Kayla Cooper

• humans continue searching for faster technologies
• speed is linked to temporary happiness
• the desire for speed is part of being human
• speed can lead to fascism
• Both speed and fascism seek to remove difference.
• speed has come to battle boredom
  • Humans look to improved faster technologies to make up for their feelings of restlessness.
• relearning the discipline of slowness is critical
  • Slow Food supports this idea.
• speed will lead humans to a personal, internal crash
• humans need to embrace and learn from their boredom

Evelyn Csiszar

“Speeding to a Standstill” is an interview with Mark Kingwell, constructed by Joe Gelonesi in 2003. The main concept that is being addressed regards society’s obsession with speed and how it develops our existence. An example of this is the constant upgrade of technologies such as computers, where a new model is constantly replaced by an even faster and more efficient model. Mark Kingwell refers to the concept of “velocitisation,” which occurs when people get accustomed to constant upgrades in speed (Pg 74). He compares this idea to the example of “coming off the highway after you’ve been going at 140-kilometres for four or five hours” (Pg 74).

In today’s society, speed is associated with happiness and satisfaction. People become temporarily happy when they experience an increase in speed, but soon this feeling is replaced by unhappiness once again when the “conditions are slower than they could be” (Pg 74). When it comes to completing tasks, the goal is to complete them as fast as possible to be able to move on to the next task which creates an endless circle of overloading oneself with work due to emphasis placed on speed. Speed is very much a stimulus-response reaction where happiness results from exposure to new speeds and dissatisfaction results in the loss of this stimulus (Pg 74). As Mark Kingwell states, “once you have been raised up in the level of ingestion of stimulus it’s very hard to go back down” (Pg 75).

Kingwell argues that the human race has always been moving as fast as possible, but the invention of technologies finally allowed it to satisfy these cravings more realistically. As Joe Gelonesi puts it, it was just “a matter of time for the technology to catch up” (Pg 75). This idea that human race has always been in a hurry branches from the notion that the faster things occur the more successful it tends to be. Unfortunately, technology and its effect on desires cannot be predicted, as technology is used very differently by different people.

Speed can also be considered a very fascist idea, as it holds a “tendency to eliminate anything that doesn’t conform, anything that doesn’t lie along those straight clean lines is considered alien” (Pg 77). Therefore, speed can be a fascist idea simply because it tends to eliminate differences to maximize efficiency.

Speed can also be used to limit boredom. “Speeding to a standstill” is a concept that suggests the notion that we constantly increase our speed to fight boredom (“a desperate attempt to get away from ourselves”), but boredom always ends up coming along for the ride as we quickly get bored of our newly acquired increased speed (Pg 78). This concept is clearly demonstrated in the “dead media project” which is a collection of technologies used for communication that used to exist and were popular in the past but have been phased out and forgotten by the speed of improving technologies (Pgs 78-79). This notion suggests the extent of our restlessness as to what we are capable of doing to avoid boredom.

Speed is so dominant in today’s society, that slowness is unacceptable and often reinforced by annoyance and irritation. Speed has taken over to an extent that “slowness is a discipline we have to learn anew” because it has become virtually impossible to slow down since we have accustomed to such high speeds. When people take initiative to slow down, it is seen as a form of resistance to speed and a desire to having a “reflective space” in which they can enjoy the little things in life (Pg 80). This usually occurs because people realize that time is short and that speeding through time is ultimately “letting life pass by”. At these speeds the possibility of a crash is very likely, but it is more likely that this crash is going to occur within ourselves when we lose something that is valuable about ourselves (Pg 80). The question remains whether or not speed is a positive or negative aspect of society, which ultimately leads to increased productivity or a crash within ourselves as we realize we have let our life pass by us? Are we ever going to be able to slow down and enjoy life for what it really is, instead of striving to achieve the most productivity possible with the amount of time given to us?

Works Cited:

Kingwell, Mark & Joe Gelonesi. “Speeding to a Standstill.” Arts and Opinion, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, 9 pages.

