You're sitting in a chair IN THE SKY

Kevin Kelly has kindly embedded a video of a nameless comedian on Conan O'Brian’s show, reminding us of how miraculous this modern world is. We can fly. We can remain in contact with those we care about pretty much anywhere we happen to be. We have unparalleled personal freedoms. Yet we complain when our phone doesn’t load the some YouTube masterpiece quickly enough because of Optus’s crappy 3G network. 3G! Hello! You’re streaming a humourous video about unicorns into your PHONE. Get some perspective. <http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/02/so_amazing_but.php>

Then again, this propensity to whine about everything that’s not perfect, instant and available is what drives us forward, to improve things. If it weren’t for people whining about missing calls when they’re not home, there would be no answering machine.  I’m reminded of a story that Laurie Anderson tells - one of my favourites. Pardon me if I’ve already bored you with it. She was invited to interview John Cage, who at the time was quite elderly. She went through all the written questions, but (as she tells it), he noticed that she was anxious about something. He asked her “is there something else you’d like to ask?”.

Somewhat embarrassed, she said “Yes, there is. You’re a perceptive man, and you’ve been around a long time, seen lots of changes in the world. Please, can you tell me, are things getting better, or are they getting worse?”  Cage smiled. He replied, “Of course they’re getting better, of course they are. It’s just happening too slowly for anyone to really notice.”