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They are the everyday objects which apparently we can't live without. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:10 | |
Innovative gadgets that fascinate and entertain. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:18 | |
Shiny new devices that are constantly upgraded to be faster and more powerful, | 0:00:20 | 0:00:26 | |
with must-have new features. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
# I'm the operator with my pocket calculator. # | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
'Millions of us have succumbed to the culture of upgrading.' | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
# I'm the operator with my pocket calculator. # | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
'I'm already on my tenth mobile. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
'Why do so many of us...' Hello? '..covet the upgrade?' | 0:00:46 | 0:00:51 | |
Wrong number. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
Is it really about functionality, the look, or the feel, | 0:00:53 | 0:00:59 | |
or is there some deeper psychology at work here, to do with status and desire? | 0:00:59 | 0:01:04 | |
Gadgets have changed our relationship with the world and rewired our perceptions. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:09 | |
As I writer, I'm interested in their impact on our imaginations. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:17 | |
It's really funky. 'This story will take me to the other side of the world... | 0:01:21 | 0:01:25 | |
'to the beating heart of the upgrade.' | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
The speed of product innovation continues to accelerate, | 0:01:29 | 0:01:33 | |
but is it sustainable? | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
And what's going to happen to all this stuff now? | 0:01:35 | 0:01:37 | |
'The future is digital, but is it beautiful?' | 0:01:37 | 0:01:42 | |
I am now very pleased to introduce someone who's written novels, short stories, television films. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:55 | |
Most recently he's written a book about how music has shaped his life. It's called "Gig". | 0:01:55 | 0:02:01 | |
And on top of all this, he's one of Britain's finest poets. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
Please will you welcome Simon Armitage. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING | 0:02:09 | 0:02:11 | |
Hello. I'm going to start by reading a poem | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
about the pace of modern life and its effect on the brain | 0:02:27 | 0:02:33 | |
and its effect on the body, so it's a poem that goes very, very quickly | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
and it's called Killing Time Number 2. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
Time in the brain cells Sweating like a nail bomb | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
Trouble with the heartbeat spitting like a sten gun | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
Cut to the chase, pick up the pace | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
No such thing as a walkabout fun run | 0:02:49 | 0:02:50 | |
Shoot yourself a glance in the chrome in the day-room | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
Don't hang about You're running out of space, son | 0:02:53 | 0:02:55 | |
Red light, stop sign Bellyful of road rage | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
Ticket from the fuzz if you dawdle in the slow lane | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
Pull up your socks Get out the blocks... VOICE FADES | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
If the pace of life HAS accelerated, one major factor might be | 0:03:03 | 0:03:07 | |
our obsession with keeping up with the speed of technological innovation. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:12 | |
I'm very happy with my new Smartphone... | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
I can communicate however, wherever and whenever I want. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:19 | |
But at other times, I wonder if gadgets make us frantic and anxious. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
What drives our appetite to upgrade to the latest consumer technology? | 0:03:34 | 0:03:39 | |
And how has new technology changed our lives? | 0:03:39 | 0:03:44 | |
West Yorkshire, where I was born and live, was one of the cradles | 0:03:44 | 0:03:49 | |
of the Luddite movement, and back then technology was a dirty word. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
Ironic, then, that without realising it, | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
I've become a bit of a technophile with my sat-nav, Smartphone and laptop. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:04 | |
And inside this little furry, blue pouch... | 0:04:05 | 0:04:09 | |
I keep this little, silver memory stick. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:14 | |
Every word that I've ever written is on that stick, | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
which is pretty extraordinary, and I don't even think I will ever fill it. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
If I'm looking for evidence of upgrading, I needn't look much further than my own home. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:30 | |
Dumped in a drawer on the landing are my past purchases. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
I suppose you could say that this drawer, | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
and several others like it in the house, represent the story of my upgrading thus far. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:49 | |
This is the archaeology of my upgrading. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:54 | |
I don't whether these are trophies, or whether it's a sort of, you know, detritus, or what. | 0:04:54 | 0:05:01 | |
This was my first laptop, which I actually feel quite sentimental about now. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:08 | |
Probably bought this about ten years ago. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
But I was so proud of it and worried about losing it | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
that I used to hide it under the settee every night when I went to bed. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
Sony Walkman, PDA, Palm Tungsten. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:23 | |
This was probably the most useless device I ever bought. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
I was getting rid of a handwritten diary and transferring everything to this - | 0:05:27 | 0:05:32 | |
contacts, appointments, names, addresses, telephone numbers - | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
it was all going to be in here. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
And also you had to learn a whole new Hieroglyphic language | 0:05:36 | 0:05:41 | |
before you could put information into it. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
Who wants to do that, you know at age 40-plus, learn a whole new language, | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
just so they can write, "ten o clock, dentist"? | 0:05:49 | 0:05:52 | |
Excavating this drawer makes me question my attitude to technology. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
Am I destined to carry on upgrading forever? | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
The digital revolution has crept up on us all. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
It's now so common-place, we barely recognise it. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:24 | |
Last year in the UK, we bought a cool 24 million new phones. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:32 | |
It feels like the speed of upgrading is accelerating. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
I've come to the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street, London. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
Despite the credit crunch, in 2008, sales of consumer electronics | 0:06:48 | 0:06:53 | |
across John Lewis's 28 stores were up 3% on 2007. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:58 | |
Across Britain last year, we went on a technology buying spree of epic proportions. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:10 | |
We purchased six million digital cameras, | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
13 million computers and eight million new flat-screen televisions, | 0:07:13 | 0:07:18 | |
and seven million MP3 players... | 0:07:18 | 0:07:21 | |
..which must be music to the ears of retailers like John Lewis. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
I know it's an odd thing to say in a shop, but everything looks very new, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:31 | |
you know, stuff that I haven't seen before. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
How often do the ranges change in all these, you know, various gadgets and things? | 0:07:34 | 0:07:40 | |
