This morning I came across a fascinating piece investigating the present state and future potential of prosthetics:
This video was created by the Eyeborg Project and was commissioned by Equare Enix to promote their new game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which follows Adam Jenson, an essentially transhuman character with some enviable prosthetics.
While the Eyeborg Project, the character of Adam Jenson, and the nascent world of cybernetics and human augmentation are all fascinating, what I find to be most interesting about this video is that a fiction-based game has been the impetus for a very non-fiction centric mini-documentary.
The Science Fiction Chicken and Egg Issue
Current trends obviously influence science fiction writers, game developers, and futurists, but one can also argue that science fiction writers, game developers, and futurists heavily influence current trends.
They are, after all, the ones enabling us to work through new scenarios, develop new language, think through new scenarios, contemplate new philosophy, and anticipate new societal hurtles.
Fictional futurists (or sci-fi wrters) typically make a strictly indirect connection. They simply present us with an imagined future and readers/viewers/gamers look for the seeds of these futuristic fantasies in their present day worlds.
A Direct Challenge & Explicit Dialogue
The Eyeborg Documentary goes one step further by drawing a direct connection between a hypothetical future cybernetics and present prosthetics technology. My hat (er- giant bow) goes off to Square Enix for presenting its game as a starting point for some interesting dialogue- not just a fun “what if…” exercise.
What Square Enix is saying with this fun bit of advertainment (aside from “Deux Ex: Human Revolution is cool- you should buy it”) is “Look at what we thought up. Now, look at what already exists. We challenge you to close the gap.”
That’s pretty neat!
I have often seen people reference the process of securing a significant other as a game, but rarely have I seen actual relationships presented as game-like exchanges. To me, it seems as though the thrill is in the chase, and once a couple settles, things get dull and boring.
One of my favorite science fiction books of all time is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
One of my favorites is the Mexican pointy boots trend. About two years ago now, a bunch of guys around Texas and San Luis started modding Mexican boots by adding extra long toes- some so long that they curve up and extend out for several feet.
One of my favorite things about Mexican pointy boots is that they reveal how branding has changed what we perceive to be valuable. While original Mexican boots (which first distinguished themselves from cowboy boots in the 1800s with lower cuts, flat heels, and rare animal skins as opposed to plain ol’ leather) were frequently made with expensive materials such as armadillo or alligator skin, more modern Mexican boots (both pointy and just plain contemporary) are being modded in such a way to incorporate the modern equivalent of expensive animal pelts: brands.
I have had trouble writing about the trend spotting industry lately because while researching it over the past year, I learned that “coolhunters” have generally morphed in to “trend spotters” which have evolved into trend analysis agencies, which are now generally becoming full-service consultancies that simply incorporate trend spotting into their overall offering, be it related to design, marketing, or something else entirely. Trend spotting as a specific profession is waning.
