How would the 60s have happened if they had today's technology?

I guess the guy who got me a quarter pound would have called me on my cell phone instead of leaving his door unlocked with a note: "Spaceman, your meat is in the fridge"!

 

Our desire in the '60s to create a more authentic life of deeper meaning was a reaction against the emerging technologies.


In the marrow of our bones we knew what the future held.
We desperately fought the comming computerization of our human relationships, and we failed.

Sorry.

If 2005 computer technology was availible to us in the '60s, we wouldn't of had to live the '60s.
Instead, we could have simply programed a computer game to simulate the '60s.
We wouldn't of had to even get out of our seats.
A virtual Sumer of Love.

 

When I lived in Freedom Farm with my dad, I remember all of us loading our big painted bus and traveling across the states. We went through several towns where they threw eggs at the bus and yelled, "Go home hippies!" and "you long haired freaks aren't welcome here." All these small town folks knew about us was what the newspaper's and TV wanted them to think. That our purpose was to spread love and peace was never written in the paper's.
I think the movement would have reached alot more people had we had PC's back then.

 

We've had PC's for 25yrs, and for 25yrs we have fallen ever deeper under the hypnotic spell of material technology.

For 25yrs we have become increasingly more materialistic and increasingly more hostile to the spontaneous freedom of the 'Hippie' existential state of being.

Alienation is the one word most used to describe the condition of modern man, and by a simulated deception, our PC's only help to accellerate our condition.

 

The internet is an advantage in that respect. The TV stations and newpapers no longer have a monopoly. As I mentioned in a previoius post, internet and satellite TV have become a venue for spreading unfiltered information.

 

m6m, That was beautiful. PC's were way too expensive back then for the average household and they were as big as a house. I don't see technology as an advantage. Except perhaps, mean's of communication. ( My grandmother's very old and I cherish the many ways we can keep in touch) I have had it both way's. I sold out for a few year's because I was a single mom and wanted my son's to have every advantage. I got caught up in the money game. The more you make the more you spend. Keeping up with the Jones's. Deep inside I knew I was contributing to the consumerism rat race. My son's are older now and they understand that I had to go back to my roots and live the way I believe in. They have jobs and by all the latest gadget's, and although I won't buy them anymore, (there is MUCH to recycle and re-use) I have to admit I love watching "The Greatful Dead" at the closing of Winterland on the DVD. And I enjoy my hand-me-down computer and hell I have to admit I really like the microwave.
Could I live without them? Sure, I did for years!
Sorry for the ramble. Peace.

 

Dear Taz,

I don't think you were rambling.
I feel you were expressing with sensitivity the mixed feelings and impulses that have led us all to the many compromises that we have all made in our lives.
Me included.

 

No one gets away from technology completely. Even the guitars used at Woodstock that were enjoyed by so many hippies were made of plastic derived from crude oil. It's a matter of using these items thoughtfully instead of squandering them needlessly just for the sake of keeping up with neighbors.

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Yeah, it sucks to feel guilty about buying your son an expensive name brand pair of jeans, knowing that there are millions of pair's of good jeans at the thrift store. I remember the $150 pair of pump Nike's. I tried to explain to my son's that by buying these your saying it's OK to employ under-age children to work in factories for 2 bucks an hour, it's OK for mom's and dad's to work over-time so their kids can fit in, it's OK to line some greed mongers pocket while people go homeless and children go hungry, hell let's just throw humanity out the window. They just looked at me and asked, "so if we save our allowence can we have them?"
Although now they offer to help me with my volunteer work. I don't even have to ask and they deliver care packages for me to the homeless and even helped me build a garden at the Ronald McDonald house.
I think that's part of the answer. As parent's we need to teach our children the simple pleasures in life. Like camping and fishing, nature and a love of ALL human being's. That we are all one in the universe and instead of working against each other we should work with each other and Karma is a bitch.
He he another ramble for Taz, just call me Rambling Rose.

 

I buy jeans at the thrift store and go barefoot most of the time. I've squandered stuff too but I still try to make an effort not to.

One of my friends has two daughter about age six. She could buy them expensive clothes and toys, but she gets dresses and simple toys for them at the thrift store. I watch them have the time of their lives with these simple little toys.

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