1
00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:10,560
They are the everyday objects which apparently we can't live without.

2
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,240
Innovative gadgets that fascinate and entertain.

3
00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:26,200
Shiny new devices that are constantly upgraded to be faster and more powerful,

4
00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:28,480
with must-have new features.

5
00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,760
# I'm the operator with my pocket calculator. #

6
00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,280
'Millions of us have succumbed to the culture of upgrading.'

7
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,800
# I'm the operator with my pocket calculator. #

8
00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,280
'I'm already on my tenth mobile.

9
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:51,440
'Why do so many of us...' Hello? '..covet the upgrade?'

10
00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:53,840
Wrong number.

11
00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:59,160
Is it really about functionality, the look, or the feel,

12
00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:04,280
or is there some deeper psychology at work here, to do with status and desire?

13
00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:09,800
Gadgets have changed our relationship with the world and rewired our perceptions.

14
00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:17,000
As I writer, I'm interested in their impact on our imaginations.

15
00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,760
It's really funky. 'This story will take me to the other side of the world...

16
00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,960
'to the beating heart of the upgrade.'

17
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,520
The speed of product innovation continues to accelerate,

18
00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,200
but is it sustainable?

19
00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:37,400
And what's going to happen to all this stuff now?

20
00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:42,400
'The future is digital, but is it beautiful?'

21
00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:55,120
I am now very pleased to introduce someone who's written novels, short stories, television films.

22
00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:01,280
Most recently he's written a book about how music has shaped his life. It's called "Gig".

23
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:06,000
And on top of all this, he's one of Britain's finest poets.

24
00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,360
Please will you welcome Simon Armitage.

25
00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:11,720
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

26
00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:27,720
Hello. I'm going to start by reading a poem

27
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,960
about the pace of modern life and its effect on the brain

28
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,720
and its effect on the body, so it's a poem that goes very, very quickly

29
00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:39,920
and it's called Killing Time Number 2.

30
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,560
Time in the brain cells Sweating like a nail bomb

31
00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:46,600
Trouble with the heartbeat spitting like a sten gun

32
00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:48,960
Cut to the chase, pick up the pace

33
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,560
No such thing as a walkabout fun run

34
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,120
Shoot yourself a glance in the chrome in the day-room

35
00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,840
Don't hang about You're running out of space, son

36
00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:57,880
Red light, stop sign Bellyful of road rage

37
00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,160
Ticket from the fuzz if you dawdle in the slow lane

38
00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,400
Pull up your socks Get out the blocks... VOICE FADES

39
00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,320
If the pace of life HAS accelerated, one major factor might be

40
00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:12,120
our obsession with keeping up with the speed of technological innovation.

41
00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,880
I'm very happy with my new Smartphone...

42
00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:19,400
I can communicate however, wherever and whenever I want.

43
00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:26,120
But at other times, I wonder if gadgets make us frantic and anxious.

44
00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:39,560
What drives our appetite to upgrade to the latest consumer technology?

45
00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:44,920
And how has new technology changed our lives?

46
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,240
West Yorkshire, where I was born and live, was one of the cradles

47
00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,640
of the Luddite movement, and back then technology was a dirty word.

48
00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,960
Ironic, then, that without realising it,

49
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,960
I've become a bit of a technophile with my sat-nav, Smartphone and laptop.

50
00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:09,760
And inside this little furry, blue pouch...

51
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,720
I keep this little, silver memory stick.

52
00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,240
Every word that I've ever written is on that stick,

53
00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:22,080
which is pretty extraordinary, and I don't even think I will ever fill it.

54
00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,280
If I'm looking for evidence of upgrading, I needn't look much further than my own home.

55
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,920
Dumped in a drawer on the landing are my past purchases.

56
00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,000
I suppose you could say that this drawer,

57
00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:49,560
and several others like it in the house, represent the story of my upgrading thus far.

58
00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:54,240
This is the archaeology of my upgrading.

59
00:04:54,280 --> 00:05:00,960
I don't whether these are trophies, or whether it's a sort of, you know, detritus, or what.

60
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:08,680
This was my first laptop, which I actually feel quite sentimental about now.

61
00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,480
Probably bought this about ten years ago.

62
00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,480
But I was so proud of it and worried about losing it

63
00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,680
that I used to hide it under the settee every night when I went to bed.

64
00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:23,200
Sony Walkman, PDA, Palm Tungsten.

65
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,600
This was probably the most useless device I ever bought.

66
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:32,240
I was getting rid of a handwritten diary and transferring everything to this -

67
00:05:32,280 --> 00:05:34,920
contacts, appointments, names, addresses, telephone numbers -

68
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:36,560
it was all going to be in here.

69
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:41,760
And also you had to learn a whole new Hieroglyphic language

70
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,480
before you could put information into it.

71
00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,800
Who wants to do that, you know at age 40-plus, learn a whole new language,

72
00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:52,720
just so they can write, "ten o clock, dentist"?

73
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:58,640
Excavating this drawer makes me question my attitude to technology.

74
00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,760
Am I destined to carry on upgrading forever?

75
00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,760
The digital revolution has crept up on us all.

76
00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,480
It's now so common-place, we barely recognise it.

77
00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:32,840
Last year in the UK, we bought a cool 24 million new phones.

78
00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,200
It feels like the speed of upgrading is accelerating.

79
00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,640
I've come to the John Lewis department store in Oxford Street, London.

80
00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,680
Despite the credit crunch, in 2008, sales of consumer electronics

81
00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:58,520
across John Lewis's 28 stores were up 3% on 2007.

82
00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:10,880
Across Britain last year, we went on a technology buying spree of epic proportions.

83
00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,640
We purchased six million digital cameras,

84
00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:18,680
13 million computers and eight million new flat-screen televisions,

85
00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,600
and seven million MP3 players...

86
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:26,920
..which must be music to the ears of retailers like John Lewis.

87
00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:31,840
I know it's an odd thing to say in a shop, but everything looks very new,

88
00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,000
you know, stuff that I haven't seen before.

89
00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:40,560
How often do the ranges change in all these, you know, various gadgets and things?

90
00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,920
Well, it varies slightly from product area to product area.

91
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:48,400
I mean, the one that you're standing next to here in computing, this changes four times a year

92
00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,360
and it completely changes four times a year.

93
00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,840
So every three months, everything is changed here.Yeah, total new range.

94
00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,520
That's probably the most rapid change that we see.

