(Nothing But) Flowers August 1, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Philosophy, Technology, music.trackback
I have mentioned the song “(Nothing But) Flowers” by The Talking Heads to a couple of my friends in reference to the artificial and unnecessary role of technological culture to the human condition. You can find the lyrics to the song here, but hearing it is better.
The song is told from the point of view of a person pining away for the old days of Seven-Elevens and chocolate chip cookies in a post-apocalyptic world.
Once there were parking lots
Now it’s a peaceful oasis
you got it, you got itThis was a Pizza Hut
Now it’s all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it
Until recently, I always thought that this song was humorous, but a bit unrealistic – after all, nobody can stop the wheels of progress, nor would they want to.
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we’d start over
But I guess I was wrong
No one could be happy in this condition, right? As I have gotten older, I have realized how much of a trap “progress” is. It feeds on itself. We are slaves to it. Can you imagine life without electricity, modern transportation, or plumbing? We answer this by saying that these things have made our lives better. But I just want to ask this question: our lives are better relative to what? Technology has made us frantic, lonely, sick, and massively destructive. What if we started on a false premise to begin with, and are just chasing our tails in search of something else?
And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
This post is dedicated to Pete Gaeta. Dude, where’s your blog?
Comments
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It’s certainly worth thinking about that our “enlightened” progress has a very weighty dark side. But the idea that it is all or nothing, one way or the other, is an illusion of perspective brought about by the fact that humankind existed 200,000 years before the Industrial Revolution of less than 200 years ago. The means of the past 200 years to get to the ends at present represent, hopefully, only the first stab in a series of trials and errors that may ultimately lead to a balance between the Pizza Hut and the daisies. That humanity is in a state of denial about its impact on the world is evident and extremely, grossly problematic, but one needn’t result to apocalyptic scenarios to bring home the point.
Incidentally, I’m a huge fan of Talking Heads, especially Remain in Light and Fear of Music. Enjoyed your blog and looking forward to more…thanks!
Nice comment.
The neo-luddite sentiments expressed in this post are a bit rash, and perhaps reactionary. It isn’t possible or preferable to throw away all culture and technology, for in that very process we are merely replacing one set of social conventions and “advances” with another. The importance, I think, is in the awareness of our current culture as an artificial social construct on par with many other cultures. The argument for the march of progress often blinds us to the many negative aspects of the technologies we are advancing.
Some out-of-the-box thinking is required for dealing with the issues of technology and culture as many of the its negative aspects, such as environmental damage and human health, are coming to a head.
While we consider new innovative solutions, let us not forget an important illustration: if a man realizes that he is traveling down the wrong road, the fastest way for him to reach his destination is not to continue along that same path, but to turn around and regress the path he is on.
So do I think we need to throw “progress” to the wind and start over? No. But I don’t think that technological progress for its own sake is the right road either.