S.L.J.V. - Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Taking the Stairs Instead of the Escalator

So here’s the scenario.  You walk into a two story building with intentions to go to the top floor.  After reaching the bottom of the escalator you realize that it’s broken and you no longer have an easy way up.  I suppose that’s a lot like life.  There’s no easy way to just sail to the top of something you really want.  Instead, you have to take each painful stair one step at a time.  I feel like there should be a sign at the bottom of my broken escalator.  “Escalator Broken – Sorry for the Convenience.  Now get your ass up those fucking stairs.  And P.S. Don’t make me shut down the elevator.”

Looking back at the steps that I had created myself, I’ve decided that I make a lot of sense when I make shit up after I’ve had two ‘Irish car bombs’ and I’m half asleep.  Let’s see, the steps were - Step One:  Finish what I start.  Step Two: Don’t be afraid to show what I can do.  Step Three: Take a Fucking Risk!  Step Four: Try something new.  Step Five:  Get Started Already. 

While I was falling asleep last night I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t necessarily have to go in order of my newly developed steps as long as I was following the majority of them.  And when I opened my eyes this morning to the sound of my in-laws’ dogs barking I knew that Step Five was where it should all begin and I also knew that I already had something waiting for me that could help me do just that.

Step Five:  Pick up the entry form to that High School Art Teacher Art Exhibition and fill it out, entering my technological man.  By completing this step, I would also be doing Step Two – which is a big deal for me because of my lack of self-confidence.  Send the entry form in by Dec. 1^st and have my project completed by Jan. 1^st.  By doing that task I will have accomplished Step 1.  There’s three out of five.  I think that’s a good start.

And the thing is who know where this may lead.  Once I get started I could end up writing a book, my husband and I may relocate to the east coast somewhere, we may buy a house, we could finally get our dog, we could finally have children, we could finally start our life, we could finally start living.  But I suppose I need to take that initial step first.

So, I break out the application and stare at it.  I’m nervous because I know what pressure I’m putting on myself once I fill it out and fax it in.  I complete all of my information, the artwork medium, size, etc… the only thing left is a title.  I want it to be something dealing with the technological overrun of humanity.  (Surprise, surprise, right?)  In other words, I want to demonstrate the loss of ourselves to the manipulation and the intelligence of the technology itself.  Then the name pops into my mind.  I’m going to call it Technological Singularity.  After researching, I discover that this is the theory where technology and machines develop their own intelligences and become the controlling element of the world we know.  The question here is, is this scenario science fiction, an anticipated outcome of our choices today, or is it already upon us and our ignorance keeps us blind from the obvious.