95
00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,600
Areas like televisions and DVD recorders, that type of thing,

96
00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:08,240
they normally change once a year but they have what they call a refresh, so pretty much every six months.

97
00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,840
'The entire camera range changes twice a year too.

98
00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,480
'It's mind-boggling how often everything is replaced.

99
00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,320
'Within months your new gadget is so...

100
00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,600
'yesterday?

101
00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:28,360
'The living rooms of Britain have been transformed into home-entertainment emporiums,

102
00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,480
'with a subwoofer behind every settee.'

103
00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:36,680
And is there one particular product that's driving this whole thing, would you say?

104
00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:41,880
I think, in the last five years, what's absolutely made people get excited about technology

105
00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,360
is the TV, because there's been this fundamental shift

106
00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,720
from the large box in the corner to something much slimmer and sleeker.

107
00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:54,080
Also people don't seem to be bothered any more, that it's a bit like being sat in the pub,

108
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,960
you know, there's a sort of a 60 inch television there in the room.

109
00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,600
Why do you think people buy technology?

110
00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:03,960
Is it just need, or is it something else?

111
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,040
There is need, so, "The telly broke, I want a new one."

112
00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:12,760
But for an awful lot of people it is about what their friends have got,

113
00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:17,400
it's perhaps a status, and it's very much become part of our lifestyle.

114
00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:21,760
So you see it in the media, you see it on television yourself,

115
00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,440
and people start to think, "I must buy into that."

116
00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:32,320
'The digital revolution has delivered uncountable gizmos and gadgets into the heart of our lives.

117
00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:39,680
'And to some they bring status and credibility, implying as they do success, knowledge and power.'

118
00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:45,960
When you're in this kind of Aladdin's cave of technology

119
00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:51,640
it's almost impossible not be seduced into the idea of wanting something.

120
00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:58,160
And I don't think it's just because everything is so shiny and sleek and slim-line and lightweight,

121
00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:03,400
it's the fact that it's all working and it all looks so neat and tidy

122
00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:10,360
and you think, "Actually my life could do with a bit of tidiness. If I get that thing there,

123
00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:15,680
"it's going to sort everything out, bring everything into focus, put everything in its right place."

124
00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:19,960
It does make you want to... does make you want to purchase.

125
00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:34,000
Looking around, upgrade culture seems to cross all boundaries of class, age and ethnicity.

126
00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:39,000
Perhaps it's been fuelled by the wealth that this country has enjoyed in recent years.

127
00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:45,640
When I was young, money was much tighter and there was far less choice.

128
00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:56,160
I'm going to meet some schoolchildren to discover just how much of this stuff today's kids have got,

129
00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,640
at a school I know well from my visits as a poet.

130
00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:03,760
My first gadget was a radio in the shape of an electric shaver.

131
00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,200
How hilarious is that?!

132
00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,400
It only played Radio One.

133
00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,440
In fact, it only seemed to play Grandad by Clive Dunn!

134
00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:19,000
OK, guys, if you could just pop your stuff... Just take it off the desk for the time being.

135
00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,720
If you just clear the desks, thanks.

136
00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:30,280
If you've brought a gadget or an electronic device with you today,

137
00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,200
can you just get them out and put them on the table?

138
00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:48,240
'I'm gob-smacked by the amount of stuff the children have brought in today to show me.

139
00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,840
'Holland Park School is a diverse inner-city comprehensive

140
00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,920
'and the pupils here come from every social background.'

141
00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,240
Is that a special cover for that? Yeah.

142
00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:01,960
Oh, that's pretty cool.

143
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,840
You can put music on it.Can you watch videos on it as well?

144
00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:11,440
'These kids are 11 and 12, but a remarkable 49 out of 50 own a mobile phone.

145
00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:19,560
'Only a handful don't have the latest MP3 player or games console.

146
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,960
'And every child here owns a digital camera.

147
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,280
'You can't help thinking that gadgets are actually part of their identities.'

148
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:32,600
Is it cool to be the same as everybody else or is it cool to be different?

149
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,320
Could you be really cool by NOT having a phone?

150
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,640
If you have a phone, it's cooler than not having a phone,

151
00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:42,360
but it's also cool to have a different phone to your friends.

152
00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,760
People like to compare their phones, for just like early on.

153
00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,960
Me and Dan were just comparing our phones, comparing the different features

154
00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,680
on our phones, such as the camera, the games, the downloading off the internet, and things like that.

155
00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:58,120
What is the ultimate gadget? What is the best gadget to have?

156
00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:02,760
The iPhone.iPhone.Yeah. It's cool, it does everything.

157
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:08,720
So even though nobody here's got an iPhone, you've all heard of it?Yeah.

158
00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,240
You all know what one is and you all desire one?

159
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:16,160
Yeah.I don't think I really need one at this stage in life. Maybe you're in denial about it,

160
00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,320
secretly it's the thing that you desire more than anything?

161
00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:21,200
Um, not really.

162
00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:29,240
'Toys have long been status symbols for kids.

163
00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,440
'But for this generation, there seems to be a good deal

164
00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:37,480
'of social pressure on them and their parents to acquire the latest gadgets and be part of the gang.'

165
00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,200
It's also really interesting to see what a social tool they are.

166
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,680
Gadgets are often thought of as things that isolate people,

167
00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:56,120
but watching them together here, it seems to me that they're often devices for bringing people together.

168
00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:05,680
'I thought it would be fun to see how many of them could recognise a portable music device from MY youth.'

169
00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,560
Has anybody got one of these?

170
00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,760
No. What is it?

171
00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:15,000
What do you think it is?A box. I think it's a computer. Do you think it's a computer?

172
00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,480
I think it's one of the first computers ever made,

173
00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:19,280
inside the box.

174
00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:24,000
It looks like it could be some big, chunky laptop, in its case.

175
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:28,880
I think it's a radio and it might be like you can sit in it while listening to music.

176
00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,440
THEY LAUGH Very comfy! What do you think it is?

177
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,760
It's a music thing, one of the those old fashioned things.

178
00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,480
A gramophone.Yeah.Yeah.

179
00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:42,920
Madonna!

180
00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,720
You press a button and this comes up.

181
00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:51,480
This thing moves, then it takes it, and then it plays it.Wow!

182
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:55,520
Whoa!Put it right at the edge.

183
00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:58,880
No, don't do it too hard.

184
00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,480
RECORD SCRATCHES

185
00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:06,920
MUSIC STARTS

186
00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:17,120
'Music, and how to access and listen to it, has been

187
00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,400
'one of the biggest drivers of upgrade culture for today's generation.