Well, it varies slightly from product area to product area. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
I mean, the one that you're standing next to here in computing, this changes four times a year | 0:07:43 | 0:07:48 | |
and it completely changes four times a year. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
-So every three months, everything is changed here. -Yeah, total new range. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
That's probably the most rapid change that we see. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
Areas like televisions and DVD recorders, that type of thing, | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
they normally change once a year but they have what they call a refresh, so pretty much every six months. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:08 | |
'The entire camera range changes twice a year too. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
'It's mind-boggling how often everything is replaced. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
'Within months your new gadget is so... | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
'yesterday? | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
'The living rooms of Britain have been transformed into home-entertainment emporiums, | 0:08:22 | 0:08:28 | |
'with a subwoofer behind every settee.' | 0:08:28 | 0:08:31 | |
And is there one particular product that's driving this whole thing, would you say? | 0:08:31 | 0:08:36 | |
I think, in the last five years, what's absolutely made people get excited about technology | 0:08:36 | 0:08:41 | |
is the TV, because there's been this fundamental shift | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
from the large box in the corner to something much slimmer and sleeker. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
Also people don't seem to be bothered any more, that it's a bit like being sat in the pub, | 0:08:49 | 0:08:54 | |
you know, there's a sort of a 60 inch television there in the room. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:59 | |
Why do you think people buy technology? | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
Is it just need, or is it something else? | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
There is need, so, "The telly broke, I want a new one." | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
But for an awful lot of people it is about what their friends have got, | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
it's perhaps a status, and it's very much become part of our lifestyle. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:17 | |
So you see it in the media, you see it on television yourself, | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
and people start to think, "I must buy into that." | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
'The digital revolution has delivered uncountable gizmos and gadgets into the heart of our lives. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:32 | |
'And to some they bring status and credibility, implying as they do success, knowledge and power.' | 0:09:32 | 0:09:39 | |
When you're in this kind of Aladdin's cave of technology | 0:09:41 | 0:09:46 | |
it's almost impossible not be seduced into the idea of wanting something. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:51 | |
And I don't think it's just because everything is so shiny and sleek and slim-line and lightweight, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:58 | |
it's the fact that it's all working and it all looks so neat and tidy | 0:09:58 | 0:10:03 | |
and you think, "Actually my life could do with a bit of tidiness. If I get that thing there, | 0:10:03 | 0:10:10 | |
"it's going to sort everything out, bring everything into focus, put everything in its right place." | 0:10:10 | 0:10:15 | |
It does make you want to... does make you want to purchase. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:20 | |
Looking around, upgrade culture seems to cross all boundaries of class, age and ethnicity. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:34 | |
Perhaps it's been fuelled by the wealth that this country has enjoyed in recent years. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:39 | |
When I was young, money was much tighter and there was far less choice. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:45 | |
I'm going to meet some schoolchildren to discover just how much of this stuff today's kids have got, | 0:10:49 | 0:10:56 | |
at a school I know well from my visits as a poet. | 0:10:56 | 0:10:59 | |
My first gadget was a radio in the shape of an electric shaver. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:03 | |
How hilarious is that?! | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
It only played Radio One. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
In fact, it only seemed to play Grandad by Clive Dunn! | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
OK, guys, if you could just pop your stuff... Just take it off the desk for the time being. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:19 | |
If you just clear the desks, thanks. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
If you've brought a gadget or an electronic device with you today, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:30 | |
can you just get them out and put them on the table? | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
'I'm gob-smacked by the amount of stuff the children have brought in today to show me. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:48 | |
'Holland Park School is a diverse inner-city comprehensive | 0:11:50 | 0:11:54 | |
'and the pupils here come from every social background.' | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
-Is that a special cover for that? -Yeah. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
Oh, that's pretty cool. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
-You can put music on it. -Can you watch videos on it as well? | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
'These kids are 11 and 12, but a remarkable 49 out of 50 own a mobile phone. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:11 | |
'Only a handful don't have the latest MP3 player or games console. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:19 | |
'And every child here owns a digital camera. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:23 | |
'You can't help thinking that gadgets are actually part of their identities.' | 0:12:23 | 0:12:27 | |
Is it cool to be the same as everybody else or is it cool to be different? | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
Could you be really cool by NOT having a phone? | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
If you have a phone, it's cooler than not having a phone, | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
but it's also cool to have a different phone to your friends. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
People like to compare their phones, for just like early on. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
Me and Dan were just comparing our phones, comparing the different features | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
on our phones, such as the camera, the games, the downloading off the internet, and things like that. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
What is the ultimate gadget? What is the best gadget to have? | 0:12:53 | 0:12:58 | |
-The iPhone. -iPhone. -Yeah. -It's cool, it does everything. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
-So even though nobody here's got an iPhone, you've all heard of it? -Yeah. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:08 | |
You all know what one is and you all desire one? | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
-Yeah. -I don't think I really need one at this stage in life. -Maybe you're in denial about it, | 0:13:11 | 0:13:16 | |
secretly it's the thing that you desire more than anything? | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
Um, not really. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
'Toys have long been status symbols for kids. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:29 | |
'But for this generation, there seems to be a good deal | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
'of social pressure on them and their parents to acquire the latest gadgets and be part of the gang.' | 0:13:31 | 0:13:37 | |
It's also really interesting to see what a social tool they are. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:45 | |
Gadgets are often thought of as things that isolate people, | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
but watching them together here, it seems to me that they're often devices for bringing people together. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:56 | |
'I thought it would be fun to see how many of them could recognise a portable music device from MY youth.' | 0:13:59 | 0:14:05 | |
Has anybody got one of these? | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
No. What is it? | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
-What do you think it is? -A box. -I think it's a computer. -Do you think it's a computer? | 0:14:10 | 0:14:15 | |
