One of these days I’m going to break down and buy a smart phone. It’s not that I don’t want one, every time I’m out with friends and one of them pulls up Where’s Your Bus or Open Table or- deus avertat- Angry Birds I look longingly at those smooth rectangles of slick plastic.
But what really interests me is not the appearance of the phone or the games that you can play with it, but the way that it changes our interaction with the world around us. I love the ideas that are put forward in stories like Ghost in the Shell, Diamond Age, Dresdan Codak or Minority Report, worlds where technology has advanced far enough that- for better or for worse- our relationship to each other and to it has changed irreversibly.
Or maybe I just really want to be a cyborg. Or not a cyborg precisely, more of someone who has access to the instant communication, a vast store of knowledge and a network of people that work together to become more than what they were born to. Is there even a word for that?
But there’s a new iPhone app that seems to be bringing us a little closer to the ideal I have in my head. It’s called Situationist, and it espouses the same beliefs of Situationist Interational, a movement which existed around the time of Dada in Paris and which strove to bring art and life together in a playful way designed to help people live rather than just survive.
The app brings to mind one of the greatest short Sci-Fi stories I’ve read, Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling, which takes place in near-future Japan. Here the computers have taken over in the form of a self-aware network but it’s not a bad thing. Rather they manage a gift economy- for example when the net tells the main character to give someone a coffee he does it automatically and when his wife is pregnant she gets useful gifts. It’s a world where everyone contributes what they can to system for free and it ends up making everyone better off.
Just like the network in the story, Situationist helps users connect with random strangers to make their lives better- or at least more interesting. Using the GPS receiver in their phones people with the app are notified when someone else with the app passes by, ships them a picture of the user, and then gives them a suggestion of an interaction. Something like “give me a high five!,” “let me inspect the contents of your bag for bombs or such,” “write your first impression of me and hand it to me discreetly,” or “help me rouse everyone around us into revolutionary fervor and storm the nearest TV station.”
And before you let your worries about stalkers/exhibitionism get the best of your intentions to lead an adventurous life, Situationist is fully moderated. Besides, how can you have an adventure without stepping out of your comfort zone a little?
But if wonderful things like this continue to come out then I’m going to have to buy myself a smart phone soon. My world may never be like the one in Maneki Neko or any of the other stories, but with technology ever marching forward-and as long as I keep looking for adventure– I’m sure it will be one just as interesting.