188
00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:27,120
'For me, music has always been a kind of fuel that powers your daydreams.'

189
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:39,120
I'm from that generation that got a wonky spine from carrying vinyl around.

190
00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,400
I was in my mid-teens when bands like Blondie were making their noise.

191
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:48,600
I caught the tail end of punk, and all my spare money went on records.

192
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,560
After vinyl, it was the cassette,

193
00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,280
and the Sony Walkman - nothing short of a revolution.

194
00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,360
Suddenly you could go anywhere with music.

195
00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:10,800
Then it was CD, minidisc, and finally the digital MP3 player,

196
00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,040
dominated by one particular brand.

197
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:20,440
# This is ground control to Major Tom... #

198
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,600
The iPod was a quantum leap in listening to music.

199
00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,840
Suddenly you could have 10,000 songs on this little device.

200
00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:30,880
The comparison used to be with a cigarette packet that you could just drop in your top pocket.

201
00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,960
But I used to think of it as like a little block of Kendal Mint Cake

202
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:39,680
sat there, and with these headphones it was like music playing directly into your thoughts,

203
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:45,240
it was music being mainlined straight into your imagination.

204
00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,800
The Classic iPod will always be white.

205
00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:58,200
'Tom Dunmore is a gadget guru

206
00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:02,400
'and the editor of lads' gadget magazine, Stuff.

207
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:07,160
'Stuff has dotted every "i" in the iPod story.

208
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,480
'It's gadget porn for those who lust and desire.'

209
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:15,200
Can we talk about what I think of as the stuff of Stuff?

210
00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:18,040
Do you remember seeing your first ever iPod?

211
00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:20,560
I remember it really clearly actually

212
00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:24,720
because I went to the Macworld Exhibition in London.

213
00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,240
It was the first day it was on sale. It had already been out in America,

214
00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,360
but not for very long.

215
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,600
Well, I think I've got one of the first ones here, and...

216
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:38,720
back then, when it started - this is actually a second generation one -

217
00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:43,760
but the first one that came out, it looked exactly the same, but this wheel here was actually mechanical

218
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,440
so it moved with your finger. And I actually really miss that

219
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,080
because there's a kind of really nice analogue feel to quite a digital device.

220
00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:55,400
When this notion of the iPod came along I was really excited about it.

221
00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:59,560
I said to my wife, "I want one of those," and she said, "I'll get you one for Christmas."

222
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:05,240
And I still use the one that I got all those years ago, so I guess this is kind of an original, isn't it?

223
00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,560
Yeah that's a third generation iPod. Third generation?

224
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,800
That's third generation, yeah. So that came after this one.

225
00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:17,360
'Tom walked me through the whole evolution of the iPod upgrades.

226
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:19,800
'They've come thinner and faster.

227
00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:23,480
'Six generations of the iPod Classic since 2001,

228
00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,840
'each smaller, with a bigger memory or more features.

229
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,320
'Of course, there are other MP3 players.

230
00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,600
'Brands like Sony, Creative or Philips.

231
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:37,720
'But for me, it's the iPod that is synonymous with upgrading.'

232
00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:43,520
Is it fair to say that we've been living through a revolution, a digital revolution?

233
00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,040
Absolutely.

234
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:51,800
I mean, it's not only been a digital revolution, it's gone hand in hand with a design revolution

235
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,200
and I think the two are really interlinked.

236
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:09,640
With the iPod, Apple upped the design stakes and brought a new simplicity to music players.

237
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,120
Going digital freed the industry to play with the look and feel of devices.

238
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,520
But it's not just the thirty-something male readers of Stuff magazine

239
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,760
who have bought the latest iPods.

240
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:29,600
Women, kids, even old fogey dads like me have sported the famous white earphone.

241
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,800
While Apple were the established cool outsider brand,

242
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:43,560
I wonder if the iPod's success was also down to its advertising.

243
00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:49,160
'Robin Wight is a leading ad man who spent years researching advertising psychology.'

244
00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:56,920
Robin, when I think of iPod advertising, this is the advert I think of. The silhouette campaign.

245
00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,480
Why was this so important?

246
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:04,440
These are brilliant. First of all, you got this signalling of the white wire.

247
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,520
A big part of this young people's market

248
00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:10,720
is you're trying to signal your success...

249
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,000
about, basically, genetic fitness.

250
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:17,200
Through having an iPod they are saying, "I am good breeding stock."

251
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,160
You are exactly doing that. At an unconscious level and sometimes

252
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:24,560
at a conscious level you are saying that you can afford this... display activity

253
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:29,440
and you're actually signalling peacock-tail behaviour and signalling genetic fitness.

254
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,600
It is the mating game.

255
00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:33,600
How big do you think my iPod is?

256
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:36,760
Your iPod? I am sure you have the very latest one.

257
00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:42,680
A small one may be more status than a big one, at least in iPods.

258
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,640
Is it is crude as "I want to be that person?"

259
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:51,160
One of the points is you don't see who the person is so you could be that person.

260
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:52,720
You can identify with it.

261
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:54,960
It's concept of the incomplete proposition.

262
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,560
It's called the Zygonic Effect.

263
00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:01,320
If you have something that's incomplete, you complete the circle, which your brain will do,

264
00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,720
it's more engaging.

265
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:11,360
In your opinion, with an upgraded product, is that product a response to our need for an upgraded product

266
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:18,240
or is it simply the company's need to keep on selling these things? Well, it's a mixture of the two.

267
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:23,080
The company's need to keep selling things wouldn't work if there wasn't this underlying need.

268
00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:28,600
People need, for the function and signalling power, the upgrades. It drives human progress.

269
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:32,080
You should be happy. If humans didn't want to upgrade,

270
00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:34,800
we'd probably still be in the Middle Ages.

271
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:46,960
Apple and clever advertising psychology certainly helped grab music out of the Middle Ages.

272
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:50,920
But it's interesting today the biggest global player

273
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:55,480
in consumer electronics is not in the United States, or even in Japan.

274
00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:02,360
They're here, in South Korea,

275
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,440
at the cutting edge of the digital revolution.

276
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:13,480
I've just peeled myself out of the aeroplane after a ten-hour flight.

277
00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:17,520
The sun's coming up on a new country for me.

278
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:25,360
It's very exciting. And I'm heading to Gadget HQ, in Gadget City, in Gadget Country.

