Monday, May 4, 2009

What is Scary? Pt II

Scary is when your internet goes away. Scary is when you find yourself cut off from the world, and news that is less than a day old. Scary is when you have an idea, and then discover you can't do a quick Google check for some quick research. Scary is when you can't reach your email.

Scary is recognizing how the internet has snuck into our lives in lots of little ways.

Most of my short stories are written in times before cell phones and the internet, yet it takes having my internet going down to really remember what a different world it used to be. In the days of yore, old men argued on porches without a handy internet to settle the argument. They had to decide who was right by good old fashioned methods...like who was willing to be more pigheaded about it, or who lied more convincingly. Now you can have an ebook reader thats always connected to wikipedia. It's like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy come to life in a strangely mundane way.

And thats the way it's going to be from now on. Only more so. I wonder where it's going next?

Now that's scary.

PS. Once I get internet back at my own home, I will explore the "why are female ghosts scarier" question.

2 comments:

  1. So, back to my original statement. Female ghosts are scarier because we do not associate women with the emotion of fear. Plus, as Courtney pointed out, a ghost's motivation is typically vindictive and, unfortunately, women are typically more vindictive than men are.

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  2. Women are vindictive? My wife assures me this is not so!

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