I awoke in a panic – couldn’t miss that executive meeting.
Only… Everything around me looked different. The air was musty. The wooden boards
of my bed creaked. I heard the rhythmic clacking of horse-hoofs.
In total confusion, I went outside, scratching my head.
People were looking at me like I was crazy – I looked down – my shirt was a day
old, but no one could have known. My tie was decent… Except no one else was
even wearing a tie. I told myself that I must have gotten smashed last night
and ended up in Colonial Williamsburg. My phone was about to die, but I quickly
tried to send a text that I would be late to the meeting. No service. I would
be stuck here for a while.
It took me about a week to realize (and accept the fact
that) I had been transported back in time to the late 19th century. But
without knowing how or why, I, in my pragmatist ways, set out to utilize that which
I had become famous for – fulfilling the American Dream.
One morning, I bought a newspaper; Mark Twain had written an
article. People were chuckling at it in appreciation, but I resisted the urge
to roll my eyes. It was too wordy. You see, in my world, eloquence doesn’t stem
from one’s ability to construe an artful sentence. Instead, we judge literary
prowess by one’s ability to encrypt computer code. In addition, we value a “less is more” kind of
approach when it comes to digital communication, which is basically the only
kind of communication we use. Abbreviations, acronyms and brevity are
commodities. Sure, literature exists in art forms; but those are practically obsolete;
or worse: bookish. I used to be considered a nerd, until the nerd became the
new jock. But Bookish –well, that won’t secure you a spot, grassy and green as
money, in the Valley of Silicon.
Twain’s Patriotic article got me thinking… His pride in the
democracy of his day was, to put it mildly, kind of cute. For our democracy today
is far superior to that of his time. Our ability to globalize democracy using
technology, now that’s something to be proud of. We’re better at democracy because
we can sell it, not by inciting wars and revolutions, but by exploiting the freedom
of expression with the click of a button. A Syrian war refuge can leak footage
on Facebook, a North-Korean citizen can Instagram a picture. Our democracy
today is the democracy of the First Amendment. It’s a step above from the mere
liberation from a tyrant.
So is Twain deluding himself into thinking that his America
boasts a utopian democracy? What kind of system turns a blind eye to slavery,
or prevents women from voting, or getting an education? Sure, Twain himself and
his contemporaries had the freedom to write whatever they wanted; but now, with
the advancement of an online
civilization, where country borders are blurred and bridges made out of
computer code are constructed across continents, democracy can really flourish. The first amendment of
the United States can be upheld globally. And technology is the answer. It will solve our problems.
So I set to marry technology and democracy, for I knew,
based on my knowledge of the future, that it’d prove a happy and fruitful
union. I began to set up networks across the town. I didn’t have the know-how
to do this alone, but I knew enough algorithms to get the right kinds of minds
started. My team and I worked tirelessly and endlessly for years on end.
And it was a massive success. Just as I knew it would be,
social media began to reign. And it evolved quickly, almost too quickly.
Eventually, the global society running under my thumb became
a world that was entirely virtual. But I was pleased with the result because
that was the future of technology – people wouldn’t have to exist in the real
world any longer. People were in love with the concept of being avatars,
creating identities online and living virtually through them. I blurred the
lines between reality and fantasy. Until finally, everyone was so hooked, that
my world imploded.
Robert Frost once said that the world may end in “fire or
ice.” Well, technology had frozen the world of human interaction. I had gotten
civilization to the point where I wanted it to be, in the name of globalizing
democracy; but in the end, I killed the need for a democracy at all, because I
had no civilization left to work with; only a population of cyborgs.
Fire or ice, it doesn’t
matter. Hank’s with fire, mine with ice. I thought his democracy was primitive,
but looking at mine, I realize that society hasn’t advanced at all. 
