Critical Review of 'We Live in Public'

Critical Review of 'We Live in Public'

by Matthew Edward Hayward around 2010

Josh Harris said it best in his documentary, We Live in Public: “The internet is like this new human experience; at first, everyone is going to like it, but there will be a fundamental change in the human condition. One day, we are all going to wake up and realize we are all servants; it’s captured us.” I have felt and seen this truth, my truth, since I was in seventh grade. I wrote a paper about technology surpassing humanity. It was about how uncivilized and barbaric mankind is. I made an argument that Indigenous people were far less barbaric than those who wore power suits and used government and courts to destroy lives and resources and create massive economic inequalities in the name of philanthropy. I wrote about how, thanks to technology, our capabilities are far greater than our understanding of the application of our actions. “Technology is advancing quickly, yet man is evolving at a fraction of that.”

“Question everything, or you will become nothing more than a computer waiting for an upgrade.” The paper I wrote was called Conformed, and it went further into addressing the massive ignorance of mankind’s technological expansionism. Just because one can does not mean one should. It’s not how much you know and what you can do, but how much you understand you don’t know. It is also crucial to be aware of the possible side effects and ramifications of one’s actions. It seems to me that as technology progresses, the more complacent Americans become. It is important to find a balance.

Josh made a stunning comment to news correspondent Bob Simon, “We are in the business of programming people’s lives.” Similar to Bob, that quote startled me. I quickly went back to my papers and found a similar statement I had written just years before Josh’s interview. “Everyone’s in the fast lane trying to reach goals that were brainwashed into them.” How can anyone call it an advancement? We have created a society of brainwashed, lazy, ignorant people.

As the years passed, I numbed myself with alcohol and drugs. I had given up on humanity and wished not to contribute to the inevitable entropy that was being driven by technological advancements and moral depravity. “Three hundred years ago, the lions and tigers were kings of the jungle and then one day they wound up in zoos. I suspect we are on the same track.” (Harris) Then something happened; I was awakened from my sad existence to be reborn into a life of clarity and integrity. I was filled with hope and faith, and I could see the people with their heads in the sand. I walked around and looked at the cameras everywhere, the increased security, and the armed guards. I didn't know it yet, but I would soon travel down a path of civil liberties and humanistic philosophy. “It is wrong to invade people’s privacy with cameras.” (Harris) Josh demonstrated the price we pay for living in public. With 24-hour electronic surveillance, Josh was driven to a mental collapse. Being cognitively aware of what is happening can be overwhelming. That is why I believe so many people resort to programming their minds into a false reality through television, sports, movie stars, alcohol, and drugs. It has been said that ignorance is bliss, and if you can’t beat them, join them.

To be an automaton or an individual, that is the question. Interestingly, Josh’s experiment, Quite, leads him to believe that “Freedom turns people into beasts.” But these people were not free, they had no privacy nor were they free to come and go from the experiment. All his experiment proved is how people who live in mental slavery are put into a box filled with drugs, cameras, and too much stimulus. He used a ton of money on a haphazard experiment that could have been revolutionary.

I thought Timoner did a good job presenting Josh Harris as an eccentric character who had a few good ideas at the right time. While that may be true, I would have emphasized the point with a psychologist’s testimony. It would have strengthened the video and the thesis if people clearly knew that Josh was riding that fine line between genius and insanity.

We are, as a species, more capable than intelligent. Has technology surpassed humanity? What does the phrase, ‘technology surpassed humanity’ mean to you, the reader, and is it relevant? Another important yet simple question: Do you think, as Americans, we are happier/better with the current technology (for the last sixty years) or unhappier and dissatisfied? Mind you, I am not talking about our capabilities, but in our actual practices. If we don’t ask these questions, we may end up living aimlessly, consumed by artificiality, and left with superficial relationships that leave us empty and alone. Technology isn't evil as long as it doesn't consume one’s life. That said, balance is not something practiced in a consumer society of planned obsolescence.

Many people know exactly what they want out of life; they have goals and are on a path. Many of these same people become well-educated and informed and succeed in their goals. However, a more important question would be whether they succeeded in life. How can one know if one is headed in the right direction when walking with eyes closed? It may help to look at Socrates' statement: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” If people chase after dreams implanted by social pressures, corporate propaganda, and stereotypes, the “white picket fence,” they may find upon attaining those goals, if they do, that it will not generally satisfy their hearts and souls. It was not their desire but rather an artificial desire with an empty ending. Can gadgets such as cell phones, computers, televisions, and video games that serve to keep us apart from not only one another but ourselves and God be deemed beneficial? Is it possible that these modern conveniences are not really convenient but instead ineffectual? Can detour from the shortest course of self-enlightenment lead to fulfillment? Is it extreme to desire a life outside of a superficial and materialistic world to satisfy one's innermost desires?

From the dawn of television to the present day, the benefits of modern technology seem to be shortsighted. Morality has suffered a giant blow with a lack of parental guidance and social interaction. With increasingly less constructive discourse, I fail to see how we could possibly be advancing. The negative effects of modern conveniences far outweigh their good. Where you may have gotten a handwritten letter with care and thought, you now get an email or text with poor grammar and little thought. The lack of personal warmth and love caused by cyberspace is devastating to our societies. Personal interactions that only seemingly happen while one person is actually watching T.V. and the other texting have become commonplace. Family dinners and meaningful dialog are a thing of the past in a microwaveable nation with 500 channels of American Idol and celebrity news.

God help us of Josh, and I am right. Unless people start asking some of these questions and look before they leap, I am confident we are doomed to a future of mental and financial slavery. If the indoctrination of consumerist philosophies is to be addressed, we must take a step back from virtual reality and engage in actual reality. We must again become a community-based society where people interact and engage with one another in a meaningful way. Talking about the weather, sports, and the latest reality television show is not going to help break us free from the clutches of mental servitude.

Work Cited
We Live In Public. DVD. Ondi Yimoner:
Ondi Timoner Keirda Bahruth.
New York, New York: Inter lopar films, 2009

We Live In Public - Official Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XSTwfdFwIY