A New Age of Music

Being a musician myself, I am always on the look out for music related discoveries. Even less recent developments intrigue me; such as electronic music. It started in the late 1940s with music only being distorted by electronic means. Now, whole songs are being played with the use of electronic instruments, both physical and synthetic. It is a new age of music. One can only imagine what incredible developments the future of electronic music is destined to bring.

For my research paper, I will discuss how electronic music and instruments came to be, and how they might continue to develop in the future. Technology can be combined with any other field in order to create amazing new outcomes. Binding itself to music, technology has given people an everlasting gift. New music, new instruments, new sounds; these things will not pass quickly, but instead last for decades to come. I hope that this paper will not only enlighten those who read it, but also my self, on the incredible capabilities of technological music and the instruments that create it.

Technology; a Help or a Hindrance

Technology is constantly changing. Ebbing and flowing as often as the tides steadily creeping up the shore. Each day something newer and better is released, one-uping its predecessor. But is technology even a good thing? Should the human race continue to push forward in technological progress, or should we put it all on hold? Granted technology is helping many people in their day-to-day lives, but it is also causing great harm by preventing the development of humanity.

Humanity’s dependance on technology has become a hinderance on it’s own. Because technology is so adaptable, humans have started to depend on it for every little thing. People no longer even brush their own teeth without the use of their handy electronic toothbrushes. Has humanity sunken so low that the strain of brushing one’s teeth has become too much? People must stop now. Without external effort technological dependencies will go nowhere but up. As Juan Enriquez points out in his 2009 TED Talk, humans already depend on technology to keep them alive. Scientists are now creating artificial organs in labs. How much more dependent can a civilization get? Technology feeds us, clothes us, cleans us, and now even keeps us alive.

God created Adam and Eve exactly how they were meant to be. Because of greed they were banished from Eden and since then humans have sought to find better ways to perfect their lives. In the last century or so, people have turned to technology to bring us closer to paradise. But why? There were no iPads or airplanes in the Garden of Eden. Why do we need them now? The human race has lived, and flourished, for centuries with out technological gadgets. Modern day machines should be limited. Gadgets don’t need to be used for every little difficulty. Even with all our technology it doesn’t make anyone any happier. “Everything’s amazing right now, and nobody’s happy” (Louis C.K.). All this dependence is weakening the human race. I witnessed a cashier worker unable to multiply $7.50 by three without the use of the calculator. It used to be that every equation was done mentally, but because of technology those simple skills are being lost.

Everyone always claims that change is good, that without change we wouldn’t be where we are today, and that is true. But do we really want to be where we are today; depending so heavily on technology with our ecosystem falling apart around us all do to that “good change”? If humans hadn’t taken the need for change so readily, we wouldn’t have the rapidly growing hole in the ozone layer. After all, it is only there because of the extensive use of Chloro-Fluoro-Carbons (CFS) commonly found in refrigerators, air conditioners, fire extinguishers and spray cans. I am not suggesting the entire human race should smolder in the heat with sour milk and moldy cheese, but we should limit the exposure of CFS, otherwise the entire earth will smolder in the harsh UV rays of the sun.

Humanity has begun to depend far too heavily on technology in general. As Ian Goldin so excellently puts its, “This could be our best century ever because of the achievements, or it could be our worst.” At this point, humanity needs to decide which direction to follow. Into further dependency and eventual destruction with technology, or away from technology down the more natural, environmental friendly road.

Science Fiction As a Reality

Science fiction has always been an imaginative category for both books and films, but is it really fiction? Nathan Barry, in “10 Great Things We Got From Science Fiction”, makes several examples of how once fictional ideas have now become reality. The IPad, BlueTooth, video watches, and even the Internet, among many more all started out as fictional works. It seems as if the authors of Star Trek, From the Earth to the Moon and James Bond could predict the future. If these authors could envision these great things what can we except the science fiction authors of today to foretell in our future?

