Law of Least Action

Law of Least Action.

      I'm sorry, but what?? Is this what our society has come down to? That we are so lazy that we can't even physically take a couple of minutes in our day to open the blinds, turn on the lights, little things in our houses that doesn't even require us to leave the house? That's just unacceptable. People blame US's high obesity rate on the fact that they serve food with way too much sugar in it. After reading this chapter, in particular the section where he mentions "Law of Least Action,"I beg to differ for obvious reasons...not that I'm particularly active or anything, but it definitely isn't encouraging me to get my butt off the bed to hear that they're finding ways so that I don't even ever have to leave it anymore. With communication though, obviously there are perks to not having to hand deliver everything. Although I will say it really isn't quite as sentimental when you get an email or message on Facebook, as opposed to a handwritten letter or postcard. Think about it. Someone was actually thinking about you, with the intent of putting effort into whatever they were writing, then had to go through the trouble of mailing it. All of that takes a lot of effort. Today I actually did receive a postcard from a friend studying abroad in Germany which totally would have been different if she had Facebook messaged me, and it totally made my day.

     I also found it particularly interesting on page 57, when he talks about Shinohora's notion that "the city of the future will express the beauty of confusion." This is oddly profound to me, in an almost eerie way. I keep thinking back to the movie IRobot from years ago and how the robot eventually becomes evil or something like that, and Will Smith has to fight them off. Especially when Virillo then says, "I am on the other hand, quite convinced that it will in the near future illustrate the tragedy of the fusion of the 'biological' and the 'technological.'" I'm not too sure what he means by that, but perhaps it isn't always a bad thing. Perhaps technology can make the biological more powerful, but i guess then again in those make-believe action movies it always seems that some greedy villain finds a way to make himself more powerful using technology, and then using his newfound power to disrupt the once quiet and peaceful community/village. Maybe this isn't really the same thing (if at all), but I know that those with severe back issues can have spinal surgery, replacing the bone with metal. Which is sort of technology and biological fusion. Sort of.