Laurel Goertz

This week’s reading was an interview done by a broadcaster named Joe Gelonesi. He interviewed a philosopher, Mark Kingwell, on his views of what is happening in today’s society concerning how technology is changing and people’s needs to constantly speed to get things done. Kingwell made some very convincing arguments, one of them being that people are happier when they speed things up. An example he used was if a person had high speed internet and then went on to use a different computer that was slower, they would be unhappy because they are used to the high speed. At first, when they get their computer, they are satisfied because it’s high speed but they soon become used to it and the need and want for faster technology arises. I agree with this point because I know from personal experience that it is true. I have become accustomed to having a fast computer and if I use somebody else’s computer, I end up complaining about how slow it is. It was probably for about the first few hours of using my new computer that I noticed and appreciated the speed but it wore off fast.

“I quote the Canadian political theorist Arthur Croker who says the condition at the end of the century is we’re speeding up to a standstill, and I think that’s nicely put because I think what we have often is that feeling of boredom. And we try to combat that by going faster and faster only to discover that our boredom in a sense comes along with us. We can never really escape it, it’s a shadow.” (Kingwell, 78) I agree with this point entirely because it does all seem like a paradox. There is no end to it because people will always be bored and never satisfied. This theory works especially when looking at technology. People build new and improved versions of the same thing every couple of months and the only difference on the new one is slight. Ex. Adding a camera on phones: people are bored with phones because of their sole purpose, to communicate. Now people want to be able to share others things such as pictures and send them to people; this feature is completely unnecessary, yet everybody wants it because they are bored with the old features. They want a change. Everybody now has a camera on their phone so they introduced the MP3 players on the phones. And the cycle continues on and on.

This article can be connected to the class because of the futurist, Marinetti. Because of his artwork, people were influenced at the time to actually create these things. He painted many things in the early 1900’s that people had never seen before and that only brought about the want for speeding things up even more. It intrigued people and they wanted to make everything real as fast as possible. As Kingwell said, it is in humans to want to speed up, it is inevitable and people will always want to change things. This can be connected to the class because of all types of art that change; especially when focusing on futurism, a whole movement of people that created art based on the future. That example alone shows people’s desire to constantly modify and make things better. So, one thing to think about is, will life always be like this? Is there anyway to stop this rush and just stay in one place for a bit? Could there be others factors besides boredom that are influencing people to speed everything up? If you think about it, doesn’t this need for speed bring together everything that we have to live and look forward to?

Donna Mulder

In this interview the main idea addressed is speed and how it is invading people’s lives. Mark Kingwell states the reasons why speed is such a desired object and so important to humans. The fastest seem to be the most successful; therefore we speed to be the best. He believes speed in our lives is increasing because there are better tools that accommodate us to live faster. Ultimately, Kingwell’s main belief is that the desire for speed is built within humans.

The Futurists are referred to in the article and their value of speed. Their manifesto and beliefs are linked to speed and mechanical objects. To speed is to desire for the perfect form – getting rid of softness and rough edges to produce mechanical lines. I also believe that perfect form helps us to speed faster. For example, if you tie your shoes perfectly the first try—you save time. This eliminates unsuccessful efforts and speeds up your day.

Living a fast paced life, desiring the next upgrade, the fastest machines, I see it as people desiring the clearest path. Slowness is mentioned in the article, but it seems that the Kingwell is too skeptical about living a slow life; you have to eliminate technology to live slower. I wonder is there any other ways to live a slower life without eliminating technology?

Works Cited:

Kingwell, Mark & Joe Gelonesi. “Speeding to a Standstill.” Arts and Opinion, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, 9 pages.

P.J. Muirhead

This interview begins with the question posed by Joe Geloni regarding upgrading his notebook computer, which is already at an outragous 1000 Megahertz. This sets the tone for the whole interview and induces me to laugh at society as a whole. It is true that as soon as one piece of technology is introduced to the marketplace, then another is waiting to overshadow it by being bigger, better or faster. It also reminds me of a scene from the Canadian Comedy “Corner Gas” in which the police officer, Davis, proudly shows off his cell phone to Brent who, in turn, shows off his smaller cell phone. The episode continues with Brent and Davis getting “better and better” phones which are smaller and smaller. In the end, unable to outdo each other any longer they begin the race to get bigger phones until they finally end up with the big, clumsy cell phones that were originally in use twenty years ago.

