Techno: A Viable Base for Economy or Musical Genre?

In this ‘New World’ we are living in, technology has reached the core. Technology infects or augments our everyday lives depending on an individuals judgment. On either side there are individuals with great passion for their perspective who call for, or tell of the destruction of the opposition. Those in opposition to technology, along with its redefinition of society call for elimination of this tide of influence from our everyday lives. Widespread surveillance, use of synthesizers and computers to produce music, use of machines to replace human labor, as well as open arms being extended to technology based city economies, are all things these individuals would oppose. On the other side, those in support of technology would point to the inevitability of technologies influence, citing the convenience it provides over the “Old World” obstacles such as learning an instrument before making music, or paying for human labor minimizing profits. The inevitability of the technological tide holds more weight in my opinion. Elijah in his post expressed his techno-fatalist view which I find more pragmatic than subscribing to one end of the optimist, pessimist binary.

With this type of fatalist view, we see the changes that are happening in our world as inevitable, and in acknowledging this we can guide the changes in the best way we find. Rather than throwing rocks in windows of tech-based businesses, we must see these changes and react with them, not against them. It’s clear from the venture capital charts that the centers of technology tend to be in strong economic cities, with legislation that opens itself to a change in their workforce. San Francisco being the start-up capital has seen its city scape change dramatically. New York City has not opened its arms as wide, but is experiencing the same type of changes. In New Geography these changes have been triangulated as a “Hollowing Out of the American Labor Market.” The working class is having the carpet pulled out from under them, while the low wage jobs still need to be done, and the upper wages rise higher. This hollowing out does not show signs of filling back in. The question is NOT whether you like technology or not, or whether you think we should accept technology as a base in our economy. Rather it is a question of how we deal with this INEVITABLE change in our world. We must face the abyss that faces us, and sway it by with all of our might.

ps: technology is a totally viable base for a musical genre. i dig it.