Orwell, Facebook... and that useless info.

As a person with a face, and seemingly some sort of book, I have noticed that there are certain things that sort of piss me off about this outward reaching data-mining program. It's no one's fault, really, it's just that every time I read things like "Katherine is no longer part of the group " I get the feeling I am witnessing the abyss of irrelevance -- sort of like sitting in a virtual lunchroom and listening to all the conversations going on around you. Each One. I don't even know Katherine that much, (she sits at another table) and her possible reversal on a subjective judgment is of no real fascination to me.

Or does it? I know you can turn those alerts, off, but it leads me to the point here: I don't want to eat lunch in silence, and my guess is that if you actually use Facebook, you probably don't want to either. So what is going on here?

When you look at what drives the internet, it's the eagerness on everyone's part to explore themselves by skipping small stones of our lives into the vast electronic ponds of communication. Unlike in High School, there is no wrong decision, or established methodology for cool. The insight of the lonely will not fall on empty school yards or wait in cars just around the corner from parties. With the internet comes the ability, at any second of the day, to stand up (probably sit down in this case) and say 'I was here, I lived at this moment and I loved it enough to change my status!'.

Every single piece of information you send on just about every single web site on the net is recorded and cataloged. The NSA and respective governmental agencies worldwide filter this at the very level of the data-stream from various ISP's. It's all very Orwellian sounding, and believe me I sort of agree. There are, however, some positives. The more we are surrounded by Big Brother's prying eyes the more we attain immortality. The useless comments are divine in this regard. Whether or not the information itself is accessible to anyone, there is more detailed information on your actual life online some of the more notable people in history. You have an entire virtual life and it will live on -- your own screenshot in history. Sure we know of Parmenides and Socrates, but we do not have the tagged photos of the uncles of philosophy bombed at the strip club.

Smiles are Free

I snuck into McDonalds the other day for another fast food meal I shouldn’t have been having, and, taking off my fake moustache and sunglasses I pondered what I read on the menu.

“Smiles are free”

It’s an interesting concept; that of ordering something which, as the sign states, is perfectly free. Do we all order smiles? In our increasingly fast paced world, is it simply easier to reduce the smile to nothing more than a means to an end? After all, if you smile to a woman on the street it obviously means you want to sleep with them, why else would you do it? Answers like, “I’m just happy” or “They looked a little down” simply make things confusing, right? After all, we are in a hurry.

To test my hypothesis I turned to the woman in line behind me, giving her a smile of my own I asked, “Hey, what do you think? Should I switch it up and try something different today?”

She rolled her eyes at my smile slightly, shrugging her shoulders. “Umm, I’m not sure…whatever you feel like I guess.” The curt statement was followed by a quick check of her cell phone.

I nodded, turning back to the cashier. I seemed to be right, at least on that occasion. It makes sense, and I suppose it’s easier this way. Why talk to a stranger any place other than downtown amidst the flowing social lubricants? You know, where you can have conversations like these. We’re building a better, more efficient world; sure you walk out onto the street and all you hear is car horns and traffic, but if you listen even more closely – utter silence.

“Same old number five I suppose… and a smile!” I said proudly.