I think it's one of the first computers ever made, | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
inside the box. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:19 | |
It looks like it could be some big, chunky laptop, in its case. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:24 | |
I think it's a radio and it might be like you can sit in it while listening to music. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
THEY LAUGH Very comfy! What do you think it is? | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
It's a music thing, one of the those old fashioned things. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
-A gramophone. -Yeah. -Yeah. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
Madonna! | 0:14:41 | 0:14:42 | |
You press a button and this comes up. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:46 | |
-This thing moves, then it takes it, and then it plays it. -Wow! | 0:14:46 | 0:14:51 | |
-Whoa! -Put it right at the edge. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:55 | |
No, don't do it too hard. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
RECORD SCRATCHES | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
MUSIC STARTS | 0:15:05 | 0:15:06 | |
'Music, and how to access and listen to it, has been | 0:15:13 | 0:15:17 | |
'one of the biggest drivers of upgrade culture for today's generation. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
'For me, music has always been a kind of fuel that powers your daydreams.' | 0:15:21 | 0:15:27 | |
I'm from that generation that got a wonky spine from carrying vinyl around. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:39 | |
I was in my mid-teens when bands like Blondie were making their noise. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
I caught the tail end of punk, and all my spare money went on records. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:48 | |
After vinyl, it was the cassette, | 0:15:50 | 0:15:52 | |
and the Sony Walkman - nothing short of a revolution. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
Suddenly you could go anywhere with music. | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
Then it was CD, minidisc, and finally the digital MP3 player, | 0:16:05 | 0:16:10 | |
dominated by one particular brand. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
# This is ground control to Major Tom... # | 0:16:15 | 0:16:20 | |
The iPod was a quantum leap in listening to music. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
Suddenly you could have 10,000 songs on this little device. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
The comparison used to be with a cigarette packet that you could just drop in your top pocket. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
But I used to think of it as like a little block of Kendal Mint Cake | 0:16:30 | 0:16:34 | |
sat there, and with these headphones it was like music playing directly into your thoughts, | 0:16:34 | 0:16:39 | |
it was music being mainlined straight into your imagination. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:45 | |
The Classic iPod will always be white. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
'Tom Dunmore is a gadget guru | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
'and the editor of lads' gadget magazine, Stuff. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:02 | |
'Stuff has dotted every "i" in the iPod story. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:07 | |
'It's gadget porn for those who lust and desire.' | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
Can we talk about what I think of as the stuff of Stuff? | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
Do you remember seeing your first ever iPod? | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
I remember it really clearly actually | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
because I went to the Macworld Exhibition in London. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
It was the first day it was on sale. It had already been out in America, | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
but not for very long. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
Well, I think I've got one of the first ones here, and... | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
back then, when it started - this is actually a second generation one - | 0:17:33 | 0:17:38 | |
but the first one that came out, it looked exactly the same, but this wheel here was actually mechanical | 0:17:38 | 0:17:43 | |
so it moved with your finger. And I actually really miss that | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
because there's a kind of really nice analogue feel to quite a digital device. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:52 | |
When this notion of the iPod came along I was really excited about it. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:55 | |
I said to my wife, "I want one of those," and she said, "I'll get you one for Christmas." | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
And I still use the one that I got all those years ago, so I guess this is kind of an original, isn't it? | 0:17:59 | 0:18:05 | |
-Yeah that's a third generation iPod. -Third generation? | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
That's third generation, yeah. So that came after this one. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
'Tom walked me through the whole evolution of the iPod upgrades. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
'They've come thinner and faster. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
'Six generations of the iPod Classic since 2001, | 0:18:19 | 0:18:23 | |
'each smaller, with a bigger memory or more features. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
'Of course, there are other MP3 players. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:30 | |
'Brands like Sony, Creative or Philips. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
'But for me, it's the iPod that is synonymous with upgrading.' | 0:18:32 | 0:18:37 | |
Is it fair to say that we've been living through a revolution, a digital revolution? | 0:18:37 | 0:18:43 | |
Absolutely. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
I mean, it's not only been a digital revolution, it's gone hand in hand with a design revolution | 0:18:45 | 0:18:51 | |
and I think the two are really interlinked. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:55 | |
With the iPod, Apple upped the design stakes and brought a new simplicity to music players. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:09 | |
Going digital freed the industry to play with the look and feel of devices. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:15 | |
But it's not just the thirty-something male readers of Stuff magazine | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
who have bought the latest iPods. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
Women, kids, even old fogey dads like me have sported the famous white earphone. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:29 | |
While Apple were the established cool outsider brand, | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
I wonder if the iPod's success was also down to its advertising. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:43 | |
'Robin Wight is a leading ad man who spent years researching advertising psychology.' | 0:19:43 | 0:19:49 | |
Robin, when I think of iPod advertising, this is the advert I think of. The silhouette campaign. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:56 | |
Why was this so important? | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
These are brilliant. First of all, you got this signalling of the white wire. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:04 | |
A big part of this young people's market | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
is you're trying to signal your success... | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
about, basically, genetic fitness. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
Through having an iPod they are saying, "I am good breeding stock." | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
You are exactly doing that. At an unconscious level and sometimes | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
at a conscious level you are saying that you can afford this... display activity | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
and you're actually signalling peacock-tail behaviour and signalling genetic fitness. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:29 | |
It is the mating game. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
How big do you think my iPod is? | 0:20:31 | 0:20:33 | |
Your iPod? I am sure you have the very latest one. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
A small one may be more status than a big one, at least in iPods. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:42 | |
Is it is crude as "I want to be that person?" | 0:20:42 | 0:20:46 | |
One of the points is you don't see who the person is so you could be that person. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:51 | |
