INTERNA<sub>L</sub> EXPERIENCE THROUGH EXTERNA<sub>L</sub> MEANS
The triumphant narratives about the possibilities of augmentation and rationalization of human experience through information technology are succinctly captured in another piece in Wired magazine, this time expressed as a prediction rather than a mere artistic fantasy from the eminent filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Prefacing an interview with Spielberg is a two-page illustration and an epigram featuring a quote from the interview. The epigram reads, “Someday the entire motion picture will take place inside the mind. It will be the most internal experience anyone can have” (Kennedy 2002). What is striking about this quote is not simply the prediction that someday such a technological feat will be possible, and not even that such development is seen as positive and desirable—as such, it is yet another expression of the fantasy of total immersion of technology and human mind. What is particularly striking here is Spielberg’s use of language, deeming such an experience, should it occur, an “internal experience” (Kennedy 2002, emphasis mine).
Spielberg’s use of the concept of “internal” to refer to such an experience is quite counterintuitive, since the source of the experience—by Spielberg’s own logic—is clearly external to the mind, as the interview and the illustration that accompanies the epigram make clear. In the interview, Spielberg is asked about the future of technology and storytelling. He says in reply, “The technology may give us far better tools to communicate our stories. The technology may also provide a theater of the mind. Someday the entire motion picture may take place inside the mind, and it will be the most internal experience anyone can have: being told a story with your eyes closed, but you see and smell and feel and interact with the story” (Kennedy 2002). Spielberg leaves no room for doubt: the source of what he predicts to be the utmost internal experience—like a dream, perhaps—is external; the mind will feel what the computer projects.
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Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age