Technology has opened up for the world limitless opportunity. It has created; 3D flat screens, self inventory refrigerators, toilets that monitor our liver function, even phones with GPS, MP3, MPEG and an office suite in a single unit. It is this time right now that is defining how technology affects our culture. Forty years ago the "hippies" and the " counterculture" broke the mold, they were rejecting the nuclear, TV dinner, mass produced, suburban lifestyle of post-war america and creating their own trip, their own path. Now it is amazing to regard their social confines. It is very important to realize that one of the greatest revolutions that came out of that age was a return to all that is natural. This beside the revitalized concept of citizen, and more importantly individual revolt against the system. Today, the geopolitical landscape has created a modern ideal so closely in-tuned with our spirit that it has perpetuated "freedom" into an entirely new sphere.

"by geopolitical, I mean an approach that pays attention to the requirements of equilibrium." Henry Kissinger in Colin S Gray, G R Sloan. Geopolitics, Geography, and Strategy. Portland: Frank Cass Publishers, 1999.

The Modern ideal is based upon location, and not the politics of state necessarily, but the politics of our minds. It is becoming ever more obvious that we are in a world where we can create ourselves. That is our truest freedom. We create a dream, and pursue it. This freedom is also what is available to the entire world online. That is the central idea of the Noosphere. Right now we are in a transition. This transition is on a global scale, we are all connected. Popular culture is searching, the world is Google-ized. Nothing is Holy. There is no truth even, as even the most serene and inspired moments become cannon fodder for parody.

As media extends, this freedom allows for a universally unlimited space for expression. We have not only discovered and colonized this new world, but we daily pioneer into the unknown.

So freedom is also realizing and respecting that each citizen, or person, has his/her own island, their own approach. I would go so far as to say that the seclusion of New York is more extreme than even the remote plain fed townships of Manitoba. At least the reactionary off the grid in the Patagonian mountains chose to be there, chose to be alone.

"The mass of Men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods, Dover Thrift Publishing, 1995.

When you assume you climb the mountain as one you miss the best views, we all take separate paths. To bring this back to the counterculture, it is vital to realize that Technology was the true driving force of that revolution. It is also important to note that that revolution provided a window through which the world looked different, a new frame. And still to this day our technology is their technology.

In his essay From Satori to Silicon Valley (1986), cultural historian Theodore Roszak made the point that the Apple Computer emerged from within the West coast counterculture.

This counterculture realized forty years ago, which is probably the case, that we are all connected. They also realized the value of that connection. Now we are. Everyone I know has a Cell phone. Absolutely everyone I know is connected to the Internet. Everyone is on that trip, which is why our time is now. We are the new pioneers. Columbus didn't discover anything, he just documented. He defined what previously was undefined. That is the point we are in. We are the patrons and the stewards of the media garden. There is no doubt that we live to watch it grow. The season is now to plant Seeds.

Technology has become very good at perpetuating itself. I have a video phone now, but I need a VBlog to host it, a established carrier connection, and even the Tower to transmit. The infrastructure in itself, before you guess at that data transmission is amazing. Technology is posed, and is, changing our world on a daily basis. Without sounding too luddite or naive, I pose we change that. Technology needs organics. This isn't a vegan Back-to-the-landers off-the-grid hillbilly shine stance either. I would simply like to see more work being created closer to our natural environment. Ubiquity means, or should, essentially, natural. I think it is our jobs to bring it there. I think it is time for us to unplug. This notion lies largely outside the current use or function of technology as we know it. I feel that solar electricity, and alternative power are being largely neglected. This proposal is concerned with the realization that pretty much no matter what happens on this planet, there is a larger structure that will prevail. That is the ultimate freedom. That is nature. I believe that until technology can attain a natural balance then it can never be even close to ubiquitous.

I want to plant ideas. Why can't we plant a phone tree? Why can't we watch movies in the sky? Why can't we blink our eyes and paint a wall with a picture? Why can't we hear a song the minute we think of it? Wouldn't it be nice to share our dreams. Wouldn't it be nice to identify a plant by asking it? More importantly how does the race horse really feel? Lets store data in a banana. Imagine a laptop that folds up like a handkerchief. Why haven't we created wings so anyone can fly?

