Clear and Present Dangers . . . . M.T. Bass

“It is becoming easier to believe in evil spirits than to endure the capricious reliability of modern technology.”

~M.T. Bass

Technology is the Peyote of Americans

Today marks a special anniversary — but more about that later.

Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opium of the masses.”

I say, Technology is the peyote of Americans.

I must confess that I am nearly always astounded at every new techno-marvel I invite into my life, though not without some healthy up front skepticism.   “Really, how good could it be?” is usually followed by “how did I live without [insert gadget here]!”  MP3 player, DSL, GPS, XM Radio, HDTV, DAW, smart phone, DVR, Bose L1, Sony eReader, Blu-Ray, flux capacitor — whatever — it is usually an astounding leap forward.  We truly live in an amazing, Technicolor, high-definition, 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound dream world.

But hallucinogens are not without their downsides.  Technology, too.  First off, it has to work.

I know, I know . . . . how demanding and picky of me.  But when good technology goes bad, it is a nightmare, a bad trip.

The special anniversary?  Today marks two nearly continuous years of having one or the other of my Line 6 Variax guitars (http://bit.ly/coSqOs) in the service center vainly trying only to get them to do what they were designed to do . . . . Two years . . . . It is to the point where the service tech has been telling me that if he gets them working properly that I should get rid of the guitars, pronto, and just dump these problems on someone else.

But I don’t want to.  All I want is the guitar that Line 6 advertises.  It would be easy to blame the technology, but it is an amazing design . . . . when it works.

Why doesn’t it work?  Don’t know.  Who are the A&P gypsies and why are they chasing me to the edge of the cliff by the waterfall, over which I fall into the water and start to drown until I wake up in a cold sweat?  Don’t know.

I tried to contact Line 6 using my AT&T Tilt smart phone, but the call kept dropping after I pressed 3 . . .

Marx also said:

“The abolition of religion [technology?] as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.”

I say, All I want are the peyote dreams I am promised.