You can identify with it. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:52 | |
It's concept of the incomplete proposition. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
It's called the Zygonic Effect. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:56 | |
If you have something that's incomplete, you complete the circle, which your brain will do, | 0:20:56 | 0:21:01 | |
it's more engaging. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
In your opinion, with an upgraded product, is that product a response to our need for an upgraded product | 0:21:03 | 0:21:11 | |
-or is it simply the company's need to keep on selling these things? -Well, it's a mixture of the two. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:18 | |
The company's need to keep selling things wouldn't work if there wasn't this underlying need. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:23 | |
People need, for the function and signalling power, the upgrades. It drives human progress. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:28 | |
You should be happy. If humans didn't want to upgrade, | 0:21:28 | 0:21:32 | |
we'd probably still be in the Middle Ages. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
Apple and clever advertising psychology certainly helped grab music out of the Middle Ages. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:47 | |
But it's interesting today the biggest global player | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
in consumer electronics is not in the United States, or even in Japan. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:55 | |
They're here, in South Korea, | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
at the cutting edge of the digital revolution. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
I've just peeled myself out of the aeroplane after a ten-hour flight. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
The sun's coming up on a new country for me. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:17 | |
It's very exciting. And I'm heading to Gadget HQ, in Gadget City, in Gadget Country. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:25 | |
So I feel as if I'm right in the epicentre | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
of the technological revolution, and it's exciting. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:33 | |
South Korea is one of the world's most advanced digital societies. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:42 | |
The capital city Seoul is home to Samsung, | 0:22:42 | 0:22:46 | |
today the world's largest consumer electronics company. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:49 | |
Their global sales have overtaken Sony's, and competitors like Toshiba and Panasonic. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:56 | |
This is Samsung's swanky new headquarters. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
The company make an extraordinary diverse range of gadgets, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:05 | |
with products for every conceivable - | 0:23:05 | 0:23:07 | |
and some inconceivable - occasions. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
In 2007, their global consumer electronics sales reached a staggering 105 billion. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:24 | |
Inside the HQ is Samsung D'light, | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
a glistening multimedia display promoting the creative philosophy of the company. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:35 | |
My guide is Seon Mi Jin. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
Watch your step. Samsung D'light has three floors, | 0:23:38 | 0:23:44 | |
and now we are going to the first floor. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
On the first floor, there are three kinds of genre - | 0:23:47 | 0:23:50 | |
image, text and sound. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:52 | |
Image, text and sound. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
And it's also the kinds of marketing, and... | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
'The atmosphere is post-postmodern, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
'but one you can touch and play with!' | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
An other-worldly high-tech palace of the senses. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
What have we got here? | 0:24:08 | 0:24:10 | |
Oh, yes, er, now you see our MP3 player. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:15 | |
-Oh, they're MP3 players, are they? -Yeah. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
-Right. It looks very light. -Yes. Would you like to pick up? | 0:24:18 | 0:24:22 | |
-Oh, yes. -It's really light. -It weighs nothing, does it? | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
So it's a sort of pebble-shaped iPod type thing? | 0:24:25 | 0:24:30 | |
Ah, yes, that could be. Yes. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:32 | |
Why would Samsung design something in the shape of a pebble? | 0:24:32 | 0:24:37 | |
It's designed like a pebble because it is easy to grip | 0:24:37 | 0:24:42 | |
and easy to hold, | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
and really a small one, yeah. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
-But it's sort of beautiful as well, isn't it? -Yes, yes. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:50 | |
Is that the idea, to appeal to people's sense of beauty? | 0:24:50 | 0:24:54 | |
Sure, yeah, so it's really popular for young people, especially, | 0:24:54 | 0:25:00 | |
and we also have a pebble design for DVD players. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
Because a lot of the original gadgets were quite ugly, weren't they, but they, but they were useful. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:11 | |
But it seems now almost as if they're becoming jewellery, an ornament. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:17 | |
Ah, yeah, yeah. It could be also one idea with these MP3 players. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:23 | |
Yeah. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:24 | |
Walking around the exhibition is a calm and inviting experience. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:30 | |
It's design that wants us to engage and be at one with it. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:34 | |
Samsung's business is to create the products of tomorrow and to anticipate our desires. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:40 | |
Everything is lightweight and pleasing to the eye. | 0:25:40 | 0:25:44 | |
What's very clear, looking at these products, is that function is no longer a primary concern. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:52 | |
We all know that these things work. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
It's about fashion now, it's about design, it's about decoration, it's about beauty. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:59 | |
Who knows - it could even be about art. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
'Six floors above the showroom, Samsung's mobile phone design team | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
'are brainstorming next season's phones. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:16 | |
'Each year they're responsible for designing dozens of new models.' | 0:26:16 | 0:26:20 | |
'Surprisingly, they use literary notions to inspire their discussion with enigmatic team leader Eliot. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:43 | |
'Ideas like stories, emotion and identity.' | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
'The biggest trend in consumer electronics is convergence, | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
'gadgets that can do a multitude of things. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
'The team's latest design is an upmarket touch-screen phone | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
'combined with camera, MP3 player and internet access.' | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
Actually designing something is like a journey | 0:27:12 | 0:27:17 | |
for finding kind of...a new story, | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
new kind of emotions for the people. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:23 | |
So they wanna express their lifestyle with this, you know, | 0:27:23 | 0:27:27 | |
very stylish phone, especially the back. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
The back side is more important, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
you know, it's getting more important these days. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:35 | |
So, through the back of the phone, because that's projecting towards other people, | 0:27:35 | 0:27:41 | |
-you're signalling to other people what sort of person you are? -That's right. That's right. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
-And what sort of person would -I -be if I had this phone? | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
