15 Aug If you wanna complain, create something!

Picking up from a recent post by Ghost Emoji , he’s absolutely right! From my follow up internet travails, it looks like this phrase was coined by James Murphy of a rock band called LCD Soundsystem. Although I’ve never heard their music before, this statement rings true to my ears. I have heard Ghost Emoji’s music, by the way, and it rocks!

Think about it, American colonists complained of British rule and from that created a confederation and a constitution. Punk rockers constantly complain about oppression, and a host of other legitimate concerns, and they create loud music with in-your-face messages. People complain all the time about environmental destruction and out of that movements are created so we can learn to live more harmoniously with nature.

That was how the idea behind Datapocalypse was formed. Too many people taking selfies and pictures of things they may get more immediate value out of by seeing through their eyes. I don’t mean just seeing, but comprehending and appreciating too. If I travel to Rome to the see the Trevi fountain, it would be nice to not have to sift through all the raised smartphones and cameras with people’s faces lined up behind them and actually SEE THE FOUNTAIN!

It’s a primitive argument, but it did spawn ideas.

Who knew this simple complaint would cascade into a creation of worldly adventure, maliciously rogue-AI and precious monuments disappearing out of thin air. It even spawned a weird hybrid word, Datapocalypse—not to mention some other weird words I made up in the story. It’s amazing what one can accomplish with a creative focus that emanates from something so simple as a mere complaint about selfie-fixations.

Speaking of creating things, the Datapocalypse Book Trailer Video goes into more detail on this idea. It was made with my wife and daughter–original music included. I can’t promise it’s not overly cheesy, but I aim to pleasy.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even check out some LCD Soundsystem.

Peace, love, datapocalypse,

Christopher Keast