279
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,680
So I feel as if I'm right in the epicentre

280
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:33,840
of the technological revolution, and it's exciting.

281
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:42,920
South Korea is one of the world's most advanced digital societies.

282
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,000
The capital city Seoul is home to Samsung,

283
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:49,920
today the world's largest consumer electronics company.

284
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:56,080
Their global sales have overtaken Sony's, and competitors like Toshiba and Panasonic.

285
00:22:56,120 --> 00:23:00,480
This is Samsung's swanky new headquarters.

286
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:05,080
The company make an extraordinary diverse range of gadgets,

287
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:07,120
with products for every conceivable -

288
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,080
and some inconceivable - occasions.

289
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:24,360
In 2007, their global consumer electronics sales reached a staggering ¤105 billion.

290
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:29,480
Inside the HQ is Samsung D'light,

291
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:35,720
a glistening multimedia display promoting the creative philosophy of the company.

292
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,760
My guide is Seon Mi Jin.

293
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:44,160
Watch your step. Samsung D'light has three floors,

294
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,440
and now we are going to the first floor.

295
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,600
On the first floor, there are three kinds of genre -

296
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,440
image, text and sound.

297
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,520
Image, text and sound.

298
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,920
And it's also the kinds of marketing, and...

299
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:00,480
'The atmosphere is post-postmodern,

300
00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,400
'but one you can touch and play with!'

301
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,640
An other-worldly high-tech palace of the senses.

302
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,120
What have we got here?

303
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:15,800
Oh, yes, er, now you see our MP3 player.

304
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,960
Oh, they're MP3 players, are they? Yeah.

305
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,400
Right. It looks very light. Yes. Would you like to pick up?

306
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,800
Oh, yes.It's really light. It weighs nothing, does it?

307
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:30,840
So it's a sort of pebble-shaped iPod type thing?

308
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,800
Ah, yes, that could be. Yes.

309
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:37,520
Why would Samsung design something in the shape of a pebble?

310
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:42,560
It's designed like a pebble because it is easy to grip

311
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,120
and easy to hold,

312
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,800
and really a small one, yeah.

313
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,960
But it's sort of beautiful as well, isn't it?Yes, yes.

314
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,000
Is that the idea, to appeal to people's sense of beauty?

315
00:24:54,040 --> 00:25:00,160
Sure, yeah, so it's really popular for young people, especially,

316
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:04,560
and we also have a pebble design for DVD players.

317
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:11,720
Because a lot of the original gadgets were quite ugly, weren't they, but they, but they were useful.

318
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:17,360
But it seems now almost as if they're becoming jewellery, an ornament.

319
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:23,480
Ah, yeah, yeah. It could be also one idea with these MP3 players.

320
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:24,560
Yeah.

321
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:30,320
Walking around the exhibition is a calm and inviting experience.

322
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:34,160
It's design that wants us to engage and be at one with it.

323
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:40,920
Samsung's business is to create the products of tomorrow and to anticipate our desires.

324
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,440
Everything is lightweight and pleasing to the eye.

325
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:52,600
What's very clear, looking at these products, is that function is no longer a primary concern.

326
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:54,280
We all know that these things work.

327
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:59,920
It's about fashion now, it's about design, it's about decoration, it's about beauty.

328
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:02,880
Who knows - it could even be about art.

329
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,520
'Six floors above the showroom, Samsung's mobile phone design team

330
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:16,600
'are brainstorming next season's phones.

331
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:20,800
'Each year they're responsible for designing dozens of new models.'

332
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:43,400
'Surprisingly, they use literary notions to inspire their discussion with enigmatic team leader Eliot.

333
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,200
'Ideas like stories, emotion and identity.'

334
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,200
'The biggest trend in consumer electronics is convergence,

335
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,240
'gadgets that can do a multitude of things.

336
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:08,000
'The team's latest design is an upmarket touch-screen phone

337
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,560
'combined with camera, MP3 player and internet access.'

338
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:17,000
Actually designing something is like a journey

339
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,600
for finding kind of...a new story,

340
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,000
new kind of emotions for the people.

341
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:27,920
So they wanna express their lifestyle with this, you know,

342
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,400
very stylish phone, especially the back.

343
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,720
The back side is more important,

344
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:35,920
you know, it's getting more important these days.

345
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:41,120
So, through the back of the phone, because that's projecting towards other people,

346
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,160
you're signalling to other people what sort of person you are? That's right. That's right.

347
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,520
And what sort of person wouldIbe if I had this phone?

348
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,920
Would I be cool? Smart?

349
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,000
Both, I think.Sexy?

350
00:27:55,040 --> 00:28:00,560
Absolutely.And next year will there be a better phone than this?

351
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:08,360
Absolutely. Because, er, design trend is changing and people's emotion is also changing.

352
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:12,360
Does Korea have a huge appetite for new phones?

353
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,560
It's kind of test bed for new design, new technologies.

354
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:22,040
So, every time we introduce the new phones, people really like that.

355
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,240
Sometimes having...old phone here, it's kind of very strange.

356
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,520
ELECTRONIC PIANO PLAYS

357
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:42,000
On the 11th floor live Samsung's ring-tone team.

358
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,040
It might not be Mozart, but these little ditties

359
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:57,280
are the Pavlovian noises that send us scurrying to our phones.

360
00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,240
HIP-HOP BEAT

361
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,760
As if our devices speak to us using a language we all understand -

362
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:07,720
music.

363
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,040
BEEPING TUNE PLAYS

364
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:21,680
Across Seoul, I was then shown a vision of what Samsung think our domestic lives might become.

365
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,440
Hello.Hello, nice to meet you.Hi.

366
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,720
This is Future House.

367
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:32,520
We're joined here by Microsoft and Samsung Engineering And Construction to exhibit the house of the future.

368
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:36,880
So today I will be the owner of this house that I would like to introduce to you.

369
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,640
Please to be seated on the couch.

370
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:46,440
This is the living room and this cellphone is a key that's used to control my house,

371
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,640
and I can show you very briefly now.

372
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:57,080
And even I can check that where is my familyinside this living room.

373
00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:58,200
PHONE BLEEPS

374
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,720
When I'm wondering about the location of my little boy,

375
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:06,160
I can click the little boy pictures.

376
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:11,080
And this is a kind of GPS system so in the future every family member

377
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:13,360
have a chip.

378
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,080
Do you like this system?

379
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,280
Yeah the system's great.

380
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:21,400
Thank you very much.So every member of the family has a chip?

