This track examines the interaction between intimacy and anonymity in Western technological culture. With a phone, I can now be reached. I am no longer as isolated as before.

Without a phone, no friends visit since they do not know when I will be home. My neighbors are not known to me-- all my friends live across town or in other cities. This contrasts with tribal cultures where a network of friends lives nearby. Not having a phone is symbolic of hermitage and spiritual isolationism. A required test of resolve for those who wish to deny the beast, it strengthens.

A family member would never fail to recognize your voice. Although the woman who calls "loves" her mate, she does not know what his voice sounds like." "They trust the machine -- whether it be a television, a printing press, a network, or an answering machine to give them truth. In many ways, technology has replaced human relationships. People communicate through one-way directives. People watching TV expect to be entertained. They do not need to react or interact in any way, but only listen. This form of listening is different from that found in relationships where empathy and interaction are required by the direct face-to-face contact. Since most time is spent interacting with machines, people then begin to treat others as they do the machine -- wanting to control them, turn them on and off at will without regard to the humanity and free-will of the other. Also, technology is a demanding talker. Talk, talk, talk,-- it never listens to you but it demands to be listened to. There is a limit to the amount of time each day we can stand attentively listening to something without interaction. Technology such as TV and the Internet leaves us tired and feeling unreal. When real people do arrive, we are too tired to listen to them. Yet we want them to listen to us and when we do we demand they give their attention. Our tendency is to talk to another as the TV does without pausing or caring how the listener is taking it all in or whether or not she understands. What passes for communication in our culture has become a form of self gratifying masturbation that does not require a partner's interaction, nor make demands of our time or consideration or timing other than whenever an urge arrears its head. The responses heard in this piece were given by people who encountered my answering machine prompt "For a list of ways in which technology has failed to improve the human condition, press 3 now." When 3 is pressed, nothing different happens. It beeps as a regular answering machine, but is hyped through advertisement to appear to be something it is not. The callers are blissfully unaware of the point, and instead pleasantly wonder why pressing 3 failed to deliver the list. Technological failures are ubiquitous and invisibly expected. These failures are not perceived as extraordinary. These failures are so normal they are not even perceived; they are part of the background noise of everyday life. They have become invisible even when noticeably calling attention to themselves as part of an artistic criticism. The point is lost. We must ask at some point it it's such a good idea to trust the technology and to abdicate relationships. It seems easier and less trouble to deal with predictably unreliable technology than on unpredictable, reliable people." "As a result of not interacting with others, people emulate the acting of TV and media and each adopt massks. People relate to each other through scripts based on shows they've seen and books they've read, rather than based on how they want to be treated themselves, or upon feedback they receive from others. Everyone develops a set of massks which they present on different occasions. But the massks are worn at all times! The danger is that the real self is never developed and only the fa�ade receives obeisance. The massks inextricably merge with the identity and the soul dies. All that is left is an automaton, predictably unreliable and thus very satisfying." http://www.nonoctave.com/