During the course of the interview it becomes apparent that Mark Kingwell is concerned that we are so taken up with making things faster and more efficient that we are losing sight of the more pleasurable things in life. Some people, similarly concerned, have taken to abandoning all technological advances and returned to a much more leisurely life. Their televisions, radios and computers have been replaced by gardening tools. It is hard to imagine anyone being satisfied by a return to the days of women sitting in the parlour sewing whilst men discuss the politics of the day.

It appears to me that mankind is on a quest towards perfection. The twentieth century saw more technological advances than in any other century, but obviously never reached perfection. Therefore it must continue to strive to improve. Mark Kingwell thinks that the speed at which we are developing new technology is mankind’s way of relieving boredom. My question is: will we ever be satisfied?

Kingwell, Mark (interviewed by Joe Gelonesi). “Speeding to a Standstill.” Arts and Opinion, 2, 2, (2003). www.artsandopinion.com/2003_v2_n2/kingwell.htm

Melissa Park

Mark Kingwell was an author of six books, where one of them he talked about speed. His articles and reviews have appeared in many academic journals. Speed has become the spirit of the times. Kingwell believes that new technologies, encouraging fractured multiple communications, are keeping us out of the path of becoming bored. They are talking about how computers and laptops can affect the amount of speed in our lives. When you would really notice that speed is gone is when you are used to something being fast and suddenly becoming really slow. Speed can relate to happiness, the slower you are moving the sadder you would seem to be. The faster you finish one thing, the faster you can start a new task. Kingwell thinks that in some sense that we’ve always been speeding through life. Somehow deeply planted inside us is this seed to speed along. For how fast we want to move depends on the function of the brain capacity which can relate to war. The faster army is the more successful army on average will be. The speed that has been talked about comes out of some kind of complex of human desire, which can’t be predicted by the effect on technology. Computing power is anybody who’s paying attention to the way human civilization works has to notice how technology changes us. Some of the most beautiful things this century has produced have come out of that aesthetic. They do believe politically that this lead to fascism. Lethargy and speed are the two central conditions to modern life. Speed is our way of staying away from boredom. The faster you move the more you get done, which means you can never be bored. No matter how fast you are moving your boredom still travels with you. Boredom is a deep unhappiness or restlessness with the fact of one’s own existence. People are getting rid of television and radios because people are trying to put the brakes on this fast world that we are living in. We as humans are trying to open up some time in our lives which are so much ruled by making deadlines and carving up the available time. We have to listen to our boredom and try to figure out what it’s saying to us, listen to the things that it’s teaching. Our lives are running on a type of speed but do we control the speed that our lives go, or is it played out in our life that are lives are suppose to move at a certain speed?

My opinion on this text is that I do believe that we are living our lives based on speed, but I think that we can control at which speed that we are living our lives. If we aren’t always doing something to keep ourselves busy, then we are making our lives go by slowly. If we are always doing something to make our lives busy then I think we are in charge of how fast our lives are going.

Question: Do you think that we control the speed that we live our lives?

Jacqueline Pietrangelo

“Speeding to a Standstill”

[Kingswell, Mark (interviewed by Joe Gelonesi). “Speeding to a Standstill.” Arts and Opinion, 2, 2 (2003). (www.artsandopinion.com/kingwell.htm)

Main Idea: The main idea associated with this reading is that speed is all around us as humans, both in technology and ourselves. When we are without speed, we are bored and strive for more speed to make us happy. In our lives, slowness is now a discipline we have to teach ourselves in order to smell the roses and enjoy the space. It we do not achieve this, our speed will crash, not so much in technology as it will in ourselves.

