Fig. 1 “The March of Progress” created by Rudolph Zallinger from Time Life’s 1965 book Early Man found online at Wikipedia.com
Fig. 2 Illustration of a technology based human evolution by an unknown artist. Found online at modernmediamix.com
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The concept evolution is simple; humans were once monkeys who developed into cavemen who eventually developed into critically thinking, intelligent human beings. In our world, it’s rare that we think of our evolutionary past because we believe that we are at the final and highest developmental stage possible. Humans created societies, industrialized cities, medicine, and the all essential technology. We are at the period in life where we are so self absorbed in our accomplishments, mostly regarding technology, that we fail to realize it may be at the source of our downfall. From an evolutionary standpoint mankind is highly intelligent, remarkably social, and greatly destructive. Technology is an extraordinary and exhilarating aspect of our world.Although the smart phone is admired for its infinite capabilities and usefulness, we are so engrossed by it’s abilities that we don’t realize the negative impacts it has made on humans. This negative perception of the smart phone is portrayed in multiple pieces of art including the repurposed version of Rudolph Zallinger’s “The March of Progress” and the recreated version of René Magritte’s “The Son of Man” by unknown artists. The influence that technology in the form of the smart phone has on humans is declining our cognitive growth and overall development into a higher form of mankind.
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It is difficult for man to admit to being weak to the controlling power of technology, yet this recreated image of our evolution and potential future forces the realization that perhaps our “greatest” innovation is responsible for our demise. |
“The March of Progress,” a famous painting created by Rudolph Zallinger, depicts the gradual yet prominent progression of man (Fig. 1). The painting is a scientific illustration representing the twenty-five million years of human evolution in fifteen images from an early stage monkey to man. This piece is known for its accuracy in demonstrating our drastic change in from animal to man. We no longer associate ourselves with our primate ancestors because we have developed onto a superior cognitive level. This image is meant to produce awareness of how far man has evolved and what we’ve achieved in this growth. However, it does not allude to the possibility of what we may become. “The March of Progress” is the accepted story of man, yet there are many interpretations on how people truly see our evolution. Replications of the image that have been altered to show different potential futures paint a picture of man’s true behavior. A repurposed depiction of this image from an unknown artist displays a similar concept of our evolution with a frightening twist. While including the typical growth of monkey to man, the image changes after man reaches his peak. The image following current day man is a man no longer standing but sitting, hunched over on a computer. The image succeeding the man on the computer is another man standing, head down engrossed in his smart phone (Fig 2). This horrifying, yet realistic, representation of man highlights the dominance we allow technology to possess in our lives.
Technology, especially the smart phone, is so constant in our lives that there is the notion that it is essential to our evolution. The repurposed image of “The March of Progress” no longer depicts man as growing taller and ultimately upward, but the opposite. The presence of technology brings the man’s shoulders and head downwards, along with his attention. The remake represents the evident physically damaging effects of the smart phone where man is no longer looking ahead at what’s to come, but down in his phone screen absorbed in the digital world. Symbolically this remake suggests the downward spiral in the continual human development. Man’s hunched shoulders and head down is eerily similar to the posture of our primate ancestors. It is importantly noticed that man’s attention is captured by the smart phone, his focus is not on participating in the real world but on being a member of the virtual one. According "Will the IPhone Influence Human Evolution?", the way we utilize technology today makes it highly likely that is will alter our behavior in years to come (TechRadar). We can all agree that smart phone usage has already begun to change our social behavior, but will it change our bodies? The presence of the smart phone has physically damaging qualities that will alter our bodies, not to mention the idea that the smart phone is pulling us back down to the level we reminisce upon and laugh at. Technology is responsible for the decline and slowing of human progression, which is a hard concept to grasp since many believe technology is our greatest creation. It is difficult for man to admit to being weak to the controlling power of technology, yet this recreated image of our evolution and potential future forces the realization that perhaps our “greatest” innovation is responsible for our demise. |
We have become faceless, unoriginal, and utterly oblivious to the world around us.
