'We all have basic needs like food, sex, clothing and shelter. Almost everything else (including the book you are now reading) is wants, often artificially created by the culture in which we live.' - From the introduction to Ballard's The Subliminal Man
True, true - of course I didn't need another book! I bought it anyway, not because it was forced onto me through subliminal advertising but because I was already aware of it and whilst searching the online Oxfam shop's sci-fi section it appeared at an irresistibly reduced price of £6.
I like the theme and what a great cover (no credit given for the designer). Love that 'futuristic' font too, a variation on the one used by the BBC's Tomorrow's World (first transmitted on 7 July 1965)
Tomorrow's World looked at developments in science and technology. By the 70s it was attracting 10 million viewers per week, including my family. Science for the masses! You may find it hard to believe but trust me when I tell you that the programme's popularity did not reflect a sudden awakening to the wonders of science on behalf of the proletariat. No. It was essential escapism from the reality of industrial Britain, heavy Industrial Britain, you know, when we still had an industry, we made things, important things like steel...and we dug up tons of coal, which came in handy too...and men were men who did the dirty, dangerous work, not the wimps of today sat tapping keys in offices all day because what Tomorrow's World predicted came true in the form of computers in every home, office and hand!
Yes, real men, 70s men, such as the miners, willing to strike at the drop of a fag butt and stay on strike until they got what they wanted even when it meant the government deciding to ration the use of electricity therefore probably preventing everyone from being able to watch Tomorrow's World. The television broadcasting restrictions were introduced on 17 December 1973, suspended for the Christmas and New Year period, and lifted on 8 February 1974. I remember those candle-lit nights but I can't remember what we did as a family. It must have been hard. I'm guessing playing cards were useful. Board games? Long conversations? Not likely...
'This terminal is linked to a giant brain' says the narrator - ha-ha! I love it - very sci-fi. The warning signs were there. In the next century, giant Silicon Valley 'brains' would be manipulating information, tracking our every move online and censoring material not deemed politically acceptable (laptop? What laptop?). And there's little Nicholas, aged four, an early adopter and innocent forerunner of today's young addicts who, at a slightly later stage, laugh at their parents' attempts to monitor their online activity whilst they peruse porn, follow lifestyle influencers and watch Drill videos under the duvet.
When it comes to book-buying, as helpless consumers we addicts may as well live in an area where giant signs advertising must-have reads loom large over roads and houses (as in Ballard's story). Unlike the fictitious one though, the scenario would have to be a purely personal one. The signs would not say 'BUY NOW NEW CAR NOW' as they do in the story but 'BUY ----- (desired book) NOW BUY NEW ------ NOW'.
Now we 'drive' along the highways and byways of the internet, the not-so-subliminal signage taking the form of shopping baskets on various sites, filled with thumbnail images of what we want and so, ironically, it isn't size that counts; it doesn't need to be a massive billboard, just a small representation of our desires. No great effort required. No visits to a showroom. Just the click of a mouse! Tomorrow's world today and all the books we desire, instantly!
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