What if you were given the chance to show a renaissance age philosopher, like that Leonardo from Vinci guy, the world we live in today, give him a glimpse or a day in our life of, an experience in our time… what kind of reaction would this man have, and how would you go about getting him out of the tree he jumped in out of pure fear? This thought occurred to me as I pondered what the future might be like and just how crazy, and scary I would find the world of 2510, I imagine it to be a super speed, flying car, jet pack, and hand held super computer kind of place, or the post apocalyptic remains of some catastrophe.
But let’s say I had Leo up in my world, hoping to be able to first visit him in his time, when he was still a young guy at the prime of his age, (because if he was old, he would have a heart attack as I stepped out of the time portal), to have him step though time with me in already a calm and trusting manner. Bringing him slightly up to speed of how far the human race has gotten, I would hand him what we today even find amazing, an iPod, letting him feel, see and hear some of the crazy shit we got going on anno 2010. Reactions I might expect would be, you listen to this crap, what is this californication they are describing, how did you make such a small and detailed painting, and why would you step into a machine that replicates the effects of the sun?
Jumping out of the wormhole, time vortex thingy, we would return to a calm environment so I can slowly induce a state of panic into Leo, because our norms are not exactly what he would call normal, so anything beyond math is scary to him. So let’s start with something simple, a refined tool, one that we actually do not use too much today, a pen and a piece of paper. The pure smoothness and continuity of how it writes would be amazing to him, than we go on to the Internet, a shock in and of itself, showing him the ease of access to information, videos, pictures and text galore! Never, in this situation, show Leo how to Google, and leave him alone, you might come back to find him hiding in your closet.
After you’ve calmed him down and told him that everything about guns, bombs, breasts, and lady gaga are far away, luring him out of the closet with a hot slice of pizza, you decide to take him on a guided tour of your city, in your car. And as you approach the car you innocently tell him what it is and how fast it can go, hoping he might be able to grasp what 60 kilometers per hours is and feels like, you help him into his seat, buckle him in and as you do so, you are asked; why must I be restrained by this belt? And your reply is; in case we crash. Trying to calm him down once again from wanting to jump out of what he sees as a torture method, you quickly jump in and get moving. Right away Leo seems like a dog that is taken for a ride in the car, wanting to stick his head out the window to yell and get excited by others passing by. The sights and sound of the hustle and bustle of the city make him feel confused, intrigued, and slightly enlightened. After the road trip, of him asking “what is that” over and over, you arrive back at your house, pull him to the portal, and throw him back in, fed up with his constant craziness and mumbling. Thinking you might have chosen the wrong person to visit and you feel like screwing with culture a bit, you think of a person in time that has made many astonishing pieces for our world. And you want to give that person something from today he could understand, and make sense of what you give him or her.
My personal choice would be to give Shakespeare a Disc man, with an Eminem CD.
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