Fig. 3 “The Son of Man” created by René Magritte in 1964. Found online at Wikipedia.com
Fig. 4 Photograph recreating “The Son of Man” by unknown artist. Found online at googleimages.com
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The concept of technology is used in the art world to express the unrecognized yet significant impact it has made on humans. A surprising piece of art was chosen to demonstrate this concept by adding a modern twist to a seemingly ordinary painting. “The Son of Man” is a painting created by René Magritte in 1964 (Fig. 3). The painting depicts an average man in a suit and hat standing in front of an oceanic view. The man’s face, except for the corners of his eyes, is almost completely hidden behind a single green apple. The artist created this piece to describe humanity’s way of always being more interested in the things we cannot see rather than the things we can, meaning when we see this painting we are consumed by the apple covering the man’s face. Human curiosity is a powerful thing as we tend to experience conflict between what we can see and what we can’t. Magritte describes this concept when he states, “There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present” (Wikipedia). “The Son of Man” was recreated by an unknown artist in a real life photograph of an older man dressed similarly to the one in the painting standing in front of a similar oceanic background. The difference in this repurposed piece is instead of holding a green apple in front of his face, the man is holding an iPhone (Fig. 4). The iPhone covers almost all of the man’s face, yet a small part of his eyes are visible much like the man in the original painting. The replacement of the apple for the Apple iPhone is an interesting twist to this outwardly conventional painting. By using a piece of technology instead of something organic and natural like an apple, the artist is highlighting the takeover of technology that our world is undergoing.
In the recreated photograph of “The Son of Man” by an unknown artist, our attention is drawn to the sight of the iPhone to realize we are constantly being drawn to our devices, enslaved to their every ring and vibrate. The distraction of the iPhone causes the failure in our ability to pay attention to detail, such as the man’s clothing or his location. Distraction is a major part of technology. We become so absorbed in our devices that we fail to notice the real things occurring around us. Socially, technology has begun to replace face to face interactions with text messages or shortened phone calls. According to "Antisocial Networking?", todays youth create and maintain friendships in impersonal ways through texts or contacting each other on social media (The New York Times). Technology, especially the smart phone, provides us with a wall to hide ourselves behind. It gives us the power to interact with others in detached, fast, and efficient ways. The covering of the man’s face with the iPhone shows the literal act of hiding one’s self from the real world and into the virtual world. This symbolizes the visual loss of one’s individuality from society. It is interesting to note the irony of the two pieces. The original “The Son of Man” is a fictional painting containing a natural object, the apple. The real life photograph on the other hand, contains an artificial object, the smart phone. The irony resides in the object covering the man’s face, a contrast between the use of a real and a fake object in their contradictory pieces. The recreated photograph of “The Son of Man” is intended to draw attention to what humans walking around with their smart phone look like today. We have become faceless, unoriginal, and utterly oblivious to the world around us. |
This begs the question of what’s more important; allowing smart phone technology to dictate human life or having the power to achieve the next stage in our human evolution?
The smart phone is portrayed in different ways in both of the recreated paintings but is done so with similar purposes. The presence of the smart phone in both of these pieces demonstrate its negative impacts. These pieces force us to face the reality that we are allowing our smart phone devices to become the definition of who we are.
It is hard to imagine a world where give up our electronic devices in order to gain back control of our lives. Since technology has offered us a great deal of advances we find it senseless to be without it. Since technology has offered us many opportunities, its greatest form being the smart phone, people are unwilling to accept the truth that it is limiting our chances at cognitive expansion. Based on my own experiences growing up in a technology advancing world, it’s difficult to wrap my mind around the concept of being device-free. I’ve known nothing different than using a phone to call my parents, take pictures, or update my Facebook. There are as many positives as there are negatives to the smart phone, as is the case for most of human’s creations. If you choose to look at it in a positive light, smart phones have created multiple ways of interacting with others that was not available before. Some might argue that it has expanded our communication abilities by allowing us to converse overseas and across the country. On the other hand, technology has negative effects such as altering our posture and health while also limiting our social face-to-face interaction skills. Twenty-five million years ago the thought of an electronic device allowing communication with others was incomprehensible, and now it is seen as a necessity. This begs the question of what’s more important; allowing smart phone technology to dictate human life or having the power to achieve the next stage in our human evolution?