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The Cave

Daniel Sandin and Thomas DeFanti were just a few behind the production of the virtual reality environment, the CAVE. This allowed viewers to actually enter inside a computer generated environment without the need of head sets of special devices, they were actually immersed in the scene. The very concept of it was always far more interesting than the actually practice, and certainly there are limits to its present condition. But what of the idea of being immersed completely in a space entirely of your own design seems to completely unrealistic? Did equal minds but eighty years ago feel that perhaps something a huge and complicated as the computer would ever be small enough to fit in your hand? Perhaps, but it wasn’t exactly an optimistic thought among the majority.

Multimedia seems to only go as far as the limits of not only its creator, but also the one interacting with it. The very idea of a total emersion space is there, but the technology has not even remotely come to a point of even making it worth the time and patience of it. Yet let us entertain the notion of being able to not only water your ideas come to life, but to be able to manipulate a virtual universe where one person alone sets the stage, characters, script, lighting and more without the need of a crew or the highly technical complexity of rendering a computer animation. Right now it takes several people and several machines to power virtual environments inside a computer, much less outside of one.

Yet perhaps one day the technology may allow for the ability of a single person to quite literally be the god of their own little universe that they can touch, see, hear, and smell.

What Is Technology?

Advancements of modern day living that we’ve all come to know and love. This includes but isn’t limited to computers, all modes of transportation, refrigeration, central heating and air, most forms of footwear, refined metal objects (most eating utensils), plastics, heaters, fan, cell phones, telephones, television, radio, and so much more. You are constantly surrounded by this each and every day at home, work, and school. It becomes so familiar that is starts to become difficult to imagine life without these things. Could you possibly imagine living a day without them?

What Isn’t Technology?

Basically, mandatory requirements such as standard clothing, fabrics, books, basic artistic supplies, sandals made primarily of leather, and all that is required to keep you alive for a 24 hour period (Such as mandatory medication, which is a technology but we don’t want you dieing for the wrong reasons). You can do without telephones, radio, television, all modes of transportation, and other basic forms of modern day living for a single day.

Technology Use Record:

• WindMachine Standing Floor Fans x2 – 24/7
• Florissant Lighting - 18 hours a day
• Personal Computer – 15 hours a day
• Lap Top – 3 hours day
• Entertainment Systems (Gaming) – 2 hours a day
• Refrigeration Unit – 24/7
• Center Heating and Air – 24/7
• Plumbing – 24/7
• Writing Utensils – 2 hours
• Eating Utensils – 1 hour

What is a Technology Fast?

Normally a Fast is an absence of all food, sometimes even drink for religious or medical purposes. But what is a Technology Fast? Now this is an entirely different question altogether. This is an absence of all, if not most of the benefits of modern living for the duration of a 24 hour period. The goal is not just to allow one to appreciate their surroundings more, but it is to obtain a better understanding of oneself and their state of existence.

Is a Technology Fast Possible?

At times it can be hard to picture oneself outside of the normal shell of use of technology, and often people can forget what it may have been like where you could not readily take water for a fosset, flip a light switch, or endure the comfort of a heater in the middle of a cold night. In an attempt to better oneself, it may be wise to attempt a complete absence from technology at one point or another. Perhaps it will give you a great appreciation of it, or more ideally – it will allow you to start developing intellectual ideals toward for a better humanity.

Yes, a fast such as this is possible. But it takes dedication, and certainly a lot of planning. It can not be done simply upon a whim, for you will find that breaking away from technology is a lot harder than you might think. Making plans, gathering materials, and perhaps even relocating yourself to a new location entirely may be the smartest plan. If you were to indulge yourself in a fast within your own home, you will be far too used to a simply cycle and casual routine that you will mindlessly use technology and not even realize it. Alienation is the key to success.

For an example, consider a Bed & Breakfast in the middle of Ozark Mountains. Set up a weekend visit and set up one of the days to be a complete absence of the technology you are so used to saturating yourself within.

Preparation of a Fast

Once it has been determined what technology is, it is important to note that others will continue to assume you are still under the influence of it. As first step would be to inform those of your separation from the “network” of our daily lives, including computers, email, cell phones, telephones, and other forms of personal communication. Not everyone understands their position of being so fortunate as to have someone but a finger’s touch away, and that can be easily taken for granted.

Give yourself a goal, and making it a constructive one. This goal will be the one thing that will ultimately occupy your mind for the duration of the 24 hour period. And once you figure a goal, you can gather the needed materials for it. Let’s assume you desired to go out into the middle of a field and paint the landscape for a majority of the day. You’d need to consider that all your materials are not very modern in the technical sense, which means no hand watches, pocket devices, sun glasses, shoes, or etc. You will need a basic pair of sandals perhaps, an easel, canvas, and a basket of paints.

Let’s not forget a non refrigerated pouch for food, water, and other forms of sustenance. Also know that you will probably not paint for the duration of the whole day, so be sure to also make a schedule of what you will hope to be doing. Make it flexible, so plan for up to six major activities which can include drawing, writing, reading, crafting, weaving, and even contemplation. But you do not want to spend the day merely sleeping, for that is not the point. The whole idea is not just to see how long you can go without the use of technology, but it is also to entertain the several other options and pleasures of the human existence.

There is a world that some have actually forgotten existed, and that is the world of self discovery. We can entertain our minds for so long that we forget about the part of ourselves which yearns to be something more, and certainly this is a chance to see if that part of you is still strong enough actually inspire you to make something of yourself.

As We May Think -- But Can We Think?

To what point have we grown to find ourselves merely looking back to the ideas of a man spoken not even a hundred years ago, and only to find that everything he has dreamed of has somehow made its way from the logical pictures of his mind to the a tangible reality. Vennevear Bush spoke of not just of the ideal camera which could instantly render a picture for its taker but seconds after the fact, but also he envision a form of the personal computer that is more or less was meant to be a personal library. There was no computing involved really, just the mere implementation of code which would allow the user to scan through the thousands of texts that would undoubtedly be stores within a system consistent of microfilm.

It was indeed a form of what we could consider the computer today, for that is a library of information we often tap at the mere stokes of a few keys of a mechanized board. We interact with a machine daily, work from it, live from it, feed off it – he could not have possibly seen such an existent coming to light. Having exceeding the very bounds of even his imagination, we’ve taken the idea and built it into a complex network of peoples and places that is constantly wired as one. Some of us are utterly dependant upon the connection, as others are so ignorant of its use that they avoid it all together.

Our daily lives are often drowned now with the indulgence of possibly too much information, where there is quite literally the ability to find anything and everything you could ever want or desire. A child could just as easily flick a few keys and watch a real recording of men so firm in their beliefs that they would hold down another man and steadily slice away at his throat with a knife until his head is severed from the body to rest in a dark pool of useless life blood. Both gift and curse, the power we have is often underestimated and wasted. For when we sit and let our eyes become lost in a screen, we neglect to realize that it is but a looking glass into the venomous pit of the human existence.

The true trial is not to stay on the edge of technology; it is up to us to now learn the balance. To learn the means in which we can not let ourselves become consumed by the very things dreamt up by logical man of his age. The threshold of tomorrow has been passed, and today we must strive to shape the future -- not allow it to shape us.