381
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,120
Yes.On them? In them?

382
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,680
Ah yes, both of them is possible

383
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:30,200
and I think in the future every family member have

384
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,520
chip-like bracelet, or necklace or cellphone is possible.

385
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,200
OK.

386
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,760
'I can understand the thinking here,

387
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:47,600
'but I'm not convinced this surveillance future is one I want to live in

388
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:51,560
'or find these huge multi-media gizmos in my living room.'

389
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,360
Is this the bathroom?Yes.

390
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,360
'But whatabout the bathroom of the future?

391
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,360
'A bathroom's a bathroom, right?'

392
00:30:58,400 --> 00:30:59,600
This is a biotron,

393
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:05,240
and actually you can check your health condition with this little check machine.

394
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,760
So would you like to try it?Yeah.

395
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,320
Yes, come over here and put your hand on the machine.

396
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,160
Put your both hands on.

397
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,440
Now start your health condition.

398
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,080
MACHINE SPEAKS: 'Checking your health condition.'

399
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:23,400
And you can see the diagnosis via amagic mirror.

400
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,400
'Health check is done'.

401
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,000
Now it's done, Simon.

402
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:32,880
How was I?You will see the result via magic mirror.

403
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:38,040
Oh, Simon, congratulations you have great condition. My body is my temple.

404
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:43,880
It's a good diet.Yes. And also they are recommending a programme for you Simon.

405
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,600
What did it check? Did it check my pulse, my heart rate?

406
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:54,120
Yes, in the future you can check health condition in this house and without going to hospital.

407
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:59,160
Have you ever exercised in yoga? No, do I have to do that now?

408
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:05,360
So just remember you can exercise very easily. Very good.

409
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:09,880
'Straighten yourself, with your palms on your waist'.

410
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,560
This is called the house of the future.

411
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:17,240
How far into the future will it be before we've got all these gadgets?

412
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:23,080
Actually now it's not available but we try to actualise in about ten years.Ten years?Yes.

413
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:27,160
Can you do that?I think so.

414
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:46,200
# Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars

415
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:52,680
# Let me know what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars... #

416
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,360
'Sitting in the bedroom of the future,

417
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:59,000
'you realise that the future is - how shall we put it? -

418
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,160
'A question of personal taste.

419
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,880
'And that certain visions of the future can even seem,

420
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,080
'well, old fashioned.'

421
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:21,760
'I'm struck by a comment from Elliot, the mobile phone designer, about how Koreans are a nation of up-graders.'

422
00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:25,760
'And the country is a test-bed for Samsung's new products.

423
00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:30,400
'In Seoul everywhere you go you see people with the latest gadgets.

424
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,320
'It's hyper real and hyper active.

425
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,280
'They've got Wi-Fi and digital TV reception across Korea

426
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,280
'even on the underground.

427
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,520
'You could be standing inches away from somebody

428
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:49,040
'totally absorbed in what they're doing - watching telly, listening to music.

429
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:55,400
'But for some reason in this country, it doesn't appear rude. It just seems to be the norm.'

430
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:05,000
'It's odd to witness so many people in their own private universes.

431
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:10,040
'Are they stimulated, or insulated against the world?

432
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:15,520
'Even in public places, you sometimes get the feeling that you're on your own.'

433
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:25,880
'Koreans love their video games.

434
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,520
'Throughout the country you'll find PC-Bhangs,

435
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:35,400
'places where young men are engrossed in game-playing for hours on end.

436
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:37,080
'It seems alien to me.

437
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:42,000
'The last video game I played was Space Invaders in a pub in 1985.'

438
00:34:47,720 --> 00:34:52,640
'Gaming's so much part of the culture here they have professional leagues

439
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:55,320
'and games are even screened on TV!

440
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:01,920
'How did Korea became this advanced digital society?

441
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,080
'I met up with Korean culture writer Bernard Cho.'

442
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,640
What is it about Korea? Is there something in the psyche

443
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:14,120
that naturally leads to gadgets and electronic devices?

444
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:21,680
Well, I think if you look at modern Korean history, Korea has developed so quickly, economically,

445
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:26,280
politically, and more importantly from a technology standpoint.

446
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:33,040
Towards the late 90s the Korean Government invested heavily into the internet, into technology,

447
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:37,320
and you saw a huge take off in terms of Korean brands developing

448
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,760
instead of imitative, veryinnovative products

449
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:46,680
you saw the whole Korean online digital society really take off, soif a new trend's gonna break

450
00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:50,520
with an advanced wired and wireless society as Korea,

451
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:54,800
I mean, it's gonna spread instantly.

452
00:35:56,720 --> 00:36:00,720
'Samsung have come to epitomise the development of Korea.

453
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,880
'Once seen as followers of Japan and the West,

454
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:09,640
'they're now one of the trendsetters. They've taken their products upmarket

455
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:15,880
'and the company's reputation appears to be source of national pride here.

456
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,920
'But when it's minus seven in the middle of Seoul's busiest street,

457
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:23,160
'it's a bit of a reality check.'

458
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:30,080
'And even the finest virtual reality gadget in the world can't stop it feeling unbelievably cold.'

459
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,080
I'm on way to Suwon, about 25 miles outside Seoul.

460
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:49,520
I'm going to Samsung's Research and Development headquarters.

461
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:58,560
'I'm curious about how Samsung have achieved their success.

462
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:05,880
'This kind of global triumph doesn't happen by accident, so what's the secret?

463
00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:10,000
'At the Suwon research complex,

464
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:17,440
'26,000 scientists and company executives are developing tomorrow's technologies.

465
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:22,520
'Through R&D, last year Samsung were one of the largest holders

466
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,880
'of new technology patents registered in the US.

467
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:33,320
'At Suwon, they also house the whole history of the company and generations of its upgrades.'

468
00:37:36,240 --> 00:37:42,120
When were you originally based here? The sixties?Yeah, sixties. It's a long time ago.

469
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:48,160
Is there one innovation above all others that's led to this technological revolution?

470
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:53,160
Yes, and I believe one of the most important and a key

471
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,880
component to success is our chip business.

472
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:59,640
Samsung is one of the most advanced technology company

473
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,480
in developing and commercialise the semi-conductor chips.

474
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:07,040
That technology is really a core and the centre of

475
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:10,400
all the development and commercial gadgets.

476
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:15,200
You could say that the semi-conducted chip is at the heart of the revolution

477
00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:20,360
and is almost like the beating heart of the device as well?I believe so.

