Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Blogbusters where we’re going to be examining SCIENCE! Or more particularly, TECHNOLOGY! The shock of the new – the joy of the new – lies at the heart of a lot of genre fiction. We live, technologically, in a very odd future and it’s easy to lose sight of that whilst waiting in, yet again, for the Home Delivery Network to bring your jetpack. So, to wile away the hours in a manner other than taping bacon to the cat, why not read our answers to this week’s question:
How much of geek culture is inherently connected to technology?
Can you be a geek and still be a luddite?
“Yes, I went there. So should you if you can - it’s a really fun convention.
“Technology as a destination, however is meaningless. It’s the exact same gadget arms race that leads you to update your phone, your computer, your DVD player, your robotic butler. Technology as the tool, though, as the framework that helps you reach your destination? That’s something geekdom should embrace with both hands. And then, odds are, redesign them to look a little cooler anyway...”
“That said, geeks typically tend to embrace new technology relatively quickly. I mean, I did have a Commodore 64 when I went to that first con, and when The X-Files fandom changed everything by bringing fanfiction and fanart online, I rode that wave until it finally made landfall on this current continent of interconnected online geekdom.
“But I suspect there are geeks out there who could put me to shame with their Star Wars knowledge who aren’t online. I think they’re a small minority, but they’re out there. And can I say they are any less of a geek than one with a blog? No. They’re just a geek who isn't online, or isn’t online much.
“So I guess I think geek status and online/tech status, while often intertwined, aren’t necessarily one and the same. Oh, and by the way? That’s a good thing. Because you never know when the zombie apocalypse might hit, and while our tech might die overnight, somehow I’m comforted by the fact that geeks will still be arguing about whether their foes are truly reanimated corpses or living persons who just happen to have a very interesting, non-curable virus long after civilization as we know it has ended.”
So there you go, the Blogbusters have saved science and all you had to do was read it on whatever electronic nanopedal prose engine you happen to have fired up. Join us next week when we discuss why sometimes taking another run at the origin of Spiderman, or finding out what happened to the Norwegians that found The Thing in the The Thing can be a good...thing, when we ask:
What do you think would benefit from a prequel or a reboot?
See you then.