Ideas are what carry us forward. When you look around you do you see more of the same or something completely new. We are given tools to create. We are provided the resources to actually build the product of our imagination, yet we grow mired in our own intelligence. The biggest question you need to ask yourself is why must media be contained? So maybe hydrogen power brings us closer. I for one would be much happier if I could power my house with rainwater.

Maybe this isn't the answer. Maybe the coin is flipped and the frame is set. Maybe we are entering into a wash. Try spending a few days on YouTube. Try to keep scrolling through entries until you see one you've seen before. Perhaps we should focus on the alien. Perhaps where Technology really is headed is into the realm of Life on Mars, RFID implants and a cyborg future. Have you ever noticed that people who get lasik surgery think it's the greatest thing ever. Perhaps our future is farmed organs, gene therapy and cryogenics. Our would be safer with a camera on every corner. Have you ever wondered about the difference between freedom and patriotism, are they still connected. What happens when you add the Patriot Act. Dissimilar? Are we just cogs on the wheel of a Technology bandwagon? What is the current count on blogs? Maybe the future of telephony is a proximity call. You are in a bar and you want to meet someone new. It's too crowded, and there are too many people crammed in this new It spot so you send out a scan. You already have your preferences saved. Suddenly you get a text from a girl across the bar that likes Dashell Hammett as well. You don't need to Bogart your pride because you already know she is the one. Maybe this is already set to launch. How long do you think it will be before pop-ups appear on your phone? It wouldn't have to ring. Just a window that opens on your screen because you walked near a Coke machine and they have a deal with Cingular. Now what would you say if having that open portal meant you could have a fee reduction. Or even what if one in twenty people, or even a hundred, got a free coke? Would you still object? I find it quite interesting that I know one person in New York that watches television.

There is a flood. The marketing arm of capitalism is now the true world leader. I was speaking with a newly hired industrial designer at Frog and he felt that the pace and enthusiasm right now, within the field, was as strong or stronger than that of ten years ago. This was notable because this wasn't a VC scout cannibalizing IP, though he had just landed a great job. There is certainly a recent turn, and the trend will continue. Technology can become a Trojan horse, many would argue that it already is. Fifteen years ago not many people had cell phones. Largely because they were too expensive. For my phone now I pay double what I paid six years ago for a quarter of the minutes. But now I email more often because I usually never find the time during suitable hours, and when I do use my phone it is just for text messages anyway. As pioneers we need to discover and convey our perspectives on our own unique view. That is our role as pioneers. That is our obligation.

We can argue about the delinitiation of rhetoric between cultural and artistic sub-classes for a lifetime. Such is the weakness of an ivory tower. How we define a work matters only to the listener or viewer. Unless it speaks a language of its own. We as authors and creators choose to include or exclude whatever we want. We can say what it is, or what it isn't. Do we need to define the painting on the wall as "post-apocalyptic 9/11 reflection within the hyper-realist construct?" Does that deliniation add to the value of the work? If the image, or idea, is strong enough, it should stand alone. If the art needs a paragraph I grow suspect. Indeed I am a rhetorician and have been so schooled, though I rarely, see the added value. Certainly the message has value. However my own reaction to a work is really what matters most. Not at the opening, but when I remember. I am as guilty as the next at accepting the program and repeating the loop. But with those people whom I know can see, really see, then the art consists only of my reaction. If the audience doesn't Get it, was it effective? Were I interested in impressing the heads of high art with conceptual reeling I might pursue this vein. Success in the art world, I think, is transitioning to approachability. My own biases surface here. To bring back the Natural, beauty is complexity simplified. Once this occurs greatness is achieved by those who bridge the gap. This is a special challenge for Technology artists as nearly everyone doesn't understand.

The point is, is that we are all artists. We create what we love. I would say that that those people who can do what they love are artists. This is the Latin form of the term, meaning skill. My definition is slightly more in tune with expression. A definition is less an adjective modifer and more a noun. The concept of Art will never be final. Whatever and however art becomes you. The goal, I think, is to create a connection, a connection with another person, another time, another place. The goal is share with the world the purest form for which you are capeable. How you depict that clarity is what makes you an artist. So whatever happens through this next millenium I'd like to think that I always regarded each side of the coin, and in each case I made the best decision. I made a decision based not only on my own opinion but based on the near tangible ramifications of that tsunami effect of butterflies in flight.