478
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:25,280
Because without that chip, technologies, we couldn't develop

479
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:32,240
in a very fancyand a very high technologies,gadgets like LCD TV and cell phones.

480
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:40,800
'For Samsung, it's their investment in R&D, particularly nano-technology,

481
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,040
'that they believe is the key to their success.

482
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:50,160
'It's nano-technology that is also the driving force behind the upgrade.

483
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:55,160
'In the electronics industry it's called Moore's law.

484
00:38:55,200 --> 00:39:02,080
'Across the industry, the number of transistors manufacturers have been able to fit on a silicon chip

485
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:06,440
'has literally doubled every two years since the early late 1960s.

486
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:10,480
'It helps explain how gadgets have become smaller and cheaper,

487
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,120
'with exponential increases in processing power.'

488
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:18,880
If you were to close your eyes and dream,

489
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:23,000
what does the future hold for the device, for the gadget?

490
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:28,720
What kind of gadget can you imagine in five years, in ten years?

491
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:33,440
That is also one of the verycritical questions

492
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,840
that all theelectronic companies are facing.

493
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:42,120
You know, we believe one of the gadgets will prevail over othergadgets.

494
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:46,320
It should be a cell phone, should be TV, should be computer.

495
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:50,360
I don't know, but we believe the market will decide.

496
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:55,720
But one thing I can be sure is, you know the convergenceera will continue.

497
00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:07,360
'Before leaving, I thought I'd take advantage of the Wi-Fi signal here,

498
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:11,160
'and try Skyping home for the first time.'

499
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:13,400
Hello.

500
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:16,600
'Hello. Hello.'You all right?

501
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,360
'Yes. How are you?'

502
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:23,640
All right. It works.'Itcertainly does. It's pretty amazing.

503
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:25,280
'Shall I wave? Hello!'

504
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,640
HE LAUGHS

505
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:31,640
'Yeah, I think it's great.'

506
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:35,400
It's an interesting place. It's gadget crazy.

507
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:39,800
I don't know what this country would do if they had a power cut!

508
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,760
'Not much gadget action at this end!'

509
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:49,680
I have a very important question to ask you. Do you know how United went on last night?

510
00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:55,440
'No! Would I know how United wenton last night, Simon? Sorry I don't.'

511
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,080
You couldn't just flick Ceefax on for me, could you?

512
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:04,360
It seems a weird, given that I've only just got here, but I'll be back tomorrow.

513
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:08,240
'I know,that's pretty strange as well.

514
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:13,160
'But that's absolutely amazing, absolutely incredible to do that,

515
00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:15,560
'and we should be doing more of it.

516
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:17,760
'It's great.

517
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:21,800
'Bye.'Bye. See you tomorrow. Bye. 'Yeah. See you. Bye.'

518
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:37,160
'For me, the enthusiasm with which Korea has embraced technology is the biggest eye-opener.

519
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:43,200
'For Koreans, technology is the unquestioned road to prosperity and enlightenment.

520
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:54,760
'Back in Yorkshire the contrast with Seoul couldn't be starker. Apart from the snow, obviously.

521
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:04,240
'So, my body's back on the day job but my thoughts are still in Asia.

522
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:08,280
'In 30 years, Korea has been transformed beyond all recognition.

523
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:11,200
'It's wired to the digital future

524
00:42:11,240 --> 00:42:16,280
'and is years ahead of us in its connectivity.

525
00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:19,600
'What's happened in Britain in the same period?

526
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:25,080
'The way our pasts shape our lives is a subject I return to again and again as a poet.

527
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:29,600
'Growing up in the seventies, life was rather different.

528
00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,720
'There were no mobile phones or personal stereos back then.

529
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:37,400
'What did we do all the time? How did we survive?'

530
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,640
This is my parents' living room,

531
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:46,000
and I used to spend a lot of time in this room,

532
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:49,600
and it was a big deal if anything ever changed.

533
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:53,160
You got a new telly or new phone or new record player.

534
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:59,480
It was a big deal, because that's how it was then. You got things and you kept them.

535
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:04,880
'Back then, objects had sentimental value. They were imbued with memories.

536
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:09,720
'I wonder if this is lost with the speed of upgrading?

537
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:14,560
'Objects were once landmarks and anchors for our pasts.

538
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:18,120
'This is an old laptop of mine. My mum uses it now.

539
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:23,000
'Today we've barely got to know an object before it's being replaced.'

540
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,640
'But I'm not saying we should keep living in the past.

541
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:34,000
'Back in the nineteenth century the Luddites attempted to halt

542
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:38,160
'the march of technology and people lost their lives.

543
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:43,760
'Here in Marsden you don't have to look too far to find evidence of that conflict.'

544
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,960
This is the grave of Enoch Taylor who had a foundry in the village.

545
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,600
He made cropping devices that did the work of ten men.

546
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:55,720
The Luddites smashed it up with a hammer they called Enoch and said,

547
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,520
"Enoch shall make em and Enoch shall break em."

548
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:06,560
So this is the confluence point of technology and anti technology, right here on my doorstep.

549
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:24,080
'These days there really aren't many people who actively reject technology.

550
00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:28,800
'Even the greenest of the greens usually have a website.

551
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:35,120
'To find someone who had taken a stand led me here to Pembrokeshire.

552
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:41,400
'For the past decade, Emma Orbach has lived here without any of today's techno trappings.'

553
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:47,920
Hello.Hiya.

554
00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:50,160
Hello. Hiya. Simon.

555
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:52,600
I'm Emma.Pleased to meet you. Hiya.

556
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:57,920
Good. Do you want to come in? Shall I slip my shoes off? Yeah, if you don't mind.

557
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:10,800
I don't suppose there could be that many people in Britain who would want to live like this, do you think?

558
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:14,640
Yes, sometimes I've thought about...

559
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:20,200
If I was discovered livinglike this there could beshock horror headlines.

560
00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:24,240
"Middle-aged woman foundin hovel in woods withoutelectricity or water."

561
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:29,360
And so what is the difference between that scenario and how I experience living here?

562
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:34,280
And the difference is that I CHOOSE to live like this and that, for me, it's beautiful.

563
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:38,000
I'm not a victim of a circumstance that I would wish to be otherwise.

564
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:42,880
So to own a gadget would not make you any happier?

565
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:45,040
No, it makes me a bit depressed.

566
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:46,920
Does it?Yes.Why?

