The Google Era
I've found a new and better name for the Post-Modern Age:
The Google Era. At least for the time being.
It seems we're getting pretty familiar, as a society, with technology changing the way we do things, and the way we think about things.
And those of us of in my generation and younger are getting pretty adept at handling the transitions.
Used to be, if you didn't plan carefully, or know your way around, you could get lost.
Not anymore.
Used to be, if you couldn't afford to buy music albums, you had to wait for your favorite songs to come on the radio.
Not anymore.
Used to be, if someone wasn't at home, or at work, then they're out of reach.
Not anymore.
No big deal. But it hit me today, the way we can just "Google" things now. It seems like a minor shift, but think about it. If you have a question, it doesn't matter if you have access to an encyclopedia, or a library, or a resident scholar. You can just Google it. You don't have to "not know". You don't have to "always wonder" anymore.
It's as though the big challenge of our generation is not to find answers to questions, it's to find a question we can't answer. And I think some of us miss the wondering.
Maybe that's a big part of post-modernism. That we've lost interest in the answers, because they're too numerous, too available, and too concrete. Supply is up, so demand is down.
It's like the number 42, if you've read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. They're looking for the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, and they discover the answer is 42. So they set out to search for the Question. The Answer comes easy, but the search for the Question takes eons.
And so it is for our generation. It's become a challenge to find something to always wonder. And that is what people are latching onto... anything with a little mystique. A story with a prequel. A house with a cellar. A bride with a veil.
But old habits die hard, and it has been a tough road to break our addiction to concrete answers and reach out to trust what we cannot define. And it's something that none of us can do alone. We need people around us to make up in the heart what we lack in the head.
Don't have anybody like that? I'm sure Google can help.
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Labels: culture
Posted at 12:18 PM
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2 Comments:
It is not (in the case of postmodernity) as if concreteness has led to boredom and the subsequent search for questions, but rather that the multitude of competing "concrete" answers overwhelms people to the point of apathy. It is essentially apathy over insanity. The daunting proliferation of potential answers to a particular question dispels the certainty that any one answer is correct, or that any answers are actually discernible. The question then is which answer to choose, which largely depends on the perceived credibility of the source of the answer. I think this lends support for your conviction that we not underestimate (nor underemphasize) the power and necessity of establishing credibility. From a Kingdom perspective, this credibility is necessarily derived from the expression of Christ-like love in the Body of Christ, and outward, in tangible terms, to the world.
Now the question is which competing theory is right: yours or mine? ;-)
I don't think they're all that different, actually. Good points!
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