Would I be cool? Smart? | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
-Both, I think. -Sexy? | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
-Absolutely. -And next year will there be a better phone than this? | 0:27:55 | 0:28:00 | |
Absolutely. Because, er, design trend is changing and people's emotion is also changing. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:08 | |
Does Korea have a huge appetite for new phones? | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
It's kind of test bed for new design, new technologies. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:16 | |
So, every time we introduce the new phones, people really like that. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:22 | |
Sometimes having...old phone here, it's kind of very strange. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
ELECTRONIC PIANO PLAYS | 0:28:31 | 0:28:33 | |
On the 11th floor live Samsung's ring-tone team. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:42 | |
It might not be Mozart, but these little ditties | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 | |
are the Pavlovian noises that send us scurrying to our phones. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:57 | |
HIP-HOP BEAT | 0:28:57 | 0:28:59 | |
As if our devices speak to us using a language we all understand - | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
music. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
BEEPING TUNE PLAYS | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
Across Seoul, I was then shown a vision of what Samsung think our domestic lives might become. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:21 | |
-Hello. -Hello, nice to meet you. -Hi. | 0:29:21 | 0:29:24 | |
This is Future House. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:26 | |
We're joined here by Microsoft and Samsung Engineering And Construction to exhibit the house of the future. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:32 | |
So today I will be the owner of this house that I would like to introduce to you. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
Please to be seated on the couch. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:40 | |
This is the living room and this cellphone is a key that's used to control my house, | 0:29:40 | 0:29:46 | |
and I can show you very briefly now. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
And even I can check that where is my family inside this living room. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:57 | |
PHONE BLEEPS | 0:29:57 | 0:29:58 | |
When I'm wondering about the location of my little boy, | 0:29:58 | 0:30:02 | |
I can click the little boy pictures. | 0:30:02 | 0:30:06 | |
And this is a kind of GPS system so in the future every family member | 0:30:06 | 0:30:11 | |
have a chip. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:13 | |
Do you like this system? | 0:30:13 | 0:30:15 | |
Yeah the system's great. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:17 | |
-Thank you very much. -So every member of the family has a chip? | 0:30:17 | 0:30:21 | |
-Yes. -On them? In them? | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
Ah yes, both of them is possible | 0:30:23 | 0:30:25 | |
and I think in the future every family member have | 0:30:25 | 0:30:30 | |
chip-like bracelet, or necklace or cellphone is possible. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:34 | |
OK. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:37 | |
'I can understand the thinking here, | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
'but I'm not convinced this surveillance future is one I want to live in | 0:30:42 | 0:30:47 | |
'or find these huge multi-media gizmos in my living room.' | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
-Is this the bathroom? -Yes. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
'But what about the bathroom of the future? | 0:30:53 | 0:30:56 | |
'A bathroom's a bathroom, right?' | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
This is a biotron, | 0:30:58 | 0:30:59 | |
and actually you can check your health condition with this little check machine. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:05 | |
-So would you like to try it? -Yeah. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:07 | |
Yes, come over here and put your hand on the machine. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:11 | |
Put your both hands on. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
Now start your health condition. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
-MACHINE SPEAKS: -'Checking your health condition.' | 0:31:16 | 0:31:20 | |
And you can see the diagnosis via a magic mirror. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
'Health check is done'. | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
Now it's done, Simon. | 0:31:25 | 0:31:27 | |
-How was I? -You will see the result via magic mirror. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:32 | |
-Oh, Simon, congratulations you have great condition. -My body is my temple. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:38 | |
-It's a good diet. -Yes. And also they are recommending a programme for you Simon. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:43 | |
What did it check? Did it check my pulse, my heart rate? | 0:31:43 | 0:31:47 | |
Yes, in the future you can check health condition in this house and without going to hospital. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:54 | |
-Have you ever exercised in yoga? -No, do I have to do that now? | 0:31:54 | 0:31:59 | |
So just remember you can exercise very easily. Very good. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:05 | |
'Straighten yourself, with your palms on your waist'. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:09 | |
This is called the house of the future. | 0:32:09 | 0:32:12 | |
How far into the future will it be before we've got all these gadgets? | 0:32:12 | 0:32:17 | |
-Actually now it's not available but we try to actualise in about ten years. -Ten years? -Yes. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:23 | |
-Can you do that? -I think so. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:27 | |
# Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars | 0:32:39 | 0:32:46 | |
# Let me know what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars... # | 0:32:46 | 0:32:52 | |
'Sitting in the bedroom of the future, | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
'you realise that the future is - how shall we put it? - | 0:32:55 | 0:32:59 | |
'A question of personal taste. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:02 | |
'And that certain visions of the future can even seem, | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
'well, old fashioned.' | 0:33:05 | 0:33:09 | |
'I'm struck by a comment from Elliot, the mobile phone designer, about how Koreans are a nation of up-graders.' | 0:33:14 | 0:33:21 | |
'And the country is a test-bed for Samsung's new products. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
'In Seoul everywhere you go you see people with the latest gadgets. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:30 | |
'It's hyper real and hyper active. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
'They've got Wi-Fi and digital TV reception across Korea | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
'even on the underground. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:40 | |
'You could be standing inches away from somebody | 0:33:40 | 0:33:43 | |
'totally absorbed in what they're doing - watching telly, listening to music. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:49 | |
'But for some reason in this country, it doesn't appear rude. It just seems to be the norm.' | 0:33:49 | 0:33:55 | |
'It's odd to witness so many people in their own private universes. | 0:34:00 | 0:34:05 | |
'Are they stimulated, or insulated against the world? | 0:34:05 | 0:34:10 | |
'Even in public places, you sometimes get the feeling that you're on your own.' | 0:34:10 | 0:34:15 | |
'Koreans love their video games. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:25 | |
'Throughout the country you'll find PC-Bhangs, | 0:34:25 | 0:34:29 | |
'places where young men are engrossed in game-playing for hours on end. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:35 | |
'It seems alien to me. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:37 | |
'The last video game I played was Space Invaders in a pub in 1985.' | 0:34:37 | 0:34:42 | |
'Gaming's so much part of the culture here they have professional leagues | 0:34:47 | 0:34:52 | |
'and games are even screened on TV! | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
'How did Korea became this advanced digital society? | 0:34:57 | 0:35:01 | |
'I met up with Korean culture writer Bernard Cho.' | 0:35:01 | 0:35:06 | |
What is it about Korea? Is there something in the psyche | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
that naturally leads to gadgets and electronic devices? | 0:35:09 | 0:35:14 | |
Well, I think if you look at modern Korean history, Korea has developed so quickly, economically, | 0:35:14 | 0:35:21 | |