567
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:54,360
Because they always break down and they make a noise and they end up as landfill

568
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:57,560
and they're just part of the consumer nightmare.

569
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:04,880
It must be great to just get up in the morning and be out here in the land.

570
00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:07,120
Yes, it is really beautiful,

571
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:11,200
'Emma has lived without a washing machine for 30 years.

572
00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:15,920
'She's got no TV, no microwave, no radio even.

573
00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:18,600
'Her one concession to communication -

574
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,560
'a landline two fields away.

575
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:25,800
'It's low-impact living, in extremis.

576
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:31,600
'Yet in spite of the absence of mod cons, Emma doesn't seem to want for anything.'

577
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:34,400
So beautiful.Do they come out with their spikes...

578
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:38,360
No, when they're born, they're little pink rubbery things.

579
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,640
Have you renounced technology?

580
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:45,320
That's a really interesting question for me

581
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:51,440
and I've started to feel that I'm a conscientious objector really.

582
00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:57,440
And, for me, I am not convinced that technology and gadgets,

583
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:01,760
add to the quality of my life - in fact, I think they detract from it.

584
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,720
What would constitute an upgrade in your world?

585
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:07,480
I can't think of anything,

586
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:13,000
apart from, yes, I do have an ambition to upgrade my trivet,

587
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:17,120
so that for my visitors... don't have wooden handles,

588
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:23,960
and that's quite a sophisticated sort of bit of innovative modern technology for me, yeah.

589
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,840
I wonder where you'd go to update your trivet?

590
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:29,360
Oh, I'd just get somebody to do it for me.

591
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:32,280
Trivets R Us?There's somebody who makes them locally.

592
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:39,280
On the face of it, a life like this seems quite seductive almost,

593
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:40,920
especially on a sunny day,

594
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:45,600
and I think I could live without TV, and I could probably live without a washing machine

595
00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:47,760
and a microwave and that kind of thing.

596
00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:53,120
But I would find it very difficult to be out of contact for so long,

597
00:47:53,160 --> 00:47:58,720
and so giving up the email and giving up the phone, I think, I would find impossible,

598
00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:04,720
even now with my phone in my pocket I'm wondering which calls I might have missed.

599
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:07,200
So I'm going to go and check.

600
00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:21,600
'Back in the blur of central London, Pembrokeshire feels like a distant era. My phone's back on.

601
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:23,520
'So I'm happy, right?'

602
00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:27,800
Hi Catherine, hi. Where are you?

603
00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:33,520
Yeah, I will, I'm in the station now. I'll see you in five minutes. OK, bye.

604
00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:39,200
'To find out if gadgets really do make us happy, I've come to St Pancras Station

605
00:48:39,240 --> 00:48:42,160
'to meet a consumer psychologist.'

606
00:48:44,240 --> 00:48:48,160
We know that upgrade culture has been accelerating through the years.

607
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:51,360
What effect would you say that was having on us as people?

608
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:53,880
I would say it has a detrimental effect.

609
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:57,240
We're not aware of how it actually impacts on us

610
00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:00,960
because we are on a hedonic treadmill of consumption

611
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:02,960
if you like, whereby we tend

612
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:06,840
to purchase more and more and more products, especially gadgets.

613
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:10,040
And unfortunately people have a subconscious belief

614
00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:12,680
that it will make them happier and it doesn't.

615
00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:17,160
Because we believe it's going to make us happier we keep purchasing the next product

616
00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:20,520
in the hope that it's going to fulfil some psychological need.

617
00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:24,080
But what about the specifications and the functionality?

618
00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:26,960
You know, for example, on my phone now I can get email

619
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:31,440
and I couldn't do that before and that makes me, I think, happy. Am I just deluded?

620
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,640
It might be practical. No, I wouldn't say you're deluded,

621
00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:36,960
but most of the time people don't make use

622
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:39,960
of all the kind of functions that a gadget actually has.

623
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:44,920
Salman Rushdie once said this thing that we've all got a God-shaped hole inside of us,

624
00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:50,320
but I actually wonder whether this hole inside of us is actually the shape of a laptop or an iPod,

625
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:54,000
and that we won't be happy until we can stuff all this technology in

626
00:49:54,040 --> 00:49:56,520
and become gods and machines at the same time.

627
00:49:56,560 --> 00:50:00,360
Um, I wouldn't quite put it that way,

628
00:50:00,400 --> 00:50:05,040
but I think what people are trying to seek for in life in general is some sort of happiness

629
00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:11,440
and I think if they believe that these products are the route to happiness then, yes,

630
00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:15,880
they might have to decide to be more fully-integrated with them somehow,

631
00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:19,800
but if you don't have that belief you're probably going to back off

632
00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:22,520
and see the whole thing as a rather nasty idea.

633
00:50:22,560 --> 00:50:26,200
You don't see technology as being the road to paradise anyway, do you?

634
00:50:26,240 --> 00:50:29,200
I don't see any consumption being the route to paradise.

635
00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:40,280
'The road to paradise doesn't always follow the scenic route.

636
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:50,280
'This is Sweep Electronics Recycling Plant in Kent.'

637
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,080
Will every TV in the land end up somewhere like this?

638
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:03,360
Yeah, there is well-established legislation around TVs. They are classified as a hazardous waste.

639
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:07,760
If you wanted any evidence that people are upgrading all the time, this is it.

640
00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:10,000
It's not long since I had a TV like this,

641
00:51:10,040 --> 00:51:12,320
it's not like they are 1950s stuff.

642
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:17,560
Not at all. I recognise my model on occasions, I've actually got a glass telly still at home myself.

643
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:25,240
The scale of it is overpowering - it's just all these sort of disgorged innards just piling up.

644
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:27,200
It's not pretty, is it?

645
00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:32,720
No, it's not but you can look at it the other way - it's here being recycled rather going to landfill.

646
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:36,800
It's scary to see it, but I'd much rather than not see it at all.

647
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:40,440
'This is a big operation.

648
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:44,680
'They recycle 3,000 televisions a day here.

649
00:51:44,720 --> 00:51:50,680
'They are disassembled by hand and then the materials are re-used to make new TVs.

650
00:51:55,360 --> 00:52:01,280
'Every day, they also process 40 tonnes of computers, devices and white goods.

651
00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:06,280
'An elephants' graveyard of gadgets and gizmos.

652
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:10,880
'But what's recycled is only a fraction of what's dumped in landfill.'

653
00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:16,160
It feels insane that even stuff like this that's, I mean, it's only a few years old

654
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:20,360
and it would have cost thousands of pounds, just chucked in a tip.

