Is Technology Making Our Expectations Too High?

Futuristic Architecture 

Viewing the film, Synthetic Pleasures, makes viewers realize that living in a digital/technological world, we are living in a futuristic world.  The first few minutes in it is really eye opening and enlightening.  By cleverly placing digital animated images to open the film, to then transition to talking about virtual worlds and making them come to life is interesting.  They state early on in the film that we live in a better digital world then seeing these virtual worlds that are created, in person.  Professor Gurland, chair of NYU philosophy department, says that we are able to live in the worlds we virtually create.  An example of this in 2016 is Top Golf.  This is a bar/restaurant/driving range for golf that people can go to and enjoy.  It is a fun place that has technological aspects to it, making it fun and entertaining in our digital aged world.  In a way, this makes us not appreciate the sport of golf for actually going on the green, outside, driving/walking around, and hitting balls on the golf coarse.  However, the film makes us continue to dream and

make what others believed back then wasn’t possible, possible in today’s day and age. 

The thesis of this film is that we create the worlds we want to live in, whether it be digital in films, video games, or even when we go out in the world to restaurants and clubs.  I believe that this film is revealing, and I think viewers and readers can agree, because as someone who has grown up with technology advancing, it becomes less evident and we treat it as if it were anything to think about.  With Star Wars advancing and coming back to life, the films Divergent, and even the Hunger Games, we escape to those worlds when we walk into the theater.  We even see futuristic elements in bars. clubs, and even the newer movie theaters, because we want to live in the elements we enjoy, and one of those elements is what we see in films.  We don’t think anything of it when it is there in front of us, but after watching Synthetic Pleasures it gets you thinking and realize just how advanced we are in technology and the digital world we live in.