DJ Spooky

I had no idea what to expect from "DJ Spooky" before going to see him today at the michigan theater. I thought, ok so he's a DJ, so I'm going to listen to some music for an hour. I was wrong. He actually had a lot to say, and much of it I found very interesting, not to mention true. He began by discussing an author he liked, McLuhan, and how some of the things he wrote about in the 1960's are now facts of life. The internet and all this new technology- it's real.
He continued with a few quotes I'd like to mention. First, he said "in this day in age, with software as our primary tool, ideas are scarce". Honestly, I didn't really understand what he meant by this. Did he mean that technology inhibits the way people think? Or could it have been that technology now makes decisions for us and takes away from creativity? Or am I missing the point here?
He also said that "technology allows us to capture every moment of expression". I liked this quote because I sometimes forget how privileged society today is, as if we wanted, we could capture any point in life. I grew up with the internet, cameras, and voice recorders, so I sometimes forget that all this technology is new. People used to have no memory of the past except for what was in their heads and writing, but now, technology enables us to capture everything, whether it be through voice recordings, pictures, or videos. It's really amazing to think about. Especially now that technology has advanced so much that people like DJ Spooky can use this cut up technique to play with language, as he does with all his DJ equipment on his computer and Ipad.
On a final note, DJ Spooky pointed said something that really took this whole idea of how technology is changing the world to a whole new level. He said- it used to be that people giving lectures or performing music had to stand here and do it live. Nowadays, I can just stand up here, push play, and leave the stage. This hit it home for me. It is so true. He didn't even need to be there. He could have just recorded the whole lecture. But is this a good thing? Doesn't this make things so impersonal? I think it does, which is why I think it was great how even though he could have just left the stage, he spoke and DJed live.
Photo from: http://www.djspooky.com/img/trojanrecords_large.jpg