Perception

In part 3 of Virillo's Open Sky, he talked about perception and how it can be deceiving, and proceeds to raise an important question: "Are we free, truly free, to choose what we see?" (95) Virillo claims that we are in fact, "clearly not" but at the same time, reasonably he also defends the idea that we are not actually obliged or forced against our will to see what we see as well. I personally don't believe that we are obligated, as human beings, to see anything that we don't want to see. I guess it also depends on what he means by the actual things that we see. Is he referring to crime? poverty/beggars/homeless people/etc? General sights that, to society, has taught us are not necessarily the most pleasing to the eye? It seems to me, that he is almost insensitive in saying that we don't have the freedom to see what we see. Some things are just a part of life that are inevitable and we cannot avoid, so we might as well embrace it. Or maybe even change the sights that you don't want to see. Within reason, of course. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't believe that anyone really has the power to make us see what we don't want to see.

In From Sexual Perversion to Sexual Diversion, it actually made me quite sad to read about how people are deliberately coming up with ways that can actually replace human interaction. Call me old-schooled, but I just don't really believe that physical interaction can be that easily substituted, and is kind of insulting if anyone would actually think that some kind of technology in replacement of me, is fulfilling, or worse, better than me! I suppose I could see the appeal with couples doing long-distance relationships, I suppose it would be better than nothing, and maybe even it would eliminate temptation of cheating. But at the same time, I feel like someone in a committed relationship shouldn't need some kind of technology to fulfill their desires, to stay committed. But nevertheless, in the midst of trying to fathom Virillo's argument, I wanted to knwo what kind of technology is really being pushed out there for these types of situations. I came across this "blue tooth hand held" device introduced at a Japanese tech expo. Turns out, one of their biggest mobile carriers, DoCoMo came up with what they called "Taion Heart" shaped like a plastic heart.

Here's their description of this device: "When given a squeeze, the device would measure the rate of your heart and the tightness of your grip. This info would be transmitted to your partner’s phone, and then to his or her matching device, which would get warm and light up into a variety of colors — while vibrating according to your pulse of course." 

And more: “Couples can use it by each person holding the heart in bed as they sleep,” DoCoMo told the press. Edgar Allen Poe would be so into this."

Source: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/tech-support-technology-for-getting-really-intimate-in-a-long-distance-relationship