Since you guys love content here is an article I wrote exclusively for my artist page. I hope you enjoy the read. The virtual world and our obsession with numbers. By Darryl Christopher We are a species obsessed with numbers and numbers are everything to us. In the digital age, we live so much of our lives online that many of us find so much life in the virtual world that it becomes the focus and purpose of life over real life. We pursue wealth for the exact same reason. The higher the number the better but sadly even with the highest of numbers financially no one is ever truly satisfied. Gamers spend their lives playing such games as The World of Warcraft, sometimes playing for days without taking a break or interacting with the real world. Some people get into virtual worlds such as Second Life where they can look like anyone, be anyone, and engage in any variety of behaviour. People even pay real money to have higher experience levels, more game levels or environments, avatar clothes outfits, and some people pay to have fake statistics in the hopes it will lead to real statistics. The majority of these behaviours and what they share in common is our obsession with numbers. For those of us who have grown up with computers and the internet we have just come to accept online credibility, online statistics, as being just as valuable as real money. Some people on Facebook believe that having the most friends on the social network is the greatest measure of success. In a social experiment, a fake account accumulated around 300 Facebook friends as an example of this phenomenon. If people will friend a fake account for the sake of having more friends what does that say about us as a species? On Youtube, success is measured by the number of views. Psy’s track Gangnum Style was the first video to get over 1 billion views. Is it the best music ever created? No it is certainly not in spite of being a catchy tune. It’s more of an example of the viral pile on effect and the power numbers have over us as once a media creation gets to a certain statistical level more people get compelled to check it out. For gamers it’s all about the score, experience level, and combination hit points. A great many people just smoke weed, have their bills paid by being on the dole, and live out their lives online as both wealthy, high experienced, and legendary warriors. People hate real life so much where it takes real work to get ahead, the deck is stacked against the little guy, and making a difference seems impossible for the average person that it is easier to not think about that and have an exciting, adventurous, wealthy life in the virtual world. Again, it’s all about our obsession with numbers. In the world of online music, it’s all about the number of listens, the number of downloads, the number of followers, and if a producer the number of MP3s sold. I am not perfect either and am equally obsessed with my Souncloud statistics but as a hobbyist when it comes to music so I do not lose sleep over it. I am happy if I get 1 listen a day. That makes my day. The biggest questions an artist must answer to get your art out there is “why should I care?” and “How much time will I be willing to give you?” Getting 5 minutes of time from anyone is asking a lot so anything more than that is really asking a lot. My Soundcloud account has gotten to around 1500 total plays in 52 countries and my mixes there are 1-3 hours long so those who do listen are hard-core, dedicated, and really giving me a lot of their time so 1 listen a day is a big thing. I have a friend who is a techno producer who posts techno tracks to his Soundcloud and has gotten over 26000 plays, and I have a friend who was a classmate and who is also an amazing vocalist and her tracks get over 1400 plays a day. It’s truly amazing what the global reach of the internet truly is. The numbers always go up, especially more so when they are already large. We also have Twitter which is all about brevity, having the most number of followers, and the number of times tweets get re-posted or favourited. Again, it’s all about the numbers. We also have a trend of narcissism where success in measured in having the highest number of followers and fans but not following anyone back or being fans of anyone else. Yet, if a person has the numbers people will put up with that in order to go with and be a part of the perception of what they think is cool. I disagree with that as life is about everyone, not just one person. But as a species we somehow like and go along with this as we are all good and evil and many of us are attracted to darkness. Life is not all about you, life is all about us. Are we really who we are or who we want to ultimately be online? When did the virtual world become more important than the real world? The world has always had its fair share of challenges but I think as the internet evolved and after 9-11 things really changed. We are a lot less free than we used to be, multiple interests such as the Jihad are out to take care of the world, we expect everyone to be perfect and one wrong thing said and reputations are destroyed. Profits by corporations are about making the most money rather than be ruled by conscience. Women have evolved to be the dominant force in the work world not that there is anything wrong with that, corporations sit on huge piles of cash, resist increases to the minimum wage, and refuse to invest their cash surpluses into the economy. The divide between the rich and poor has never been greater, youth unemployment has never been higher, and the news is all about, killing, violence, and war. We covet having things and go into debt to have more things. It is no wonder people do not want to think about that and live online and know the wealth of their online statistics and progress in games. But I believe in a positive future. Capitalism is a broken system and the time will come when it leads to a better system where art, creation, merit, and working for the betterment of the species will become the driving force of the economy. The universe is a big place with more life than we can possibly imagine. When our time comes to take our place in the universe beyond the Earth we will all have to be united, and pooling our resources so that we may compete and survive as a species. We are already seeing this at play with the rise of the creative class and the beginning of the commercial space industry. We have all the ore we want in the asteroid belt, we keep finding water on other planets, we are starting to see that there are billions of habitable worlds in the universe. I live to see official and historical first contact with an alien species and I live for travel to other worlds. I know we will prevail over our issues and get there and beyond. Perhaps with numbers we just have to focus on the numbers that matter over the ones that don’t. No one should place their numbers on the value of their wealth and if they do they will never be happy. We should focus our wealth numbers on how many things we learned in a day, the number of things we created in a day, the number of people we helped in a day, the number of times we stood up to evil in a day. That’s real wealth! Money is not wealth. For now it’s just a tool for life options but when it comes down to it, it is only an illusion of strength and power and nothing more. So are all those online statistics worthless? It all depends but if you have made the right choices certainly not. If your Facebook friends were there for you during tough times, you are supportive of them, and they put up with your quirks and wrong moves, and still believe in you, then that statistic matters. If you get views on Youtube from a video you loved making, not for the monetization, but to give people insight or entertainment then there is certainly value in that. If your tweets cheers someone up or made a succinct way of saying a complex definition of something then there is value in that. If you use your Soundcloud statistics to negotiate your strength for a gig to come up with a fair contract and rider for what you should be fairly compensated by your exposure then there is certainly value in those numbers. The key here is not to be about greed but be about love. You don’t have to have the highest numbers to have a good and happy life. And when it comes to gaming as long as real life comes first then all the power to those who have fun gaming. I have a PS4 and I like getting my game on too but I think gaming is more special when you have done what you had to do in a day and you accomplished something to make the world a better place. You can go on quests, missions, and adventures all you want but real life is the superior experience no matter who you are. We as a species are obsessed with numbers but every day is a step into a future where the numbers we are obsessed with will be the ones to create a positive future, and a continuance on the evolutionary path so let’s be healthy about the numbers we are obsessed with.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 21:49:17 +0000
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