What do you even say? Right in the middle of a serious, deadly, and painful week—
So while I encourage Black folks to call in Black today, I am encouraging everyone else, especially White folks, to stop shaking your heads, and moaning about the tragedies. I am specifically asking you, White people, to police your police. —Erica Joy, “Processing”
—which was followed by the death of five officers in Dallas, Texas, with the gunman killed by a bomb-making robot—
He provided new details of how, during two hours of negotiations, the gunman sang, laughed and asked how many officers he had killed before he was killed by a bomb-equipped robot. —The New York Times, “Dallas Gunman Had Plans for Wider Attack, Police Say”
—and on the heels of that—
Hundreds of Asian-Americans collaborated on an open letter, written in real time on Google Docs, challenging their relatives to support Black Lives Matter.— BuzzFeed, “How Some Asian-Americans Are Telling Their Relatives That Black Lives Matter.”
(If you’re interested in how real-time collaborative self-arranging work can happen, take a half-hour with the Korean translation.)
—suddenly, in the middle of all of this—Pokémon GO! comes out and is possibly the single-largest viral app/event in technology to date.
Different pokémon also appear at different times of day, so venture out around midnight with some snacks if you want to catch a Haunter or a Golbat. — Vice, “‘Pokémon Go’ Tips and Tricks to Make You the Very Best, Like No One Ever Was”
Pokémon is not so much a game as a generational signifier. It’s the Star Wars of people who were Real 90s Kids, except Star Wars is also their Star Wars. In the game, you give all of your access credentials to Google, and then you hold up your phone, and it shows you the world through the camera lens—but superimposes familiar branded monsters atop it, and you catch them, and—other stuff happens. The monsters are in real, actual places in the world and you have to go to those places to get them, so there are people running around Central Park and running into each other finding pokémon. So much so that Pokémon GO is on its way to overtaking, say, Twitter in terms of installed app base. So that’s the big story in technology.
I’ve worked in tech and media for 20 years and this is a lot right now. There are tons of opinions about what the bomb-delivering robot means, and what augmented reality gaming means, or what it means that DeRay Mckesson was wearing a T-shirt with a hashtag on it when he was arrested for protesting police violence. It’s hard to keep track. I gave some money to Black Lives Matter on Friday and then on Sunday our kids ran around with their mom and played Pokémon GO.
Here’s what Stewart Brand wrote about personal computers in the 1980s:
Software, when it is used at all intensely, comes to feel like an extension of your nervous system. Its habits become your habits. The reason the term ‘personal’ got stuck to these machines is, they become part of your person.
I like to look around me and think of all the other huge waves of technology that changed things. In New York City you become very aware of architecture, roadways, and infrastructure. Many of the people who built the infrastructure of the city are long-gone. The Brooklyn Bridge is a good example. At the time of its construction suspension bridges were very controversial. The building process went on for years and was marked by slowdowns and corruption. Soon after it opened people on the bridge became so afraid it was collapsing that they stampeded and 12 people died. A year later, PT Barnum led 21 elephants over the bridge in part to demonstrate its safety. But there it is, more than a century later. It’s a part of the skyline, a completely familiar symbol, and very useful every day. More than 130 years and 21 elephants later, it’s part of the infrastructure and people are very proprietary about it. New Yorkers are proud of it. And when there are protests that’s often where people go, to meet, to make their demands, and to stop traffic.
Anyway I’m sure things will calm down and we’ll all have time for quiet reflection to figure out what all of this really means, given that the Republican National Convention is in a week.
