convergence
This is a topic I have given a lot of thought. Convergence is one of those ideas that feels sticky, kind of like bubblegum, but with more tang and sweetness. Perhaps, like molasses, but I leave that for you to decide.
Convergence is an idea discussed in the media frequently. It is the notion that will be a moment where all facets of technology will interface into a seamless, cohesive whole. This sounds neat, clean, and far too easy. But I like the idea. Convergence fascinates me because its so similar to a climax, in the narrative sense and the narrative sense. With a climax were taken to the knife’s edge of desire where all our yearnings for resolution, cohesion, and outcome come smashing together into a nexus where everything explodes into chaos. In the aftermath of this explosion we regain our composure, reorganize ourselves, and recognize our surroundings. We begin, as builders like to say, to reconstruct. In this reconstruction we recognize where the climax occurred, but this leads to an important question, can we actually determine where the climax occurs?
As a scholar of literature I believe that we cannot. The climax is an illusion, a fabrication created by our want and our need for semblance, order, and understanding. As a vestige of the modern literature tries to maintain this illusion. But, as experimental authors demonstrated in the fifties, these structural illusion can easily be shattered through experimental fiction and contradiction. Before I go off on too big of tangent, let me return back to my main point. Convergence is very similar to climax in that it comes from a similar desire to maintain order. We want technology to blend seamlessly into our lives with no hiccups or hangups from the full integration of our personas into the world of the digital. This leads me to my final point. Convergence is something that we want to recognize, but deep down we know we can’t, so as a member of the technological world why not embrace it and say who cares when convergence really occurs…
2 years ago