How Technology Will Influence Human Beings - Discussion on "Feed"
- Yuying
- 13 hours ago
- 7 min read
Abstract
This essay primarily focuses on the influence of technology within the cyberpunk novel Feed by M. T. Anderson and its comparison to Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Both novels portray the possibilities that futuristic advances in technology can bring to the normal world, but also highlight the limits that certain features may carry. These technological advancements may create boundaries to social life, emotional quality, and genuine humanity. When computer technology helps individuals complete all their work, people will gradually lose their life skills, critical thinking, and humanity itself. In Feed, consumer privileges that are deemed to be invasive reshape social behaviors in a certain community. While most of the community is corrupted by the false ideas that society and the media spread, Violet relentlessly attempts to bring her friends back to reality. Despite conveying the same point, Klara and the Sun expresses the impacts of technology through bioengineering. Klara, an Artificial Friend, is limited in many aspects, and technology is unable to imitate human beings, including genuine empathy and emotional qualities. This paper explores the potentially negative influence that technology may bring to an individual’s emotional authenticity, human connections, and critical thinking.
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Feed, a dystopian, cyberpunk novel by M. T. Anderson, is set in a futuristic community where the majority have chips implanted in their brains, called feeds, that can insert information and social media platforms into their minds. The novel introduces Titus, a teenager who, like the rest of the society, relies heavily on his feed and lacks critical thinking. He soon meets Violet, a girl who gets her feed later in life, and who questions the influence of these brain implants on humans. After Violet's feed system is hacked at a club, her condition starts to worsen, and she suffers memory loss, leading to her attempts to resist the feed. Titus is unable to accept and understand her actions, feeling perfectly comfortable with his current life, yet he is uncomfortable with Violet's findings. Due to the financial limit of Violet’s family, Violet’s father is unable to afford proper treatment for her condition. They attempt to get help by petitioning FeedTech, but they are rejected due to Violet’s unusual customer profile. During a visit, Violet and Titus argue, and on her way home, Violet’s arm shuts down, and upon her arrival home, her leg starts to shut down too. Several months after Titus and Violet's argument, Violet's father alerts Titus about her current condition and her coma. He ultimately blames Titus for her worsening condition, and the two get into a fight before Titus drives home. Out of despair, Titus keeps buying the same clothing over and over on the feed until running out of money. Titus continues to visit Violet and tell her stories from the feed. The novel ends with Violet's worsening condition and an ironic advertisement on the feed saying 'Everything Must Go'.
The novel continuously highlights the large influence that futuristic technology like the feed can act as a barrier to authentic human connections and relationships. Despite being described as a futuristic brain implant that allows humans to access websites and entertainment easily, the feed also prevents genuine and ‘normal’ human connections between individuals. Through propaganda and other mind-bending illusions, companies that support technological advancements, such as the feed, isolate individuals through hyperconnectivity. Just like Titus himself, many of his friends lack social skills and emotional qualities, because the feed provides them with everything; they accept the feed without any hesitation or questioning. Titus and his friends speak in slang, barely express any feelings, and use minimal vocabulary despite the power of the feed. “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” (Anderson, 1). Titus lacks genuine emotional feelings and humane qualities in every decision he makes, and is unusually overwhelmed by advertisements and social media on his feed. Other than emotional social connection, people’s physical connection with one another changes over the feed. When Violet’s condition worsens, Titus uses a feature called M-chatting to communicate telepathically with Violet, without the need to open their mouths. A similar case is portrayed within another cyberpunk novel called Klara and the Sun. Klara, a solar-powered Artificial Friend, is limited in her understanding and knowledge of genuine human emotions and empathy. Alvin Toffler, an American writer and futurist, said, “Our technological powers increase, but the side effects and potential hazards also escalate.” (Toffler, 19). Alvin Toffler conveys the message of the negative impact technology may have on genuine life skills and the dangers of potential side effects of digital revolutions. Like the feed, technology can often times limit individuals from having authentic reactions in daily life and set barriers to genuine human connections.
