(no subject)
I devoured the Steampunk Bible this week (a pretty good read, though elitist at times) and there's one interview that asks, "why do people get into Steampunk?" And the short answer is, because we like to create. Because we live in a society where things are created for us-electronics, computers, even our phones-and we want to go back to a time where we can do it ourselves.
And that made me understand my intrigue with this subculture.
But more than that, it's explains why I don't care about technology as much as I used to. Yeah, I own a couple computers and an iPhone and all my little gadgets. I thought my indifference toward technology was because it's everywhere, that it was more fun before, say, everyone was on facebook. But that's not quite it. Because I still like tinkering. I still like shiny new things. I just don't like how idiot-proof everything has become.
I mean, I can't even change my phone battery without sending it back to the manufacturer. If you want to swap out the RAM in your laptop, there's literally a little door in the back just for the RAM. What's the fun of that? These companies have made it so everything is the same, and it's just so boring. When I was in college, one of my goals was to build my own computer. I still haven't done it, but I'd like to one day. I don't know if it was just the atmosphere, or the people I hung out with, but customization was everywhere. Now, I don't hear about it nearly as much. Everything comes prepackaged and preloaded and we're perfectly okay with that.
But I still want to tinker. I itch to create something, to take it apart and destroy it just to rebuild it. I want the fear of breaking things. I want the panic of not being able to find the right part. I want something, but I don't want other people to create it for me.
And that made me understand my intrigue with this subculture.
But more than that, it's explains why I don't care about technology as much as I used to. Yeah, I own a couple computers and an iPhone and all my little gadgets. I thought my indifference toward technology was because it's everywhere, that it was more fun before, say, everyone was on facebook. But that's not quite it. Because I still like tinkering. I still like shiny new things. I just don't like how idiot-proof everything has become.
I mean, I can't even change my phone battery without sending it back to the manufacturer. If you want to swap out the RAM in your laptop, there's literally a little door in the back just for the RAM. What's the fun of that? These companies have made it so everything is the same, and it's just so boring. When I was in college, one of my goals was to build my own computer. I still haven't done it, but I'd like to one day. I don't know if it was just the atmosphere, or the people I hung out with, but customization was everywhere. Now, I don't hear about it nearly as much. Everything comes prepackaged and preloaded and we're perfectly okay with that.
But I still want to tinker. I itch to create something, to take it apart and destroy it just to rebuild it. I want the fear of breaking things. I want the panic of not being able to find the right part. I want something, but I don't want other people to create it for me.