Really cool way of introducing your post, Yael! I like how you explained your point using sarcastic humor, paralleling Twain—using time travel. Brilliant idea! It is a very true and scary concept how much technology has begun to overtake our lives. The dependence that we have developed on technology is quite shocking. A few months ago my phone broke for a few days, and I felt completely isolated from the world—when I actually only received a cell phone about a year ago. It was quite the eye opener for me to see how quickly and how much I became dependent on my phone. How ironic is it that I felt more isolated from the world when in reality I was more aware of everything without my phone, as I was no longer looking at a screen all day. I actually took notice of how everyone else was so busy looking at their screens and gadgets that they didn’t even notice me walking past or saying hello. Perhaps this may have been why I felt more disconnected—because in order to feel connected to people I would have had to text them hello rather than say it to their face when I was standing right next to them. This reality is strikingly sad. We see more and more machines replacing humans in our world today. When washing machines were invented, they replaced human labor—perhaps for the better because now time could be spent on other things, yet until when will we keep advancing? How soon will it be until, to quote Yael, we are “a population of cyborgs”?
ReplyDeleteAs is apparent in this novel, Twain makes quite a dramatic shift from being extremely pro-technology and making Hank use his Yankee inventions for the good of societal development, to suddenly the technology being used for more dark, sinister actions. Suddenly it’s not just a telephone but rather guns and gunpowder. Twain, in his wisdom, and perhaps due to his personal experience as well (such as when he lost a huge amount of his money after investing in technological advances), seems to be predicting that if humans are not careful with how they use scientific advances, a line will one day be crossed where ultimate destruction will ensue.
How right he was!!! Despite the huge amounts of physical disaster wrought on mankind by technology such as atom bombs, and advanced warfare, personal relationships have suffered as well. How many times have we walked past people without saying hi because we are too busy staring at our gadgets? How many nights have we spent with our friends watching a movie rather than interacting and communicating with each other?
Of course, not all of technology is bad, and if used in moderation and for the correct reasons, the advantages can be extremely numerous. But, as in all things in life, there must be balance. Yes, scientific and medical advances are good, and computers and cell phones, are definitely helpful and positive inventions, but there must be limitations. Twain was able to understand this idea, perhaps better than we do today, and as such he attempted to forewarn Americans, through the writing of this novel, to the dangers of such rapid and thoughtless ‘progress.’
I thoroughly enjoyed your post Yael! It’s really brilliant. Not only do you translate Hank’s character to a modern day personage, but you also manage to capture some of the major themes of the novel and lay them out within a short story. You write Zuckerberg as an excellent stand-in for Hank: creative and ambitious, knowing fully well the potential of technology in his time, and critical of the social framework he finds himself in. A doppelgänger of Hank, but with an updated set of knowledge. Hank wants to industrialize the Middle Ages by giving them 19th century technology, and through that, forge them into a republic. In your story, Zuckerberg tries to drive the 19th century to the global democracy of the 21st by giving them the tools of modern technology.
ReplyDeleteAnd just like Hank, he fails, though I wouldn’t say it was technology that caused the deaths of each civilization. Technology was just a medium toward a greater goal, not the goal itself. Though it failed to achieve the goal, and had negative effects besides, in the end it’s just a neutral object. Both it's failure as a medium, and the disastrous consequences of its misuse can can only be blamed on people's choice. A non-sentient object can’t be held responsible, since it's human decisions that determine the use it’s put to. Knowledge and technology might be more easily applied to some uses than others— like social media for virtual identities rather than democratic expression, or explosives for military use rather than an engineering resource. Ultimately, though, the application isn’t self evident, it’s a choice.
Zuckerberg of the 19th century failed because 19th century American’s didn’t, or couldn’t, make the choice to use the technology he gave them in the way he intended. It could be argued that we do the same with social media today, and squander its potential on trivialities. But that’s not a flaw of social media, it’s a flaw in the way we choose to use it.
Hank failed because the people of the Middle Ages didn’t, and couldn’t choose to be a republic, no matter how much he put words in their mouth and tools in their hands. They didn’t have the necessary history to come to the (in Hank’s eyes) logical conclusion of a republic, and have it remain a lasting decision. They were easily reclaimed by the Church’s dogma, despite Hank’s best efforts to educate them toward a 19th century mindset; the education was only effective for his 52 boys.
Technology can’t make or break a republic. Though it can be used to help or hinder one or the other, it’s just the outer trappings of a progressive civilization. Actual progress would be global awareness of a problem and subsequent action to fix the perceived problem— making an informed choice toward a change.
