I both adore and despise Fight Club. It’s my favorite movie,
and I dread watching it. For quite some time I’ve struggled to understand
exactly how I could feel this way about a film, have such contrasting,
passionate opinions about it, unable to come to a concrete decision. I’ve
realized the genius of Fight Club, the reason it ranks as the #1 movie in
recent history on so many lists, is that David Fincher successfully accesses
and illustrates human characteristics so innate, so suppressed within ourselves,
that we recoil at the idea of acknowledging them. The entire story is based off
of human’s animalistic desires, our aggressive tendencies that silently direct
the actions we ultimately take. The characters are harsh, live depictions of
the people inside ourselves that we keep silent. Is this humanity then? Is
humanity violent, self-absorbed, cruel? Or is humanity the means by which we
overcome our primitive wishes?
Mahatma Ghandi (staple public figure to quote in a blog
post) said that one of the seven deadly sins was “science without humanity”.
Depending on who you ask (and if you’re asking me), this is essentially
becoming the slogan for modern technology. Robbie certainly convinced me that
humanity is less about our instincts and traits, and more about the way we
communicate with each other outside of the realm of these characteristics. This
article
from ABC News takes the words of eighth graders explaining why the harms of
technology so outweigh the benefits. One of the first reasons they listed was
“waste of time”: more empty moments filled with the distraction of twitter or
texting, and less communicating with the people sitting right next to you. Science,
in a certain light, seems to be tearing humanity apart. The intention of
increasing communication has become warped and we now find ourselves in an age
where we are so obsessed with constant updates on the lives of others far away,
that we neglect the words and eye contact of the people we don’t need
technology to reach.
In our History of Law class this week, we were discussing
whether it is rude to use your phone in the middle of a conversation with
someone from an older generation. Students had strong opinions on both sides of
the spectrum. But the fact that this debate now exists, the fact that it is
plausible to hold a conversation with someone while deeply engaged in following
the social lives of people through a screen, seems to be a detriment to
humanity as a whole. However, this is the culture we live in. And if humanity
creates culture, then is science undermining humanity or simply redefining it?
Of course there is no right answer. Take drones, for
example, as The
Huffington Post does. On one hand, these robotic planes play their role as
protectors and shield communities from the threat of terror. While
simultaneously blowing up homes and schools filled with innocent people who,
ironically, are so impoverished that the technology which ends their lives is
more fantastic and advanced than anything they could have imagined. As the
article points out, technology will give you cancer and then teach you to cure
it.
In the Toyota commercial we watched on the first day of
class, the man rears back his angry head and accelerates through the wall and
into the real world in his brand new car. Tyler Durden’s every action mirrors
this aggression. Freud would agree, preaching that everything we do stems from
either sex or aggression. Though this may be a trait of humans, it is not
humanity. Animals share this quality too. Humanity is more. Humanity is communication
and comprehension.
At least in my opinion. If it’s true, then Siri has us
screwed.
