To the Thirteen Year Olds

This message goes out to you, the thirteen year old. For many of my generation, there is likely a twinge of insanity that I am directing this message to you.

When we look at you, we see nothing but the frail and weak thirteen year olds that we were.

But you, you are different. You are a new breed. You live and breathe in technology as a fish lives and breathes in water. You take it for granted, as you should, because for you the tapestry of your life will be eternally woven from it. You are forever changed and see this world differently.

Sadly though, your sense of history is as short as your precious years of life.

Look at the device on which you are reading this. Can you control it? Who does? Can you install lifeware of your choosing upon it? Can you create lifeware of your own design and share it with your peers as you see fit? Can you create on your terms subject to the needs of your future?

Why do I ask this?

Because these are dangerous and frightening times for some of us old people. Some of us see these historic moments as turning points. Moments that our collective cultures are tested. These are the times that our mothers and fathers referred to later as "Those were the days."

These are times that only old people like myself are just barely able to see in the context of a more distant history.

Look around you and see Egypt and what may have been were it not for technology. Look around you and see Bahrain and what is happening at the speed of technology.

All of this, the thirteen year old of my generation would never have seen. For some of us older people, we see these recent moments in the light of similar moments from our past, with one vast and monumental difference - the colossal power that this new technology has afforded us.

Now think about that device you are using. Think about what it means to be able to control it. Think about the importance of the ubiquitous internet and think about how a government is able to snap off the blood of this new technology at whim. Think about how some of your own governments operate in like areas and the means you have to struggle against it.

Now think about who the powerful piece of technology in front of you empowers.

So this is my plea. You see, my generation and the generation after have succumbed and lost. Our flabby water logged flesh can barely lift its computer literacy off of the evolutionary floor with our atrophied intellects. We are no more well equipped to teach you about your technology than a three year old is equipped to teach us how to read and write.

We have traded our liberty and power to create for convenience and consumption. We have bitten upon the bait that things must Just Work(TM) and Be Simple(TM) in order to be valuable.

We have accepted the charlatans of chic and trendy as surrogates for importance and complexity.

The technological aristocracy and monarchies of birthright listen to no one. Despite the profound unfolding of events and our unforeseeable interactions with the computing technology around us, those unelected technological regimes are limiting your rights and freedoms. They are casting forth lifeware restrictions of tremendous breadth and depth. For these kings and queens, computing is nothing more than a trivial and mass produced privilege granted to you, the peasants.

They are the unfortunate architects of a radically restrictive future under the guise of a clairvoyant professing to see and know your future.

So please, I implore you, accept that you are our future, not them.

While it saddens me that we have burdened you with the legacy of this tribal technological myopia, it inspires me that you are the very minds that are most capable to fix things.

You can see the things that we cannot.

Bleed with emotion. Write with passion. Speak with the power and force that is required of you. Embrace the knowledge and power and create where their systems prevent you.

And, in those rare instances where they will not listen or permit you, make them.

Harness the technology in ways that they may not have seen nor approve.

If you do not, it is very likely that this awe inspiring and powerful thing known as computing freedom will gradually be taken away from you and the generations to follow you.

"They may say 'Those were the days,' but in a way, you know for us these are the days. Yes, for us these are the days." -- Jane's Addiction Classic Girl

Teach.

Us.

Please.

An Addendum

There is a list of people that need special and significant thanks for the last post of a music video. If it were not for their dedication and commitment, the result would not have been possible.

Without further ado...

Matt Ebb, for linear color complexities, help desking, and other critically important things.
Joshua Leung for a resilient animation infrastructure.
Peter Schlaile for being the overlord of sequencers and patient answerer of questions.
Janne Karhu and the particles.
Campbell Barton for pushing a massive chunk of code around that is too long to list here.
Xavier Thomas for deeper wisdom pertaining to YCbCr transforms and other useful deep colour alchemy at the code level.

And of course, Ton Roosendaal for being strong enough to maintain an artist-centric design vision and humble enough to evolve that vision beyond where he originally believed it should be.

I prefer to let work speak for itself, in another room a ways away from the tools used to create it. In this instance however, credit should go where credit is due. With a little more secret and stealthy effort, who knows what other things might hit the broadcast waves...

Control

Full thanks go to:

Left Spine Down - Kaine Delay, Jeremy Inkel, and Matt Girvan.
Mark Sommer, Synthetic Entertainment.
Neil McBride, producer and juggler.
Nav Degun, Paramount Production Services.
Erica McLean, Paramount Production Services.
and, of course,
Joy Division for seeding this so many years ago.

The rest of the camera pointing, light pointing, mouse pointing, and finger pointing is some buffoon who shall remain nameless.



This was finished quite some time ago, but I haven't been able to put it up here thanks to music video channels and other site exclusivity. It has received over 400,000 views at VampireFreaks, which is a nice touch. Surprisingly, it still features on the splash pages at Much Music for rock and alternative and is getting some rotational airplay.