In the spirit of Nothing New
at least in the last 25 years . . .
When I was trying to think of things that really jazzed me in interactive, I had trouble coming up with recent items.
My problem was predicted by User InfoTechnoDemo, an interesting little book, or MEDIAWORKBOOK, by MIT Press. It has an early passage that we’re kind of creatively stalled on two visual concepts. The passage is good, arguably arguable, and worth tussling with:
Our visual culture remains trapped in a relentless present idly circling itself as if waiting for inspiration it doesn’t expect to come. For good or ill, the high-modern period offered a succession of startling visions of what was to come, indeed, the future seemed assured precisely because the scenarios themselves were so hetergenous. … I lay blame for our 21st century inability to imagine anything beyond the moment on two, almost perfect visual systems, both moving into their third decade. …
The two concepts are Blade Runner and the GUI metaphor. Fun to try and think about things that aren’t in that vein: Minority Report is still a GUI, Battlestar Galactica is pre-Runner in its SF book cover planets. Are we stuck, as the book says, in a “permanent present”? Is that why I have such trouble finding things that are crazy cool?