Barry’s article discusses what was once considered to be futuristic and is now a reality. When Jules Verne wrote From the Earth to the Moon in 1865, moon travel was barely a thought, but as Barry puts it “Verne tried to make the requirements for his cannon as real as he could using some rough calculations, and apparently he wasn’t too far off on some of them” (Barry par. 13). It is as if Verne had psychic abilities. Will the inventions in today’s science fiction novels come true in the near future as well? It used to be only in imaginations that travel to the moon was possible. Now concerts are being planed to take place on that distant soil. Only in the wildest dreams was conversation imagined between two people across the world, yet now cell phones allow easy access to conversations from anywhere. Technology is truly amazing , taking twists and turns previously unimaginable. In M.T. Anderson’s novel Feed there are computer chips implanted in everyone’s brains. Will that soon happen to us? Will science fiction become a reality? In 1990, “David Brin published a book called Earth, in which he predicted a whole manner of things” (Barry par. 17). Barry also believed in the prophecies of these authors. I believe that our world is ever growing and changing; one day, all our futuristic dreams will become reality. It is inevitable. Science is a growing market in our world and our future will revolve around it; being made ready by the science fiction authors of today.

WALL-E

Apocalyptic Earth is a common scheme for films, but Andrew Stanton’s Wall-E is unlike any other film I have ever seen. For starters, the main character of Wall-E is a small robot called Wall-E programed to help clean up our Earth that is no longer fit for any form of life, except cockroaches. Wall-E persistently crushes trash into cubes and builds towering skyscrapers from them. His whole life is changed when Axiom, the space ship where humans now live, sends in a new robot, EVE. Wall-E immediately falls in love with her and offers her a small plant he discovered in an old refrigerator. EVE sends an automatic message back to the Axiom which sends in a shuttle to bring her back. Love stricken Wall-E valiantly follows EVE back through space. When they both reach the Axiom you see the humans in the lap of luxury; every slightest wish being cared for by the hundreds of robots also on board the ship. However, all is not well when the Auto pilot refuses to return back to Earth despite the newly found evidence that Earth is, once again, life sustainable. Finally good prevails, and the Captain steers the ship back to Earth. Through a turn of events the viewer begins to think that perhaps this love story will have a tragic ending, but Wall-E and EVE recover, ending the movie holding hands, a beautiful symbolism for their love. Even so, behind the wonderful love story there is a deeper underlying message; what will happen in the future if technology takes over?

From the very start of the film you can see how Earth has become polluted. In an early attempt to save the Earth from our own trash, humans developed giant incinerators and robots like Wall-E to try and clean up. However when all this fails the humans just give up and take off to outer space, leaving Earth to choke in the smog and pollution that we created. Only Wall-E is left running. He is the only surviving robot of the hundreds created because he was more than just an android. He had developed his own personality and habits; he had a will to go on. He was fascinated with humans’ old knickknacks and collected them in an old trailer. He also had a pet cockroach that he fed with Twinkies. However, Wall-E was,  in reality, malfunctioning. Humans’ ideas of robots were not supposed to be able to think or act outside of their code. Auto, the auto pilot steering wheel, also begins to develop a mind of his own. When Earth was considered life sustainable the Axiom was supposed to be navigated back home, but Auto had other ideas. Perhaps he wanted to stay in space and control humans for another 700 years, or perhaps he just liked space, but he refused orders and did not allow the captain to turn the ship around. “Ladies and Gentleman, this is your Captain speaking. We have a slight malfunction with the autopilot” (Stanton) the Captain said into the speaker while battling Auto. Auto was presented as the “bad guy” of the film, but many of the other robots too became faulty. A small robot called M-O takes a large amount of willpower to jump off his designated tracks, disobeying his system, to clean the “Foreign contaminant” (Stanton) left behind by Wall-E’s tire tracks. There is in fact an entire section of the ship containing malfunctioning robots.  An umbrella that opened uncontrollably, a beautician that went overboard, a vacuum cleaner with a cold, and many others all landed places in the ward because they no longer behaved as the humans expected. This film depicts the human race being taken over by technology. Technology is constantly growing, what happens if one day it becomes smarter than us? The robots in Wall-E develop emotions and thoughts, they can even learn. All this points to the fact that the technology is overpowering the humans. Why would a robot continue to take orders from less intelligent beings? I believe Stanton was trying to show his viewers what could happen if we are not careful. Yes, technology is a beautiful thing that helps the world. But do we really want to become fat, lazy people siting in hover chairs starring at a computer screen day in and day out? Everything is good, but only in moderation. Valuable information was lost in this film because people no longer used it. “Define ‘dancing'” (Stanton). People didn’t even know what dancing was. They no longer knew what soil, farming, or ocean meant. The technology had truly taken over every aspect of their lives. They weren’t even living anymore, only surviving. As the captain so wisely said, “I don’t want to survive! I want to live” (Stanton).