I completely agree with Lizzie's points about technology being a medium rather than a goal and that the downfall of Hank's civilization should rightly be attributed to the people and through what modicum they chose to use the technology. Tamar also alluded to this fact when she mentioned that technology can be advantageous if used in moderation and for the correct reasons. If one were to argue that Hank failed because the people of the Middle Ages "couldn't choose to be a republic" no matter what tools they were given, as Lizzie argues, I believe then that it wasn't the populace's misuse of technology that led to their demise, rather their upbringing and education. The fact that Hank's education was only effective for his 52 boys at the end of the novel is further proof that educational circumstance led to inability for Hank to permanently influence a generation. These 52 kids were born and raised under Hank's 20th century model of education and therefore, these 52 kids were able to think outside of that era's mode of thinking. The technology was in fact used as a way to decimate the enemy lines. However, if the cause of tension emanated from the fact that the people of the Middle Ages couldn't conceive of creating a republic, as it went against the church's dogma that was so ingrained in them, then the war at the end of the novel would've happened anyways, regardless of the means of murder available to the participants of the war. This idea is supported throughout the novel. According to Hank, the primary means to undermine the Church and the aristocracy is to educate the masses and to set up schools. In fact, the juxtaposition of these two radically different eras in history emphasizes the power of education in the development of society and the indoctrinating role it plays in determining the nature of human beings for the very reasons mentioned above. Twain's critique of education shows how important it is to morally and properly educate society, because while it can be a tool for brainwashing generations into submissive compliance, it can also be used to advance society to greater heights.
DeleteMarvelous post, Yael. I love how you drew attention to the irony of Hank's feelings of historical superiority through this 'Zuckerberg'.
ReplyDeleteAll the same, I wouldn't say that 'society hasn't advanced at all'. Even if Hank wasn't able to bring the 19th century into the middle ages, the 19th century is more advanced than the middle ages. Medically, technologically, and yes- morally, the 19th century is better than the Middle ages that Hank walked into, and the 21st century is better than the 19th. I'm not saying that it's a rule that every century will be better than the last- technological advances come with an advanced capacity to harm, and sometimes the requisite moral advancement is slow/nonexistent. But advanced weaponry and journalism have provided people with the weaponry to exact devastating damage and the medium to put it in the public eye, which has led to more of a desire for more peaceful ways of mediation.
This post is brilliant in it's sarcasm and parallels and it is thoroughly entertaining. I want to respond to your question, "is Twain deluding himself into thinking that his America boasts a utopian democracy?" I think in fact that is far from how Twain felt about American society. The beauty of the satirical nature of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court is Twain's ability to utilize his writing to portray the raw irony that America, the one nation that is supposed to be a democratic beacon of light for other countries, is filled with hypocrisy stemming from the rampant inequality that existed there in his time.
ReplyDeleteI also think that your comment about technology freezing human interaction is fascinating and worth fleshing out because it was not something that was emphasized in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, as Hank was dealing with technology of a different time. In today's day in age technology has caused elevated exasperation, deteriorated patience, and disintegrating determination, all stemming from a common factor of the need or expectancy for immediate gratification. Additionally, there is a lack of physical interactivity that stems from the increasing ability to hide behind a mask and act as someone you're not. Facebook, for example can be a hot bed of social insecurity that reflects modern humanity's inability to ever truly be alone. It is sometimes used as a source of superficial validation yet in a sense it is a parallel universe where your profile is fine-tuned to exactly how you want to display yourself rather than your true identity. As a result, seeking validation in this Facebook world can only make one lonelier than they were before, because it is all fake. It becomes a means for us to be in public without actually being in public. We can see everything, but our vulnerabilities are not exposed. This creates a culture in which people are no longer comfortable physically being with others or approaching others with their weaknesses. Although there was no Facebook in Hank’s time, similar to the alternative universe you created, civilization in Hank’s time was reaching the point where he wanted it to be “in the name of globalizing democracy,” but in the end the need for democracy no longer existed, because there was no civilization left to work with.
This post is great! Your writing style is absorbing and smooth. It's creative and humorous and gets at a the feeling of superiority due to advanced technology evident in Connecticut Yankee. You showed the destructive power of technology when taken into the wrong hands, even when those hands think they are doing things for the best. It calls into question the belief that you are better if you have better tools. Conveniences are not always for civilizations best, especially when they sacrifice elements pertinent to an era. In Connecticut Yankee it was about chivalry and the tenants of being a knight, and in the post it was about losing social interaction and becoming cyborgs. The post provokes thought.
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