politically, and more importantly from a technology standpoint. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:26 | |
Towards the late 90s the Korean Government invested heavily into the internet, into technology, | 0:35:26 | 0:35:33 | |
and you saw a huge take off in terms of Korean brands developing | 0:35:33 | 0:35:37 | |
instead of imitative, very innovative products | 0:35:37 | 0:35:40 | |
you saw the whole Korean online digital society really take off, so if a new trend's gonna break | 0:35:40 | 0:35:46 | |
with an advanced wired and wireless society as Korea, | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
I mean, it's gonna spread instantly. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
'Samsung have come to epitomise the development of Korea. | 0:35:56 | 0:36:00 | |
'Once seen as followers of Japan and the West, | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
'they're now one of the trendsetters. They've taken their products upmarket | 0:36:03 | 0:36:09 | |
'and the company's reputation appears to be source of national pride here. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:15 | |
'But when it's minus seven in the middle of Seoul's busiest street, | 0:36:15 | 0:36:20 | |
'it's a bit of a reality check.' | 0:36:20 | 0:36:23 | |
'And even the finest virtual reality gadget in the world can't stop it feeling unbelievably cold.' | 0:36:23 | 0:36:30 | |
I'm on way to Suwon, about 25 miles outside Seoul. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
I'm going to Samsung's Research and Development headquarters. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
'I'm curious about how Samsung have achieved their success. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:58 | |
'This kind of global triumph doesn't happen by accident, so what's the secret? | 0:37:00 | 0:37:05 | |
'At the Suwon research complex, | 0:37:07 | 0:37:10 | |
'26,000 scientists and company executives are developing tomorrow's technologies. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:17 | |
'Through R&D, last year Samsung were one of the largest holders | 0:37:17 | 0:37:22 | |
'of new technology patents registered in the US. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:26 | |
'At Suwon, they also house the whole history of the company and generations of its upgrades.' | 0:37:26 | 0:37:33 | |
-When were you originally based here? The sixties? -Yeah, sixties. It's a long time ago. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:42 | |
Is there one innovation above all others that's led to this technological revolution? | 0:37:42 | 0:37:48 | |
Yes, and I believe one of the most important and a key | 0:37:48 | 0:37:53 | |
component to success is our chip business. | 0:37:53 | 0:37:55 | |
Samsung is one of the most advanced technology company | 0:37:55 | 0:37:59 | |
in developing and commercialise the semi-conductor chips. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
That technology is really a core and the centre of | 0:38:03 | 0:38:07 | |
all the development and commercial gadgets. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
You could say that the semi-conducted chip is at the heart of the revolution | 0:38:10 | 0:38:15 | |
-and is almost like the beating heart of the device as well? -I believe so. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:20 | |
Because without that chip, technologies, we couldn't develop | 0:38:20 | 0:38:25 | |
in a very fancy and a very high technologies, gadgets like LCD TV and cell phones. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:32 | |
'For Samsung, it's their investment in R&D, particularly nano-technology, | 0:38:35 | 0:38:40 | |
'that they believe is the key to their success. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:44 | |
'It's nano-technology that is also the driving force behind the upgrade. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:50 | |
'In the electronics industry it's called Moore's law. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:55 | |
'Across the industry, the number of transistors manufacturers have been able to fit on a silicon chip | 0:38:55 | 0:39:02 | |
'has literally doubled every two years since the early late 1960s. | 0:39:02 | 0:39:06 | |
'It helps explain how gadgets have become smaller and cheaper, | 0:39:06 | 0:39:10 | |
'with exponential increases in processing power.' | 0:39:10 | 0:39:14 | |
If you were to close your eyes and dream, | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
what does the future hold for the device, for the gadget? | 0:39:18 | 0:39:23 | |
What kind of gadget can you imagine in five years, in ten years? | 0:39:23 | 0:39:28 | |
That is also one of the very critical questions | 0:39:28 | 0:39:33 | |
that all the electronic companies are facing. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:36 | |
You know, we believe one of the gadgets will prevail over other gadgets. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:42 | |
It should be a cell phone, should be TV, should be computer. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
I don't know, but we believe the market will decide. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:50 | |
But one thing I can be sure is, you know the convergence era will continue. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:55 | |
'Before leaving, I thought I'd take advantage of the Wi-Fi signal here, | 0:40:01 | 0:40:07 | |
'and try Skyping home for the first time.' | 0:40:07 | 0:40:11 | |
Hello. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:13 | |
-'Hello. Hello.' -You all right? | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
'Yes. How are you?' | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
-All right. It works. -'It certainly does. It's pretty amazing. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
'Shall I wave? Hello!' | 0:40:23 | 0:40:25 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:40:25 | 0:40:27 | |
'Yeah, I think it's great.' | 0:40:27 | 0:40:31 | |
It's an interesting place. It's gadget crazy. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:35 | |
I don't know what this country would do if they had a power cut! | 0:40:35 | 0:40:39 | |
'Not much gadget action at this end!' | 0:40:39 | 0:40:42 | |
I have a very important question to ask you. Do you know how United went on last night? | 0:40:42 | 0:40:49 | |
'No! Would I know how United went on last night, Simon? Sorry I don't.' | 0:40:49 | 0:40:55 | |
You couldn't just flick Ceefax on for me, could you? | 0:40:55 | 0:40:59 | |
It seems a weird, given that I've only just got here, but I'll be back tomorrow. | 0:40:59 | 0:41:04 | |
'I know, that's pretty strange as well. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:08 | |
'But that's absolutely amazing, absolutely incredible to do that, | 0:41:08 | 0:41:13 | |
'and we should be doing more of it. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:15 | |
'It's great. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:17 | |
-'Bye.' -Bye. See you tomorrow. Bye. -'Yeah. See you. Bye.' | 0:41:17 | 0:41:21 | |
'For me, the enthusiasm with which Korea has embraced technology is the biggest eye-opener. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:37 | |
'For Koreans, technology is the unquestioned road to prosperity and enlightenment. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:43 | |
'Back in Yorkshire the contrast with Seoul couldn't be starker. Apart from the snow, obviously. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:54 | |
'So, my body's back on the day job but my thoughts are still in Asia. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:04 | |
'In 30 years, Korea has been transformed beyond all recognition. | 0:42:04 | 0:42:08 | |
'It's wired to the digital future | 0:42:08 | 0:42:11 | |
'and is years ahead of us in its connectivity. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:16 | |
'What's happened in Britain in the same period? | 0:42:16 | 0:42:19 | |
'The way our pasts shape our lives is a subject I return to again and again as a poet. | 0:42:19 | 0:42:25 | |
'Growing up in the seventies, life was rather different. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:29 | |
'There were no mobile phones or personal stereos back then. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:33 | |
'What did we do all the time? How did we survive?' | 0:42:33 | 0:42:37 | |
This is my parents' living room, | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
and I used to spend a lot of time in this room, | 0:42:41 | 0:42:46 | |
and it was a big deal if anything ever changed. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:49 | |
You got a new telly or new phone or new record player. | 0:42:49 | 0:42:53 | |
It was a big deal, because that's how it was then. You got things and you kept them. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:59 | |
'Back then, objects had sentimental value. They were imbued with memories. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:04 | |
'I wonder if this is lost with the speed of upgrading? | 0:43:04 | 0:43:09 | |