• Technology has increased our speed in life, beginning in Ancient Greece. Mark Kingswell believes that the increasingly new technology allows us to steer away from boredom.
  • Ex. Apple IPods are evolving into greater machines, and discontinuing the older ones. From big and black and white (past) > small, video, colour (present)
  • With this example, Kingswell links happiness to speed, saying “we become less happy when one realizes that their conditions are slower that they could be”. — Velocitisation

• As humans, we search for tasks to accomplish > we try to finish them quickly, whether they are well done or not, only to begin a new task
  • We are always looking for something to pass the time because we hate the feeling of being bored.
  • To fight the boredom we like to go fast
  • Now that we have tools, life is going by faster and faster because we can accomplish more and be more successful.
    (We just don’t see this time fly by)
  • But what we don’t realize is that boredom will always stay with us > its like our shadow

Dead Media Project: web page designed to dead technologies what has existed and might even have been popular at one time. Unfortunately, because of our fast paced life style, all of these technologies have been discontinued and are forever gone.

Link: Italian futurist, Marinetti, speaks of speed as a perfect politic in fascism.

Teri Quibell

Speeding to a Standstill is an interesting read, not only in the subject matter but also in the way it is presented. Most of our previous texts have been an author’s synthesis of ideas and information, but this text is formatted in the interview structure, which allows for a more personal and “uncut” look at the author’s viewpoints.

This article deals with speed in our lives and how it is taking over. Life is becoming more and more high-paced and fast and the author is worried that we are going to eventually crash, and that crash will happen within ourselves. The author doesn’t believe that speed can solve any problems and that it is just there to make people happy. During the interview, Kingwell links speed with boredom several times; he believes that if you do not feel that sense of speed anymore then you become bored with the world, or even feel a decrease in happiness. I feel in a sense that this statement does hold validity. For example, if one’s Internet connection has become slower than normal, people tend to become frustrated and angry. If you compare the speeds of Internet now to that of several years ago, that same person would probably be throwing their computer out of the window if they all of a sudden had to switch to dial-up.

Although Kingwell is aware and critical of this speeding world, he also admits to being a victim. I believe this is understandable because the entire world is so dependent on technology that if you did not rely on it, you would be at a great disadvantage. Technology is also very tricky in that you cannot predict the future of it. Kingwell in addition discusses Marinetti, the Italian futurist we learned about in the previous class. He talks about how speed can eliminate difference but also how it has created beautiful creations.

Question: Do you believe that the world will ever have the chance to slow down again? Or are we destined to speed until we crash?

Kayla Cooper

Slow Food Manifesto

• International Movement for the Defense of and the Right to Pleasure established 1989
• supported by representatives from 15 countries
• Slow Food maintains the same values
• symbol is of a tiny snail
• currently the machine = our life model
• it is necessary to slow down
• Mark Kingwell agrees that we must stop moving so swiftly.
  • abandon fast food in favor of home-cooked meals

Slow Food Philosophy

Slowness

• humans can learn from snails (Francesco Angelita)
• snail has been Slow Food symbol for 10 years, expressing desire for a more leisurely life
• symbols help unite individuals

Rest

• we should move slowly, take breaks, and socialize
• dreaming of a better universe is the most relaxing activity

Hospitality

• hospitality is dying as an art form
• individuals split costs when in groups; current hosts hire catering services
• hospitality is becoming more public and less private
• we should be active participants in restaurants, communicating with cooks, managers, and owners

My Thoughts

I agree that many people are afraid of their boredom. When riding the bus, most passengers occupy themselves with music, homework, or a book. It is unfortunate that they don’t delve inside their boredom, and instead turn their backs on this opportunity to understand more about themselves. That being said, it is now expected that individuals of our society will complete tasks quickly with the aid of computers and other technologies. Productivity of a company would be detrimentally influenced if all of its workers refused to use these time-saving tools.

Questions

Moving at a leisurely pace can certainly help us to understand and appreciate many things in life, but society as a whole moves rapidly. Working at a lethargic speed can have its drawbacks. Where do we draw the line? How do we know when slow is too slow, or fast is too fast?

Chelsea Hansen-Hill

In the Slow Food manifesto, it is discussed that we are living in a high speed society. We are constantly moving, striving to get things done, to progress, and the argument of this article is that this enslaves us, and causes humans to be greedy, impatient and inconsiderate. Similar to Speeding to a Standstill, which also discusses speed in our society, and how we apprently crave speed, AUTHOR suggests that we need to make some changes in order to better our society and prepare for our future. The solution that is put forth is that we need to slow down, if only for a short time. We need to take moments in our lives to embrace the present, “to listen to the rhythm of [our] own lives.” (84)

In this article, food or a meal, is used to represent a way in which we could slow down our lives. Eating a meal could possibly be the easiest time to be in the moment. We sit down for a reletively short period of time and enjoy some food. The article is saying that we should forget about our hectic, rushed lives and taste the flavours, smell the aromas; rather than looking at food and seeing a monatary value, the way in which we analyse most aspects of our lives, we should instead see it as an experience.

