Technology, Tradeoffs, and Freedom as Depicted in Postmodern Fiction

Abstract

IntroductionCalifornians invented the concept of lifestyle. This alone warrants their doom.Character in Don DeLillo's White NoiseIt's a perfect world, isn't it? It's a perfect system, because as long as you've got your six-foot-wide plasma TV, and the electricity to run it, you don't have to think about any of the ugly consequences. You can watch Survivor: Indonesia until there's no more Indonesia!Character in Jonathan Franzen's Freedom[W]hatever remains unsatisfied in them through the order which takes from them without giving in exchange what it promises, only burned with impatience for their gaoler to remember them, and at last offer them stones in his left hand for the hunger from which he withholds bread in his right.Theodor Adorno, Minima MoraliaIn today's world, technological artifacts make it increasingly possible to design one's lifestyle with detail and precision. Mode of transportation, type of residence, entertainment experiences and even physical appearance can be purchased through enactment of highly specific consumer preferences. The result is that the world surrounding a person can be composed of things and appearances chosen specifically by that person. Moreover, this interconnected set of choices works at two levels simultaneously: on the immediate conditions of one's life and on the public policies and initiatives that support and facilitate those conditions. Individual agents do not merely choose the design of their existence by engaging with technology in particular ways; they also demand that the government pursue policies that make their chosen lifestyle possible. They make consumer choices such as the decision to drive a large vehicle (a Humvee, for example) in daily travels. In order for this choice to be available, there must be plentiful and affordable fuel and a social infrastructure designed around individual motorists rather than around mass transit. Of course, subjects can engage in multifaceted negotiations at once, at multiple levels; this can be a reflection of a fragmented experience of self or simply multiple efforts toward the same goal. This negotiation can be overwhelming, for [j]ust as customers of mass society have to be on the scene at once, they cannot leave anything out (Adorno 118). In fact, [t]he abundance of commodities indiscriminately consumed is becoming calamitous (Adorno 118).Consumers choose-they make bargains- when they buy goods. Signing a retail sales agreement to buy, say, a Humvee is the clearest and most obvious form of bargain implicated in the transactional fabric of twenty-first century American society. But it is worth thinking about the other bargains emanating from-or producing -that one. Resource extraction around the world occurs because people demand access to the resources (such as fuel). These demands are encouraged and constructed by the sellers, to be sure, but consumers are choosing nonetheless to purchase goods that come at the price of violence. The sum of individual bargains does not always produce an optimal state for society, as is often supposed.One step removed from the transaction described above (car buyer bargains with seller) is the transaction that the consumer as voter makes with the government. The consumer/voter's support is predicated on the production of laws and policies that enable free choice in general and choice of desired goods in particular. Drill, baby, drill-Sarah Palin's rallying cry for her ticket in the 2008 election-represents this bargain rather clearly. The social contract supporting a modern constitutional democracy is another representation of this bargain: Individuals agree to be bound by laws, to be governed by the majority vote of citizens or their representatives, in exchange for a degree of safety and security. This security may be purchased at the cost of the safety and security of outsiders, but citizens sign on to the contract nonetheless. Simultaneously, then, they act as voter and consumer. …