technology can strip the human out of humanity. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) was a soundless siren call warning the world that progress is not always progressive.

The silence ended in 1927 (except for the lone holdout Chaplin) with the success of The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. The first successful talkie was also the death knell for many stars and for many behind the scenes. The march of progress left Theda Bara and others standing mute on the sidelines as the parade passed them by. New types of actors and new types of technology were needed to project the sounds that the world could no longer live without.

Most creative people fare well with the advances of technology. It is not just the artists who use new machines or Adobe Photoshop who succeed. The power of imagination has advanced the world century after century. Some cave dweller decided that raw meat needed heat. Another figured out that a roof overhead with walls and doors was far better than a drafty cave. Creative people tend to be able to ride the various waves no matter which way they flow. Painters, musicians, sculptors, writers, and others adapt to the times. The good artists for the Czars became the creators of Soviet realism. The good artists before the Depression became the over-the-top mural creators demanded by the Works Progress Administration.

I am an artist as well as a student of communications with a focus on public relations. I paint, write, and create clocks and lamps. Now I am branching out into learning about documentary filmmaking from my wife. The B.A. degree is also a way to advance an artistic career. Better understanding how to communicate with the world can only enhance the chance of success as an artist. Knowing public relations means that I can promote my work and that of my wife. My wife is also a student studying German literature and media studies. Her future lies with the creative arts. We both embrace what technology has to offer. High tech is less intimidating to those who already look at the world through a kaleidoscope.

My work is my goal. I do not see an unbridgeable gap between handling a paint brush and handling a computer mouse. Innovation can be intimidating if someone lacks insight and inspiration. I have used Photoshop to enhance the quality of the art which I create. I have also done what generations of artists did before: simply pick up a brush and keep on painting until the canvas is full. Work is something to be done no matter whether the person handles a shovel or software. Andy Warhol said:

I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of "work" because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do. Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery. People are working every minute. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep. (The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, 1977, p. 96).

The machinery does keep going and it keeps churning out new-and-improved machines. Education is keeping pace with the technological marvels. I am attending Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) even though I live in Germany. As Criswell said in Plan 9 from Outer Space:

Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. (Wood & Wood, 1959).

 I am attending SNHU because I have an interest in the unknown and the mysterious. Every online student gets to explore the world about them (and specifically education) in an entirely new way. I am boldly going where no Wyman has gone before.

My education is preparing me for the future. I can pursue my job and my goals simultaneously. According to Namdev (2012), a contradiction does not need to exist when it comes to creativity combined with technology. Harry Baldwin in Panic in Year Zero (1962) states:

“Now we don't know what lies ahead of us. The unknown has always been man's greatest demoralizer. Now maybe we can cope with this by maintaining our sense of values, by carrying out our daily routine, the same as we always have.” (Arkoff & Milland, 1962).  

Walking on a treadmill might give a sense of health and wellbeing but it does not lead anywhere. The planet’s future will continue to go forward as long as the earth revolves around the sun. Embracing the past will not stop the relentless march of time.

 


References

Arkoff, S.Z. (Producer), & Milland, R. (Director). (1962). Panic in Year Zero. [DVD]. USA: American International Pictures.

Barkan, S.E. (2011). Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Comprehensive
        Edition. Online. Flatworld Knowledge.

Cardoza, A. (Producer), & Francis, C. (Director). (1961). The Beast of Yucca Flats. [DVD]. USA: Alpha Home Entertainment.

Miller, D. (1987). B Movies. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

Namdev, D.S. ICT and web technology based innovations in education sector. Turkish Online  

        Journal of Distance Education, 13(4), 256-268. Retrieved from https://ehis.ebscohost.com.

Warhol, A. (1977). The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. New York, NY: Harbrace.

Wood, E. (Producer), & Wood, E. (Director). (1959). Plan 9 from Outer Space. [DVD]. USA: Quality Studios.