I'm ashamed to say that in lieu of the austere NYTimes, the BF and I now read the Post on Sundays. It's really embarrassing, but I love the Sunday Post so much more then many other pop culture publications. Also, I think they deserve a hand for the Page Six Magazine, which should be named something else as the trashiness level of the mag does not even approach the actual Page Six. (In a good way.)
Anyhow, I opened up the Post yesterday and found today's, uh, post:
This "Vanity Ring" by Markus Kison displays the number of google hits you receive.
From the website:
"While in earlier times richness and importance were equal to the amount of money or jewels someone possessed, in a post information society it's the attention you get from the worlds people, that counts. Being in people's mind means being important, whether they think about you in a positive way our not doesn't matter. And what people have in their mind is what they read in the media. In the future this will mean, what they read/see on the net. Every content creator that copies and pastes your name will rise the value of your virtual mirrored importance. And there is a hard mechanical algorithm on the net, that extremely objectively measures your appearance, it's called Google and has already passed the "line of no return" (Bruce Sterling). In most job interviews the personnel manager will already use this machine to check your importance and have a look at the first answers this mirror tells about you. Your mirror identity strikes back on your chances in the real world.
The VanityRing focuses on this development, taking it to an ironic peak. Rings are well known status symbols, and the included jewel's weight in carat is a comparable value for the personal ranking of its owner (the largest two diamonds are in the British crown jewels). The VanityRing doesn't have a jewel, instead it shows the number of hits one gets, when he searches Google for the name of the person who wears it, a more adequate value in our time. It is personalized using a custom software, and after the name is typed the ring will change its display to show the personal "attention carats", while every night, when it is inserted into its docking station the ring is reloaded and updated.
In the Post, there was a little bit more information, including the fact that the designer was looking for a jeweler to produce this with, preferably in platinum. (If I remember correctly.)
3 comments:
This is interesting. I was also reading a consumer article today about how the teen generation today are less concerned about protecting their privacy and are use to social atmospheres and networking and self-promoting on the internet.
The whole thing is fascinating. There's also such a disconnect between certain ages that aren't that far apart. (For example, my boyfriend, at 33, thinks he's too old for Facebook and doesn't really use it, but at 25, I am on it everyday.)
He's much more concerned about his privacy, whereas I am posting pictures everywhere. It's a strange dichotomy.
BWAH!!! I would be so ashamed to be wearing that ring!
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