Growing up geek: 'Ghost in the Shell' and the future
It can also be argued that DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself. Life has become more complex in the overwhelming sea of information. And life, when organized into species, relies upon genes to be its memory system. So, man is an individual only because of his intangible memory...and memory cannot be defined, but it defines mankind. The advent of computers, and the subsequent accumulation of incalculable data has given rise to a new system of memory and thought parallel to your own. Humanity has underestimated the consequences of computerization.
I was 15 years old when I first heard the Puppet Master's soliloquy from Ghost in the Shell. That was, what, the winter of 1997? I was already deep into anime, an obsession that had steadily grown from my earlier love of ThunderCats, MASH, GI Joe and other Saturday morning cartoons. Now understand, I've always been a huge nerd. I mean, look at the picture below. That's me, age 10, at a cousin's birthday party looking skeptical AF while attempting to calculate the average volume of the helium balloons needed to keep my comically-large glasses neutrally buoyant at 3,600 feet (can you believe he's still single, ladies?!). But this movie — and this scene specifically — spoke to me like no film ever had before.
Ghost in the Shell is a seminal anime, to be sure, one of most celebrated and influential films of the genre. Just as Ninja Scroll ignited my fascination with ninjas and Cowboy BeBop fueled my obsession with space travel, Ghost in the Shell awakened a deep and visceral passion for cybernetics within me. The sheer volume of possibilities that exist within the GITS universe — from the cure for any disease or injury, no matter how grave to the theoretical immortality of uploading one's consciousness to the internet — was intoxicating.
Thank goodness that's not a piano.
Even more so, this future was based on tangible technology that didn't look all that different from what I had access to back in the late '90s — more advanced, sure, but still relatable. There wasn't any gibberish-filled dialog about "warp cores" and and "trans-phase induction phaser coils" like what Star Trek offered. Nor were there the pseudo-religious overtones that dominated Star Wars (looking at you, Force) or, later, The Matrix (looking at you, Keanu Jesus). GITS was a wholly plausible future where technology, no matter how fantastical by late-1990's standards, was considered beyond blase. It wasn't even seen as boring, but rather, so routine as to not warrant any attention at all. The presentation of technology without moral overtures blew my young mind. The idea that these are tools, not miracles; that humanity is just a valiant and just as dastardly with or without it utterly fascinated me.
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That's one stubborn jar of pickles.
This revelation, in turn, got me thinking about what it would take to make this future a reality. I began to wonder, "why couldn't we do these fantastical things? What's stopping us from pursuing such advancements?" Everything from neural networks augmented with cybernetics to full body prosthetics to artificial intelligence advanced enough to argue for political asylum they should all be possible. They just weren't in 1997.
In the nearly two decades since I first watched Ghost in the Shell (on VHS no less), we've made enormous technological strides in many of the fields featured in the film. With the help of 3D printing and modern electronics, I've gotten to see Robert Downey Jr deliver affordable replacement arms to kids and supermodel Rebekah Marine strut through New York Fashion Week wearing an i-Limb. I've witnessed brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) help the paralyzed walk again, supercomputer systems and neural networks mimic the workings of the human mind. Of course, having a front row seat to many of these advancements (thanks to my job as a tech reporter) has certainly helped. So if you woke up on October 22nd, 2015 and began freaking out about ERMAGAWD BACK TO THE FUTURE DAY, just wait and see what the year 2029 has in store for us.
Active camo face wipes are the new jazz hands.