One aspect I am confused about is whether or not this philosophy or idea is meant as a partial solution that will cause us to take short moments in our day to relax and slow down from our busy lives, or whether we are supposed to apply this to our entire system of living. Personally I don’t think this would work out. As a society we depend too much on machines, technology, and progress, and we are probably too far gone to turn back. However, Speeding to a Standstill did mention that it is something that we would have to re-train. This would take quite a long time, and I’m not so sure people are interested in making such an effort to change their lifestyles; it’s unrealistic.

Question: Do you think it’s important for the well-being of our society to “slow down?” What are the pros and cons?

Kate Hobbs

The Slow Food movement is a reaction to, and against, the culture of speed. In order to satisfy our need for ever-increasing speed, we have given over the traditional human elements of nurturing to governments and of hospitality to restaurants. We care for the displaced or homeless not in person, face to face, but by anonymous taxes, shelters, and programs. We have no time to welcome honoured guests into our homes; we touch base, go for coffee, grab a burger.

Slow Food says that fast food is junk food, and the fast life is a kind of junk life. It takes as its symbol the humble snail, to teach us that “being fast makes men inconsiderate and foolish.”1 One trip to Union Station at rush hour is enough to prove that point.

As an antidote to frenzied activity and its rude and dehumanizing effects upon us, Slow Food proposes these three principles:

1. Slow down, take your time.
2. Rest, and do what nourishes you at the appropriate time and at your own pace;
3. Reach out in hospitality, and welcome others into your home and life.

As Mark Kingwell notes2, even though we go faster and faster, boredom stays with us like a shadow. Are we perhaps addicted to speed like a drug, and is boredom a symptom of withdrawal between fixes?

Talia Kirschbaum

The Slow Food manifesto and philosophy, is proposed by the International Movement for the Defense of and the Right to Pleasure. The article states that peoples’ lives are being controlled by the craving for speed. Over time society has increased its desire to accomplish goals at the fastest tempo possible; which has been introduced by using the term the Fast Life (p.1). The Slow Food manifesto holds negative views concerning the Fast Life. Instead, the term Slow Food is used to express the need for people to take their time and enjoy the little things in life. Furthermore, Slow Food has been developed as a contrast to the concept of Fast Food, which refers to unhealthy foods that people eat when in a rush. The article argues that people need to slow down and enjoy the flavours of healthy foods.

In the Slow Food philosophy the snail is used as the ideal symbol for the movement. The snail takes every aspect of life slowly. In addition, this creature does not rely on modern technology to live; instead a snail depends purely on nature (p.2). The snail is contrary to human beings, who rely on modern technology in order to remain on schedule. Furthermore, the article relates Slow Food to culture, people need to slow down and enjoy their culture rather than speeding past it. The movement recommends that people allocate more time to relax and play. I agree with the Slow Food movement, people do need to have recreational time as a stress reliever. However, homo sapiens cannot become too indolent, people still need to work in order to be successful in life.

Question: In your opinion, do modern technologies allow people to reach goals faster, leaving more time to relax or does technology cause people to do more things with the time they have, without relaxing?

P.J. Muirhead

The Slow Food Movement attempts to persuade society to return to the pleasures of old, primarily through culinary experiences, but touches on all aspects of life and the need to slow down. The article “All about Slow Food” begins by illustrating how humans can learn from the snail. A snail moves very slowly and deliberately; one would think that it considers very carefully each “step” it takes and this movement should be one that we can emulate. Humankind should think and take action very carefully and consider the options rather than plunging into situations without thought for the consequences. One wonders how many wars might have been averted, how many accidents may be avoided if we were only to take life as slowly and deliberately as the snail. I cannot help but be reminded of the poem Leisure by William Henry Davies which begins “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare” which was written at the beginning of the twentieth century, long before we had jet airplanes, fast cars and DSL modems!

