Saw this at the Public Theater last night. It is funny, thoughtful, and disturbing. Mike is a self-described geek. He believes Steve Jobs to be a showman and a genius. Steve Jobs partner, Steve Wozniak is the geek in the partnership and another genius. There is a great deal of humor in the show. I doubt that I could have sat for 2 hours, without a break, if it wasn't very funny and provocative.
To paraphrase Mike:
if you control the way people view and interact with the world, you control their world
having Google to find out something for you doesn't mean you're smart, you get smart by using your head and digging in with both hands
everyone complains that nothing is hand-made, whereas everything is handmade and some of those hands are bloody and deformed from making the stuff we use everyday.
Mike Daisey loves technology and what Steve Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak created at Apple. The two of them started out as rebellious, counterculture entrepreneurs. Their first creation was a pirate box to make long distance phone calls, stealing from A T & T. The first call on the box was when Jobs had Wozniak call the Vatican to tell them that Henry Kissinger, at the White House, wanted to speak to the Pope. The Cardinal, or whoever it was that answered the phone, said the Pope was asleep but he would wake him up. Wozniak freaked and hung up the phone They sold hundreds of those boxes. Then they got a job from Atari to make an easily programmable computer game in 2 months. The job paid $700. But if they made it especially easy to program and in one month they would get $1000. Steve Wozniak, the geek in the partnership, did it. They split a $1000. Wozniak later learned that Jobs was paid $5000 and there were no requirements about the time frame or the programing.
About 10 years ago there were reports of numerous suicides at a technology assembly plant in China. So Mike Daisey posed as an American businessman so he could get access to the workers and some of the bosses. Workers were as young as 13. They would spend at least 14 hours on line doing the same robotic movement. Probably the reason for the suicides. One worker died after being at his work station for 34 hours. The company is Foxcomm in Shenzhen, China. 440,000 thousand people work there. They have 25 cafeterias and each one can sit 20,000 people. The plant assembles technology parts for Apple and many other companies. Because of the robotic working conditions, joints in the workers hands disintegrate. To shift workers around to other lines would easily alleviate those joints, but they don't. The liquid used to clean the face of the iPhone causes neurological injuries in the workers' hands. They were using plain alcohol, but the new solution cleans faster. Many workers are let go at 25 years of age because by that time they're not able to keep up the pace.
Steve Wozniak saw the show and wept. He told the NY Times that he would never be the same.
At the end of the show Mike Daisey says he hasn't really told us anything we don't already know. What he hopes he has done is plant a virus in our consciousness. Can we buy more stuff without thinking "who made that"?
P.S. There is some controversy about the show. His interpreter during the visit contradicts some of his statements. But what I have written here has been checked and deemed accurate.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Movie house
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
House of Worship
The Buddhist Association of New York is located on Elizabeth Street just above Canal Street.
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Some facts about Buddhism:It is a system taught by the Buddha, and it originated in the 6th century BCE in Northern India. There are 376 million followers; so it is the fourth largest faith. Main sects are Mahayana, northern Buddhism, and Theravada, Southern Buddhism. The sacred texts are Pali Canon,Tripitaka and Mahayana Sutras in the original language Pali.
Basic beliefs:
There are 4 truths:
all life is marked by suffering-
suffering is caused by desire and attachment -
suffering can be eliminated -
suffering is eliminated by following the noble eightfold path.
The eightfold path is: right beliefs, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditational attainment.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Philharmonic and King Lear
Friday was King Lear at the Public with Sam Waterston [Lear], Enid Graham [Goneril], Kelli O'Hara [Regan], Kristen Connolly [Cordelia], Michael McKean [Gloucester], Bill Irwin [Fool] and John Douglas Thompson who was excellent as Kent/Caius. My favorite moment of the night was Lear's curse on Goneril. Waterston does rage very well. Many in the audience gasped when he gave the curse.
Here it is.
Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear!
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful!
Into her womb convey sterility!
Dry up in her the organs of increase;
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honour her! If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen; that it may live,
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her!
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth;
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;
Turn all her mother's pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt; that she may feel
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child! Away, Away.
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