Insight to Humanity: The Interface

Throughout the video, Aaron Koblin conducts some very interesting social experiments that give the viewer an almost intimate comprehension of the human race as a whole, while simultaneously allowing them deeper insight to the individual. At face value, the initial statement made in the video seems to contradict this as it states, “19^th century… defined by the novel, 20^th century… defined by the cinema and the 21^st century… will be defined by the interface” and seems to suggest that humanity is no longer valued by the contributions made by individual ideas but rather that individuals become mere numbers in the eyes of society. This is, however, the exact opposite message that Koblin is attempting relay. In each technological experiment, the goal is to add individuality and creativity to the faceless masses that make up the interface.

Unlike the days of old, now even the most average person has the ability to make their unique ideas and goals relatively public knowledge with the Internet and all of its resources. It is common for the members of our generation to make sarcastic, and often times agitated, comments proclaiming that everyone is a critic, an artist, a photographer, a comedian, now that the Internet is at the disposal of almost everyone. While it can be a tad overwhelming to open a web browser and be suddenly bombarded with content after piece of content, we as a people should consider ourselves lucky to have so many different reserves at the disposal of our technological collective conscious.

For example, in “The Johnny Cash Project”, at eight frames per second, it is a prime example of the multitude of personalities and viewpoints that one is exposed to as they explore the virtual population. This particular project is also a fine example of still existent human generosity and other qualities that one may think would become extinct by the use of the interface. These kinds of experiments allow the conductor, as well as the audience of its outcome, to witness firsthand the various types of emotional responses and reactions that people have to the task at hand. It is because of this generation’s inclination to share things on the Internet as they would a confidant that allows us one of the most arguably intimate views into the person experience.