As technological advances and digital revolutions are gradually progressing, humanity and an individual’s critical thinking might be influenced in negative ways. As shown in novels like Feed, due to overly relying on technology and the feed to go about their daily lives, Titus and his friends are being influenced by social media to become money-wasting customers for different organizations, lacking their usual critical thinking skills and individuality. Despite being portrayed as a useful tool in daily life that inserts information directly into people’s brains, the feed is ironic, as most people are usually too bothered to make good use of their privileges. On propaganda and advertisements, the features that the feed provides aren’t exactly as good as they seem on paper. The futuristic privileges of the feed make the community overly reliant on it, making them take everything for granted. “But the braggest thing about the feed, the thing that made it really big, is that it knows everything you want and hope for, sometimes before you even know what those things are.” (Anderson, 10). Titus explains the potential of the feed, being able to motivate people to buy their products, customer service, and more. Other than introducing features that make the community reliant on technology, the feed also uses the media and propaganda to encourage people to buy their products. In Klara and the Sun, Klara lives in a community where people value artificial and futuristic advancements that have the potential to lead to future success. “‘Klara, you’re quite remarkable,’ Manager said, keeping her voice soft so as not to disturb Rosa and the others. ‘You notice and absorb so much.’ She shook her head as though in wonder.” (Ishiguro, 1). Unlike Violet, who attempts to resist the feed and the technological features, Klara never questions her artificial system and goes along with it. Although the feed provides futuristic features allowing humans to access information and education more easily, it also manipulates individuals to lose their critical thinking skills and humanity.
Within Feed, character developments are influenced by technological features that the feed provides to an individual. The majority of people, including Titus and his friends, would much rather spend their lives leisurely without the need to directly receive education or go out to buy everyday items than to protest against the influence of the feed. On the other hand, the minority of the community, like Violet, decide to resist the influence of the feed and other technological advancements due to its negative impact on humanity. When two types of people with different opinions are split from the same community, they gradually drift apart from each other. In this case, when Titus is unable to understand Violet’s actions against the feed, he starts to lose his mutual feelings with her, and the two gradually lose connection. “For example, she said, when she bought something, she wouldn't let herself order it for a long time. Then she would just go to the purchase site and show it to herself. Then she'd let herself get fed the sense-sim, you know, she'd let herself know how it would feel, or what it would smell like.” (Anderson, 29). In this quote, as Titus continuously repeats some phrases, it can be evident from his tone of speech that he was ‘weirded out’ by Violet’s actions. He felt as if they were completely unnecessary and didn’t understand why she would even resist the feed. To Titus, the feed was a life-changing feature that he completely relies on in his everyday life. Titus and Violet’s different understandings of the feed are the key to their separation later on. Similarly, in Klara and the Sun, Klara’s character development is also impacted by technology, except it was in a positive way. Klara portrays characteristics of emotional learning and loyalty, which are motivated by the figure of the Sun. Although her development is limited by technology, it is nourished by her own way of understanding the world through aspects like the Sun. When it comes to debates such as the potential side effects of features that make people’s lives more comfortable, individuals usually hold different opinions.
In Feed, a cyberpunk novel by M. T. Anderson, technological advancements like the feed are portrayed as a metaphor hinting at the potential negative impact these upgrades may bring to humanity. For one, the feed prevents genuine and ‘normal’ human connections between individuals. Through propaganda and other mind-bending illusions, companies that support technological advancements, such as the feed, isolate individuals through hyperconnectivity. As technological advances and digital revolutions are gradually progressing, humanity and an individual’s critical thinking may also be influenced in negative ways. Titus and his friends are being influenced by social media to become money-wasting customers for different organizations, lacking their usual critical thinking skills and individuality. Klara lives in a community where people value artificial and futuristic advancements that have the potential to lead to future success. Although Klara is more optimistic and hopeful about the subject of futuristic advances, flaws in her system also show the limits of technology. In both novels, technology influences the character development throughout the story and its impact on humanity.
Works Cited
Anderson, M. T. “Feed”, fliphtml5
Ishiguro, Kazuo. “Klara and the Sun”, Weebly
Toffler, Alvin. “Future Shock”, InternetArchive
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