Culture

Glad To Sell You The Power: Consumerism Meets Creativity

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There’s no doubt we live in a consumer culture in America, and a good part of the Western (and Eastern) world. There’s plenty of things made, plenty to buy, and we do so beyond our basic needs. Obviously, not everyone is happy with this situation, as you can read . . . well anywhere. I myself, always a fan of technology and new things, am not thrilled with waste, passivity, and commodification.

However, at least in some spheres, I’m noticing there’s turns away from standard consumerism. There’s the DIY culture, and its offspring the Makers. There’s focus on simplicity and zero/low waste.

However, I noticed a curious phenomena building over time, one I’d like to discuss for it’s relevance in geeky careers and opportunities; we’re already getting “outbursts” of people wanting more control over what they do and more creative outlets – and people serving their needs by providing ways to do it.

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If We Need SF, What’s The Best Form?

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Back on April 26th I did a post on how there’s a kind of SF Gap. My theory can be roughly summarized as:

  1. A lot of our SF dreams and ideas have come true (often in consumer electronics).
  2. It’s all pretty standard.
  3. SF looks a lot alike – or in some cases is so way out it doesn’t give us something to reach for.
  4. We therefore lack the inspiration to create new technologies.

Well you can guess that got people talking at the original article, and fellow writer Serdar had his unique insights on a larger “personal gap” and on technology and deception that are well worth reading – and joining in on the conversation.

Clearly I touched a nerve. OK, nerves for me, Serdar, and some regulars, but that’s still some important nerves that my grubby literary fingers prodded. In fact, Serdar’s feedback got me thinking . . .

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Join the (Extended) Conversation

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I did a post at Fan To Pro that suggested we had an “SF Gap” – we don’t have SF to inspire us anymore.  Serdar jumped on this both at the original post, and in fascinating blog posts of his own he discussed the gap in ourselves, and how we can use technology to delude ourselves.

This is some seriously good stuff, so I wanted to prod everyone to join in the discussion – because there’s going to be more to come, trust me . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.