'Objects were once landmarks and anchors for our pasts. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:14 | |
'This is an old laptop of mine. My mum uses it now. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:18 | |
'Today we've barely got to know an object before it's being replaced.' | 0:43:18 | 0:43:23 | |
'But I'm not saying we should keep living in the past. | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
'Back in the nineteenth century the Luddites attempted to halt | 0:43:29 | 0:43:34 | |
'the march of technology and people lost their lives. | 0:43:34 | 0:43:38 | |
'Here in Marsden you don't have to look too far to find evidence of that conflict.' | 0:43:38 | 0:43:43 | |
This is the grave of Enoch Taylor who had a foundry in the village. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:48 | |
He made cropping devices that did the work of ten men. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:51 | |
The Luddites smashed it up with a hammer they called Enoch and said, | 0:43:51 | 0:43:55 | |
"Enoch shall make em and Enoch shall break em." | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
So this is the confluence point of technology and anti technology, right here on my doorstep. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:06 | |
'These days there really aren't many people who actively reject technology. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:24 | |
'Even the greenest of the greens usually have a website. | 0:44:24 | 0:44:28 | |
'To find someone who had taken a stand led me here to Pembrokeshire. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:35 | |
'For the past decade, Emma Orbach has lived here without any of today's techno trappings.' | 0:44:35 | 0:44:41 | |
-Hello. -Hiya. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:47 | |
Hello. Hiya. Simon. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
-I'm Emma. -Pleased to meet you. Hiya. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
-Good. Do you want to come in? -Shall I slip my shoes off? -Yeah, if you don't mind. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:57 | |
I don't suppose there could be that many people in Britain who would want to live like this, do you think? | 0:45:03 | 0:45:10 | |
Yes, sometimes I've thought about... | 0:45:10 | 0:45:14 | |
If I was discovered living like this there could be shock horror headlines. | 0:45:14 | 0:45:20 | |
"Middle-aged woman found in hovel in woods without electricity or water." | 0:45:20 | 0:45:24 | |
And so what is the difference between that scenario and how I experience living here? | 0:45:24 | 0:45:29 | |
And the difference is that I CHOOSE to live like this and that, for me, it's beautiful. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:34 | |
I'm not a victim of a circumstance that I would wish to be otherwise. | 0:45:34 | 0:45:38 | |
So to own a gadget would not make you any happier? | 0:45:38 | 0:45:42 | |
No, it makes me a bit depressed. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:45 | |
-Does it? -Yes. -Why? | 0:45:45 | 0:45:46 | |
Because they always break down and they make a noise and they end up as landfill | 0:45:46 | 0:45:54 | |
and they're just part of the consumer nightmare. | 0:45:54 | 0:45:57 | |
It must be great to just get up in the morning and be out here in the land. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:04 | |
Yes, it is really beautiful, | 0:46:04 | 0:46:07 | |
'Emma has lived without a washing machine for 30 years. | 0:46:07 | 0:46:11 | |
'She's got no TV, no microwave, no radio even. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:15 | |
'Her one concession to communication - | 0:46:15 | 0:46:18 | |
'a landline two fields away. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:21 | |
'It's low-impact living, in extremis. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:25 | |
'Yet in spite of the absence of mod cons, Emma doesn't seem to want for anything.' | 0:46:27 | 0:46:31 | |
-So beautiful. -Do they come out with their spikes... | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
No, when they're born, they're little pink rubbery things. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:38 | |
Have you renounced technology? | 0:46:38 | 0:46:40 | |
That's a really interesting question for me | 0:46:42 | 0:46:45 | |
and I've started to feel that I'm a conscientious objector really. | 0:46:45 | 0:46:51 | |
And, for me, I am not convinced that technology and gadgets, | 0:46:51 | 0:46:57 | |
add to the quality of my life - in fact, I think they detract from it. | 0:46:57 | 0:47:01 | |
What would constitute an upgrade in your world? | 0:47:01 | 0:47:04 | |
I can't think of anything, | 0:47:04 | 0:47:07 | |
apart from, yes, I do have an ambition to upgrade my trivet, | 0:47:07 | 0:47:13 | |
so that for my visitors... don't have wooden handles, | 0:47:13 | 0:47:17 | |
and that's quite a sophisticated sort of bit of innovative modern technology for me, yeah. | 0:47:17 | 0:47:24 | |
I wonder where you'd go to update your trivet? | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
Oh, I'd just get somebody to do it for me. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:29 | |
-Trivets R Us? -There's somebody who makes them locally. | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
On the face of it, a life like this seems quite seductive almost, | 0:47:33 | 0:47:39 | |
especially on a sunny day, | 0:47:39 | 0:47:40 | |
and I think I could live without TV, and I could probably live without a washing machine | 0:47:40 | 0:47:45 | |
and a microwave and that kind of thing. | 0:47:45 | 0:47:47 | |
But I would find it very difficult to be out of contact for so long, | 0:47:47 | 0:47:53 | |
and so giving up the email and giving up the phone, I think, I would find impossible, | 0:47:53 | 0:47:58 | |
even now with my phone in my pocket I'm wondering which calls I might have missed. | 0:47:58 | 0:48:04 | |
So I'm going to go and check. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
'Back in the blur of central London, Pembrokeshire feels like a distant era. My phone's back on. | 0:48:15 | 0:48:21 | |
'So I'm happy, right?' | 0:48:21 | 0:48:23 | |
Hi Catherine, hi. Where are you? | 0:48:24 | 0:48:27 | |
Yeah, I will, I'm in the station now. I'll see you in five minutes. OK, bye. | 0:48:27 | 0:48:33 | |
'To find out if gadgets really do make us happy, I've come to St Pancras Station | 0:48:35 | 0:48:39 | |
'to meet a consumer psychologist.' | 0:48:39 | 0:48:42 | |
We know that upgrade culture has been accelerating through the years. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:48 | |
What effect would you say that was having on us as people? | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
I would say it has a detrimental effect. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:53 | |
We're not aware of how it actually impacts on us | 0:48:53 | 0:48:57 | |
because we are on a hedonic treadmill of consumption | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
if you like, whereby we tend | 0:49:01 | 0:49:03 | |
to purchase more and more and more products, especially gadgets. | 0:49:03 | 0:49:06 | |
And unfortunately people have a subconscious belief | 0:49:06 | 0:49:10 | |
that it will make them happier and it doesn't. | 0:49:10 | 0:49:12 | |
Because we believe it's going to make us happier we keep purchasing the next product | 0:49:12 | 0:49:17 | |
in the hope that it's going to fulfil some psychological need. | 0:49:17 | 0:49:20 | |
But what about the specifications and the functionality? | 0:49:20 | 0:49:24 | |
You know, for example, on my phone now I can get email | 0:49:24 | 0:49:27 | |
and I couldn't do that before and that makes me, I think, happy. Am I just deluded? | 0:49:27 | 0:49:31 | |
It might be practical. No, I wouldn't say you're deluded, | 0:49:31 | 0:49:34 | |
but most of the time people don't make use | 0:49:34 | 0:49:37 | |
of all the kind of functions that a gadget actually has. | 0:49:37 | 0:49:40 | |
Salman Rushdie once said this thing that we've all got a God-shaped hole inside of us, | 0:49:40 | 0:49:44 | |
but I actually wonder whether this hole inside of us is actually the shape of a laptop or an iPod, | 0:49:44 | 0:49:50 | |
and that we won't be happy until we can stuff all this technology in | 0:49:50 | 0:49:54 | |
and become gods and machines at the same time. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:56 | |
Um, I wouldn't quite put it that way, | 0:49:56 | 0:50:00 | |
but I think what people are trying to seek for in life in general is some sort of happiness | 0:50:00 | 0:50:05 | |
and I think if they believe that these products are the route to happiness then, yes, | 0:50:05 | 0:50:11 | |
they might have to decide to be more fully-integrated with them somehow, | 0:50:11 | 0:50:15 | |
but if you don't have that belief you're probably going to back off | 0:50:15 | 0:50:19 | |
and see the whole thing as a rather nasty idea. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:22 | |
You don't see technology as being the road to paradise anyway, do you? | 0:50:22 | 0:50:26 | |
I don't see any consumption being the route to paradise. | 0:50:26 | 0:50:29 | |
'The road to paradise doesn't always follow the scenic route. | 0:50:36 | 0:50:40 | |
