Like Cyanide

The Quest of TechNumb People -
Of Technology and Numbers People -
Is to make themselves obsolete.

That is their Quest:
To create a tool so adaptable,
And yet so simple in its use,
So transparent in its interface
That it is basically forgotten
By its user as its user uses it.

If a business, it is to arrange contracts,
And employment agreements,
And ownership deeds,
Such that all runs as if
No one is steering.

Now, of course, since the world is
Infinite in size,
And since new ideas, new failings,
New uses, new innovations, new trends,
Introduce themselves,
The need for
More Tech and
More Numbers continues.

But, in essence, that's what the
TechNumb Person's Quest is:
Implosive,
Toward silence,
And even death.

(I have a very great friend;
He is master programmer,
Works on bank-level encryption software.
He worked on the Blackberry.
He is also a fan of death metal,
Like Iron Maiden;
And, indeed, throughout the technology world,
You see these images of daemons,
Death and chaos,
This basic silence of the number.
Over on the Numbers side?
There is just the deathly anonymity of
Suit and tie.)

The Creative Person's Quest
Is the opposite:
It is
Explosive,
Toward voice and sound,
Unique,
Alive;
Toward novelty and continuing birth.

When either Type
Is given management over the
Other's Domain,
Chaos ensues.

Of course you can imagine
What havoc a
Poetic Dreamer would wreak,
If given the managing reigns of
An Engineering Firm,

But think also of the other side:
What of the time when
The Tech Person,
The Numbers Person,
Takes control of the Creator's Domain?
When the TechNumb Person begins to
Force his direction -
Implosive,
Generic,
Abstract,
Toward finalizing -
Onto the realm of the Creative Person?
What of that?
Don't you think that that also
Wreaks havoc?

To the creator,
That is like cyanide.

I know a professor who was fired
Because he refused to force
His Narrative Design Students
To implement their game narrative designs
In technological form.
Their only deliverable,
(And it was a tough deliverable)
As per his curriculum design,
Was to be a document -
A Narrative Design Doc.
He wanted them to have space
To dream, feel and think,
Through the tools of the narrative trade:
Plot, Character, Setting and Theme...
With NO impending technological deliverables
(In this case, a graphic adventure computer game)
Due,
To draw them back to the comfort and familiarity -
But also the icy abstraction -
Of Technology.
He wanted them to only dream, draw and write.
And produce a well crafted piece of work.

For that he was fired.

But it makes no difference.
That attitude has infected the entire
Game Industry.

Like cyanide.

--- 21 June 2013