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• 1 2016-04-15T10:44:46-07:00 Introduction page 26 image_header 270257 2016-04-24T16:53:07-07:00
  World of Tomorrow is a film that is only 16 minutes long; however, Don Hertzfeldt manages to raise some important questions in regards to technology and humanity in such a short time. The world created by Hertzfeldt is one dominated by digital spaces with memories being recorded, clones being made, and consciousnesses transferred into those clones. What are the implications and impacts of such a world? Throughout this Scalar book, we hope to examine humanity in the digital spaces that Hertzfeldt creates and tackle the question of how we preserve humanity in an ever-advancing technological world.
   

  We will begin by exploring how archives function in World of Tomorrow. There are many types of archives with the purpose of preserving some forms of humanity. In many ways, these archives function in similar ways as the archives we have today. In World of Tomorrow, however, memories can be digitized and put on display. We do have the ability to save memories in the same way, but how do these archives serve the humanity in the society of World of Tomorrow?

   

  Following the examination of the archive, we will discuss the different definitions of humanity in the film. World of Tomorrow encompasses an entire world with different levels of humanity from the lower classes to robots on the moon. The main question about humanity in World of Tomorrow is Emily III herself: does she possess humanity? The clones in the world are used to extend life, but does that really count?

   

  Finally, we’ll cover how we can attempt to preserve humanity in our digital spaces. The education should begin with young digital citizens, but our society must make it a priority to maintain our humanity in the digital spaces that are being created all around us. From social media to blogs to YouTube, it is important that we continue to remember that there are humans on either side of the screen. Without this consideration, we run the risk of becoming like Emily III. We risk losing who we really are as people. Our memories do not create who we are. People are more complex than bodies with memories.

   

  This Scalar Book uses the story of World of Tomorrow to discuss and argue for the need to preserve humanity in digital spaces. Without human beings, the digital space would not have been created; however, digital spaces create a distance from one person to another. When we lose sight of the other person within that distance, we risk losing what defines us as humans. We hope to offer some solutions to this problem, but more importantly we hope to raise questions to add to the conversation of humanity in our changing digital spaces.