'This is Sweep Electronics Recycling Plant in Kent.' | 0:50:46 | 0:50:50 | |
Will every TV in the land end up somewhere like this? | 0:50:55 | 0:50:58 | |
Yeah, there is well-established legislation around TVs. They are classified as a hazardous waste. | 0:50:58 | 0:51:03 | |
If you wanted any evidence that people are upgrading all the time, this is it. | 0:51:03 | 0:51:07 | |
It's not long since I had a TV like this, | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
it's not like they are 1950s stuff. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:12 | |
Not at all. I recognise my model on occasions, I've actually got a glass telly still at home myself. | 0:51:12 | 0:51:17 | |
The scale of it is overpowering - it's just all these sort of disgorged innards just piling up. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:25 | |
It's not pretty, is it? | 0:51:25 | 0:51:27 | |
No, it's not but you can look at it the other way - it's here being recycled rather going to landfill. | 0:51:27 | 0:51:32 | |
It's scary to see it, but I'd much rather than not see it at all. | 0:51:32 | 0:51:36 | |
'This is a big operation. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:40 | |
'They recycle 3,000 televisions a day here. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:44 | |
'They are disassembled by hand and then the materials are re-used to make new TVs. | 0:51:44 | 0:51:50 | |
'Every day, they also process 40 tonnes of computers, devices and white goods. | 0:51:55 | 0:52:01 | |
'An elephants' graveyard of gadgets and gizmos. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:06 | |
'But what's recycled is only a fraction of what's dumped in landfill.' | 0:52:06 | 0:52:10 | |
It feels insane that even stuff like this that's, I mean, it's only a few years old | 0:52:10 | 0:52:16 | |
and it would have cost thousands of pounds, just chucked in a tip. | 0:52:16 | 0:52:20 | |
It feels like a kind of madness as if, you know, it can't possibly carry on like this. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:26 | |
Well, it's the end of the road for the Palm PDA. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:36 | |
I would be lying if I said that I was sorry to see it go. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:40 | |
And it's going to that place where all Palm PDAs go at the end of their life, | 0:52:40 | 0:52:45 | |
it's Palm PDA heaven it's going to - it's going in the crusher. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:51 | |
'I'm glad the PDA has gone to a sound environmental heaven. | 0:52:58 | 0:53:02 | |
'But will it stop me buying the next, new thing? | 0:53:02 | 0:53:05 | |
'Whether it is frustrating or useful, or simply a beautiful object | 0:53:15 | 0:53:21 | |
'to impress our friends with, we continue to embrace new technology ever closer. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:28 | |
'The economic imperative tends to drive innovation forward. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:33 | |
'The cutting edge of technology is constantly changing | 0:53:33 | 0:53:37 | |
'and the possibilities are extraordinary.' | 0:53:37 | 0:53:40 | |
We get very emotionally attached to our gadgets, | 0:53:40 | 0:53:45 | |
but is there a future where we get physically attached to them as well, | 0:53:45 | 0:53:49 | |
to the point where we might want to upgrade ourselves? | 0:53:49 | 0:53:52 | |
Is there a future where technology is not just at our fingertips but in our fingertips? | 0:53:52 | 0:53:57 | |
Maybe that's the next frontier. | 0:53:57 | 0:54:00 | |
'In the last decade, what was once science fiction has become science fact. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:12 | |
'Computer chips have been implanted in the cochlea to restore hearing to deaf children. | 0:54:12 | 0:54:18 | |
'Researchers are working on chips attached to the retina to restore sight loss. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:23 | |
'Here at Cambridge University's Institute of Biotechnology, | 0:54:27 | 0:54:32 | |
'they're developing sensors to be implanted inside the body to give doctors real-time information | 0:54:32 | 0:54:37 | |
'about proteins and molecules inside the bloodstream.' | 0:54:37 | 0:54:41 | |
Your first work in this field was with chips, wasn't it? | 0:54:46 | 0:54:49 | |
-That's correct. -Are these the kind of chips | 0:54:49 | 0:54:51 | |
-that you were working on? -These are the chips | 0:54:51 | 0:54:54 | |
that we developed a few years ago. | 0:54:54 | 0:54:56 | |
So this chip would be, what, implanted into the body? | 0:54:56 | 0:54:59 | |
This particular chip is exactly that. | 0:54:59 | 0:55:01 | |
We designed this to monitor glucose and to be implanted within the body, | 0:55:01 | 0:55:06 | |
and you can see it's a relatively small size chip | 0:55:06 | 0:55:08 | |
and it would be implanted either in a location like here or perhaps around the midriff. | 0:55:08 | 0:55:13 | |
The problem with this technology is it's actually quite expensive | 0:55:13 | 0:55:16 | |
and that's why we stopped it, | 0:55:16 | 0:55:18 | |
to see whether we could find cheaper alternatives to monitor glucose | 0:55:18 | 0:55:22 | |
and other metabolites in the body with a much simpler system. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:26 | |
'The scientists are developing two types of sensor - | 0:55:27 | 0:55:30 | |
'one using light, and one using sound. | 0:55:30 | 0:55:34 | |
'The light device is a hologram | 0:55:35 | 0:55:38 | |
'produced by lasers that fire onto specially developed polymers. | 0:55:38 | 0:55:42 | |
'The hologram changes colour in response to changes in the blood chemistry. | 0:55:42 | 0:55:48 | |
'With acoustics, a radio signal is sent to the tiny transparent sensor, | 0:55:48 | 0:55:54 | |
'which then sends back the blood information.' | 0:55:54 | 0:55:57 | |
That just looks to me like a contact lens or something. | 0:55:57 | 0:56:01 | |
Yeah, it is actually a quartz disc made out of silica. | 0:56:01 | 0:56:04 | |
And that goes under someone's skin? | 0:56:04 | 0:56:07 | |
-Correct. -And transmits information about what? | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
One of the major applications of this is to monitor glucose in blood of diabetics in real time. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:16 | |
If we can do that and control the blood glucose far more precisely | 0:56:16 | 0:56:20 | |
than you would if you were saying pricking your finger say five or so times a day, | 0:56:20 | 0:56:24 | |
then I think what you'd have is the ability to control the diabetes far better, | 0:56:24 | 0:56:29 | |
and you would not suffer a lot of the consequences of diabetes, | 0:56:29 | 0:56:33 | |
like blindness, for example, and also problems with the kidney. | 0:56:33 | 0:56:38 | |
'For now, this sensor technology remains experimental. | 0:56:38 | 0:56:41 | |
'In the future, the hope is it will improve diagnosis and treatment | 0:56:41 | 0:56:46 | |
'for conditions such as stress, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. | 0:56:46 | 0:56:52 | |
'The sensors could help patients better manage their symptoms.' | 0:56:52 | 0:56:55 | |
Would you describe this kind of technology as sort of an upgrade to the human body? | 0:56:55 | 0:57:01 | |
In the sense that you're not going to suffer from all the side reactions | 0:57:01 | 0:57:05 | |
that you'd normally have, of course it's an upgrade, | 0:57:05 | 0:57:08 | |
but there are other applications of that. We've been looking at some sports applications, | 0:57:08 | 0:57:13 | |
bearing in mind we have the Olympics in 2012, and that the elite athletes are interested in monitoring | 0:57:13 | 0:57:19 | |
their glucose and lactate levels because this determines their performance. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:24 | |
If you could monitor that and have some control over that during training, | 0:57:24 | 0:57:28 | |
you could upgrade their performance. | 0:57:28 | 0:57:30 | |
Does that move then to, you know, being able to measure somebody's state of mind? | 0:57:30 | 0:57:36 | |
In terms of measuring their state of mind, | 0:57:36 | 0:57:38 | |
it depends on, can we find something to measure which would be an indicator of their state of mind? | 0:57:38 | 0:57:44 | |
If the answer's yes to that, if we could find a measure of that, | 0:57:44 | 0:57:48 | |
some chemical measure of it, we could in theory do the same thing. | 0:57:48 | 0:57:51 | |
This is a long way into the future, of course. | 0:57:51 | 0:57:54 | |
Technology plays a central role in our imaginations. | 0:58:00 | 0:58:05 | |
But just how close do we want our relationship to become? | 0:58:05 | 0:58:09 | |
We've placed our faith in these bewildering ingenious objects | 0:58:10 | 0:58:14 | |
to the point where we'd be lost and angry without them. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:17 | |
I've got my gadgets, though, and after decades of upgrading they seem perfect to me. | 0:58:20 | 0:58:25 | |
So I can be happy with my lot. | 0:58:25 | 0:58:28 | |
At least, that is, until tomorrow. | 0:58:28 | 0:58:31 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:58:43 | 0:58:46 |