Microserfs: Response 2

Roza Abdulridha
Professor Yerks
Comp 106
14 December 2008

Microserfs: Technology and The American Lifestyle

What do you think Coupland is saying when he includes random information, random keyboard hits and snatches of gossip amongst the journal and e-mails?
In his novel, “Microserfs,” Douglas Coupland presents the American lifestyle of the 90s and the prediction of the future of technology through Dan’s subconscious files, the journal, and the emails. There is a perception of humans, where “we can no longer create the feeling of an era…of time being particular to one spot in time” (Coupland 75). As Dan inserts this thought into his subconscious file, Coupland conveys the message of the reality of technology in our culture, and foreshadows that technology will soon overpower the world. Humans created technology and it is advancing at a quick pace, which is called progression. What is important, however, is that humans are allowing this advance in society, and that one day, technology might be ahead of us humans. Dan concludes his theory of machines being a human’s subconscious with, “ ‘we made them ourselves. So machines can only be products of our being’” (Coupland 228). Michael reassures Dan of his belief in progress by saying, “ ‘if you can conceive of humans developing a consciousness more complex than their own, then…you believe in progress’” (Coupland 183). The message of technological progression in the future was foreshadowed as soon as computers developed, and it is a message that will continue to be seen. Last but not least, the random keyboard hits that are inserted into Dan’s subconscious file foreshadow technology’s ability in the future. They convey the message that computers will become extremely advanced and humans will be capable of inserting any information into it that will be stored for later use. In other words, entries such as “Melrose Voyager Melrose Voyager ‘press pound now…’” (Coupland 336), are subjects that the computer will know everything about in the future simply by typing in the keyword in search engines, just like today’s Google.
The gossip in the novel conveys the American lifestyle of geeks during the 90s. When Todd hacked into the system and created “Rumor Meister”, gossip among the group immediately go out of hand. They discovered gossip such as, “16) Karla thinks she’s a summer but she’s really a fall…24) Michael’s shirt smell like Gerbil pee” (Coupland 202). Geeks are so dependent on their computers, that only they would actually type gossip into their computers, and only a geek, like Todd, would actually create a system to hack into it. This is unlike typical social groups non-geeks associate with, where gossip is simply shared within people face-to-face, rather than on the computer. Coupland presents an aspect of American lifestyle, the geeks, and technology advancement to readers because it is not a typical lifestyle of the 90s that many commonly conveyed or discussed.







Works Cited
Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. New York: ReganBooks, 1996.