Fwd: Re: <nettime> Cellpohones and the cancer of cellspace

[Pit Schultz <pit@klubradio.de>]

This is a forwarded message
Date: Sunday, November 12, 2000, 3:31:22 AM

1. the biological (non-thermical) effects of electromagnetic waves,
especially in the microwave spectrum and for complex wave patterns are
well studied (more than 25.000 papers published in the last 15 years) but
nevertheless badly understood in theory. the "truth" is constructed along
the lines of interests and scientific evolution. by now biocybernetics as
a combination of bioelectrics and bioinformatics is not well developed,
and didn't emancipate enough from esotheric 'pseudo-science'. it's applied
foucault. commonly EMF effects are more or less understood as an
psychological oversensitivity or as an effect of some kind of
"irrationality". (see ken warks interpretation) or - on the other hand as
a conspiracy of the military-industrial-entertainment complex, and here is
where the technological progress is really happening. looking back to the
public and scientific discourse arround x-rays or asbest-dust it can take
decades until the 'truth' is handled out between all parties. what is at
risk is a whole new step of industrialisation. if the IT industry or
energy industry would have to pay for the damages it may causes or
caused... then we would live in a different world.  it doesn't need a
'holistic' or aesthetified perspective to see that.

2. most the early adopters of palm pilots (and i still have an us robotics
model somewhere) switched back after a intial phase of euphoria to a mode
of minimum use, mainly for notes, adresses, birthdays. the heavy users
began to use paper based time planners again, and then there are still
some 'gamerz', the power user types, usually male, who love to show off
the newest geekware and tinker arround until they tested out all existing
features. i think its better then a gameboy, and i still have the
communist manifesto and a chess program uploaded, mainly for killing time
in the subway. i do not see the palm pilot becoming as ubiquitous as the
telephone, it's more like a toy for adults, with some marginal practical
use, which legitimizes its existance in a 'serious' environment.

2. the future of the pda: - instead of a machine which can do everything
there might be countless versions for every 'need' or target group. while
most people will learn that its enough to update every 7th generation, or
3 years, some people join the extended R&D labs, here is where open source
+ freebees for nerds are getting strong. btw, where is WAP now? and where
will GPRS be? interim standards make electronic fashion statements but not
a communication revolution. indeed, certain functions go 'naturally'
together, like pager and cellphone = SMS, which was rather unpredicted. or
mp3 player and ghettoblaster. but, is there a need to book flights or
cinema tickets with your pda when the next PC stands right there? most
current startup services are based on weak ideas and will disappear. i see
a future not for mobile pdas but for specialized internet appliances for
an affordable price. like a "netradio" with dsl subscription for 12$ a
month. the cult of mobility has a clear counterforce in the trend to 'my
home is my castle' - cocooning. the more the home is becoming the
workplace or workplace becoming home the less 'cool' it is to run arround
like an electronic nomad. 'lightness' is the clue, complete disappearence
of the media down to the 'vital functions' within an allday cellspace. all
which has to be mobile is the data, or your personal working environment.
not the place of data makes it "yours" but the way of access (through
crypto). the materialism of owning your own cellular phone or laptop might
be very soon extended by renting and leasing combined with some kind of
contracts and subscriptions. don't believe the hype.

3. handies (cellular phones) become some kind of e-proletarian gadget,
some kind of minority complex driven symbol to be more technically
advanced then the homeland of cyberspace. they also can become a symbol of
potency, importance, or empathy but all in all they just become annoying.
the early adopters, the CEO types already had to learn a more healthy use
of cellphones, the excessive use is popular for those who might identify
with this role model. excessive use of a cellular phone doesn't make your
day more effective. i use it to be able to control when i want to be
reacheable.

4. cellspace is not radically different than the internet. wireless
transmission only make the net or computers gradually more ubiquitous than
they are already. merely the interface changes. if i do not want to check
my email more then twice a day, i do not have to do it in the future
either. some advancements might come in payment and identification
methods, user tracking and all kinds of obvervation technologies. the real
radical breakthrough will come related to 1.) the moment it is more
understood that there are 'channels' of communication which happen on the
cellular, bioelectric level. not only airplanes crash due to the use of
handies but public health is going down. cellphones are a bad prothesis
for telephaty. future communication technologies will likely become more
'human' in a non-humanistic sense and military technology will lead the
development, as it doesn't need scientific proves as long the effects are
reproduceable.

5. UMTS. its a drama that the money which is beeing made with the
privatisation of the microwave spectrum is not getting reinvested at the
right places (public access infostructure, education). this sellout is
done by a generation of politicians which has no clue about the internet
or the importance of telecommunication infrastructures for a democratic
media enviroment. the generation of CEOs of the involved telcos have the
same kind of simplistic science fiction dreams in mind, as if they didn't
learn from the internet shock. instead this generation hopes to repeat the
big cash-in of the emerging mobile phone markets of the 90ies, not even
know if their product is really having a market. the popular prototypes of
UMTS gadetry are based again on the 'videophone'. why should it take off
this time? because people in japan love it? knowingly, technoculture in
japan has its own ways. when the price of traffic is so expensive from the
beginning, we will see a centralisation of services and content arround
the value-chain because of the investments which went into the licenses.
the states reinvests this money not a part of the public sector which
needs other kinds of reforms. (railway systems etc.) UMTS will become
everyting else then a public channel. UMTS is happening in the spirit of
the FCC (the early 20th century) or public projects like "digital divide"
or "d21" which just represent the inability of a generation in power to
understand the new media.

http://infoventures.com/emf/top/db1.html
http://www.wave-guide.org/
http://www.tsc-global.com/index1.htm





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