655
00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:26,320
It feels like a kind of madness as if, you know, it can't possibly carry on like this.

656
00:52:32,280 --> 00:52:36,200
Well, it's the end of the road for the Palm PDA.

657
00:52:36,240 --> 00:52:40,200
I would be lying if I said that I was sorry to see it go.

658
00:52:40,240 --> 00:52:45,280
And it's going to that place where all Palm PDAs go at the end of their life,

659
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:51,040
it's Palm PDA heaven it's going to - it's going in the crusher.

660
00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:02,560
'I'm glad the PDA has gone to a sound environmental heaven.

661
00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:05,520
'But will it stop me buying the next, new thing?

662
00:53:15,640 --> 00:53:21,000
'Whether it is frustrating or useful, or simply a beautiful object

663
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:28,000
'to impress our friends with, we continue to embrace new technology ever closer.

664
00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:33,680
'The economic imperative tends to drive innovation forward.

665
00:53:33,720 --> 00:53:37,200
'The cutting edge of technology is constantly changing

666
00:53:37,240 --> 00:53:40,800
'and the possibilities are extraordinary.'

667
00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:45,080
We get very emotionally attached to our gadgets,

668
00:53:45,120 --> 00:53:49,080
but is there a future where we get physically attached to them as well,

669
00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:52,200
to the point where we might want to upgrade ourselves?

670
00:53:52,240 --> 00:53:57,640
Is there a future where technology is not just at our fingertips but in our fingertips?

671
00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:00,680
Maybe that's the next frontier.

672
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:12,600
'In the last decade, what was once science fiction has become science fact.

673
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:18,560
'Computer chips have been implanted in the cochlea to restore hearing to deaf children.

674
00:54:18,600 --> 00:54:23,600
'Researchers are working on chips attached to the retina to restore sight loss.

675
00:54:27,160 --> 00:54:32,040
'Here at Cambridge University's Institute of Biotechnology,

676
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:37,600
'they're developing sensors to be implanted inside the body to give doctors real-time information

677
00:54:37,640 --> 00:54:41,520
'about proteins and molecules inside the bloodstream.'

678
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:49,440
Your first work in this field was with chips, wasn't it?

679
00:54:49,480 --> 00:54:51,880
That's correct. Are these the kind of chips

680
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,360
that you were working on? These are the chips

681
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:56,240
that we developed a few years ago.

682
00:54:56,280 --> 00:54:59,520
So this chip would be, what, implanted into the body?

683
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:01,640
This particular chip is exactly that.

684
00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:06,000
We designed this to monitor glucose and to be implanted within the body,

685
00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:08,480
and you can see it's a relatively small size chip

686
00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:13,080
and it would be implanted either in a location like here or perhaps around the midriff.

687
00:55:13,120 --> 00:55:16,800
The problem with this technology is it's actually quite expensive

688
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:18,400
and that's why we stopped it,

689
00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:22,400
to see whether we could find cheaper alternatives to monitor glucose

690
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:26,000
and other metabolites in the body with a much simpler system.

691
00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:30,600
'The scientists are developing two types of sensor -

692
00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:34,320
'one using light, and one using sound.

693
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:38,480
'The light device is a hologram

694
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:42,520
'produced by lasers that fire onto specially developed polymers.

695
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:48,720
'The hologram changes colour in response to changes in the blood chemistry.

696
00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:54,720
'With acoustics, a radio signal is sent to the tiny transparent sensor,

697
00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:57,800
'which then sends back the blood information.'

698
00:55:57,840 --> 00:56:01,400
That just looks to me like a contact lens or something.

699
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,480
Yeah, it is actually a quartz disc made out of silica.

700
00:56:04,520 --> 00:56:07,160
And that goes under someone's skin?

701
00:56:07,200 --> 00:56:10,840
Correct. And transmits information about what?

702
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:16,200
One of the major applications of this is to monitor glucose in blood of diabetics in real time.

703
00:56:16,240 --> 00:56:20,680
If we can do that and control the blood glucose far more precisely

704
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:24,880
than you would if you were saying pricking your finger say five or so times a day,

705
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:29,840
then I think what you'd have is the ability to control the diabetes far better,

706
00:56:29,880 --> 00:56:33,880
and you would not suffer a lot of the consequences of diabetes,

707
00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:38,080
like blindness, for example, and also problems with the kidney.

708
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:41,840
'For now, this sensor technology remains experimental.

709
00:56:41,880 --> 00:56:46,800
'In the future, the hope is it will improve diagnosis and treatment

710
00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:52,040
'for conditions such as stress, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis.

711
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:55,920
'The sensors could help patients better manage their symptoms.'

712
00:56:55,960 --> 00:57:01,840
Would you describe this kind of technology as sort of an upgrade to the human body?

713
00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:05,680
In the sense that you're not going to suffer from all the side reactions

714
00:57:05,720 --> 00:57:08,560
that you'd normally have, of course it's an upgrade,

715
00:57:08,600 --> 00:57:13,320
but there are other applications of that. We've been looking at some sports applications,

716
00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:19,560
bearing in mind we have the Olympics in 2012, and that the elite athletes are interested in monitoring

717
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:24,280
their glucose and lactate levels because this determines their performance.

718
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:28,120
If you could monitor that and have some control over that during training,

719
00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:30,160
you could upgrade their performance.

720
00:57:30,200 --> 00:57:36,080
Does that move then to, you know, being able to measure somebody's state of mind?

721
00:57:36,120 --> 00:57:38,560
In terms of measuring their state of mind,

722
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:44,120
it depends on, can we find something to measure which would be an indicator of their state of mind?

723
00:57:44,160 --> 00:57:48,080
If the answer's yes to that, if we could find a measure of that,

724
00:57:48,120 --> 00:57:51,600
some chemical measure of it, we could in theory do the same thing.

725
00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:54,760
This is a long way into the future, of course.

726
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:04,960
Technology plays a central role in our imaginations.

727
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:08,960
But just how close do we want our relationship to become?

728
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:14,200
We've placed our faith in these bewildering ingenious objects

729
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:17,200
to the point where we'd be lost and angry without them.

730
00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:25,720
I've got my gadgets, though, and after decades of upgrading they seem perfect to me.

731
00:58:25,760 --> 00:58:28,000
So I can be happy with my lot.

732
00:58:28,040 --> 00:58:31,040
At least, that is, until tomorrow.