The snail is a self-contained creature, who, because he carries his own home around with him, is able to adapt to new surroundings but with the security of his own precious space around him. He is extremely fuel-efficient, derives warmth from being in contact with the earth and takes his food sparingly from the organic produce provided by nature.

The article goes on to talk about the need to relax and gives an example of a group of religious who live together in a completely non-structured environment. Apparently the residents of Theleme Abbey were able to rise at whatever time of day they preferred, could drink and work whenever they felt like and sleep at any time. They lived in complete freedom and had no arguments at all. My question is: Can we really be happy without the structured lives we have today?

Bianca Pereira

• This article talks about how the world is moving so quickly and that we should all stop to appreciate the taste of foods, and the beautiful nature around us.
• According to Francesco Angelita, who wrote a book based on snails and other species, we are to look at a snail as a message from god trying to tell us that we need to slow down and we should look up to the snail as this divine image that humans should learn from.
• In the article there are three main ideas that are expressed on things that Homo Sapiens are not including in their everyday lives and need to start to consider these as habits and not as “unreal concepts and desires”, they include; Slowness, Rest, and Hospitality.
• Francesco thinks that humans need to slow down and stop trying to speed things up. Due to this constant speed that we humans are living at is having a horrible effect on our eating habits and that is why more people eat Fast Food, which is very unhealthy. He also believes that by constantly living in a race if we all slowed down we would be able to appreciate the taste of foods, and enjoy the full sensation of food. By living life at full speed Francesco feels that people are too impatient and too greedy so by living life with slowness all these attitudes will change.
• Francesco also touches on Rest he says that we need to 1. Take our time and have a break 2. Go slowly and 3. Find a friend who can provide food and hospitality. He also feels that we should rest and be calm, taking in these traits and including them in our everyday lives so that they are not considered leisure, they are a part of life. He would like everyone to take up the ways if the monks and do what ever you want when you want. Sleep, drink, and eat, by doing this it will make healthier living styles and people will actually enjoy what life has to offer. It will also help make use of all the extra time that we have, instead of wasting it on uselessness.
• His last point is on hospitality and he feels that this is an urgent problem and that people are expecting hospitality in restaurants and in hotels when that is not the only places where hospitality is present. He thinks that by having people engaged in the activity it is hospitable, for example a catering company should include the person ordering in making the food. He also touches on the old fashion hospitality where people can have others over and are generously giving to their guests and involve them in the preparation and the full experience of the effort and time that went into what ever was being down, specifically food.
• So by living life like the Slow Food manifesto discusses, it should make a happier, healthier person.

Do you think that in today’s society that would be an achievable world?

Amy Williamson

This manifesto talks about our society being consumed by the idea of a fast-paced, more “efficient” way of living and our society giving into speed. The author/authors (unlisted) explain that this mentality can be associated with food. Fast food is degrading to the development of our tastes. Instead of allowing ourselves to be tempted by the idea of food at our fingertips, the article explains that we should “savour the regional cooking” (page 83). This concept of “slow food” has evidently chosen, none other than a snail to be it’s mascot. The snail carries its home around with him and is therefore able to make a home anywhere it goes. The article explains that what we can learn from a snail can be very innovative and can hopefully slow people down enough to appreciate the things they have been missing. Speed is explained as having taken over our leisure time and social organization. The article says that relaxation shouldn’t be aimed at those who are already in a constant unperturbed state because they “simply would not appreciate it” (page 84). Instead, people should enjoy the feeling of being together in a moment of calm. Also explored in this article, is hospitality and what it has turned into. Now, it remains simply a relationship between the giver, generally an authoritative figure, and a receiver, someone at the mercy of the giver. The manifesto explains that hospitality should be re-evaluated so that human’s generosity can be appreciatively satisfied. So what is more important, to keep up with the ever-going fast-paced society? Or to take the time creating a home to take around with you? I think in order to keep up with society, people as a whole should learn how to slow down life and relax a little, otherwise, you might miss it.