Consumer technology can evoke a mix of love and hatred in its users, making it ripe for comedy.
Take smartphones, for example. We may come to feel dependent on our pocket-sized gadgets, but we may also feel embarrassed about our dependency and grow to resent the devices, as if they are sentient beings bent on making us weak or incapable of functioning independently.
Hatred, is a strange emotion to feel towards a phone, a fact that is not lost on comedian Louis C.K., who calls out smartphone owners for being ungrateful for their "amazing" devices. "We have these phones that you can call in an airstrike. You can look at the top of your own head," said the standup star during his 2011 Comedy Central special Hilarious. "We have this beautiful thing, and we hate it. I never saw a person going, 'Look at what my phone can do!' Nobody does that. They all go 'This f-----g thing it sucks.'"
Check out our slideshow (below) to see more from Louis C.K. on ungrateful consumers, Patton Oswalt on loving and hating Tivo, Bill Murray feeling overwhelmed by futuristic innovations, Mitch Hedberg on why owning a phone or pager is unnecessary, and other hysterical comedic rants about technology.
Louis C.K. On Ungrateful Smartphone Users
"Everything is amazing and nobody's happy. [...] This is what people are like now, they've got their phone, and they're like, 'uhhhh, it won't--' GIVE IT A SECOND! It's going to space. Can you give it a second to get back from space? Is the speed of light too slow for you?"
Bill Murray Feeling Baffled By High-Tech Consumer Goods
"Why don't they have hands on the watches like they used to? People have hands. I think that watches should have hands."
Mitch Hedberg On Why He Doesn't Own A Phone Or Pager
"I don't have a cellphone or a pager. I just hang around everyone I know all the time."
Patton Oswalt On Tivo's Amazing And Bad Qualities
"I got my Tivo as a gift. It's the greatest gift I've ever received, greater even than the gift of life."
Robin Williams On His Love For Video Games
"It's always weird when you play online and you get owned by a 10-year-old. [<em>Affects a high-pitched voice</em>.] 'You're my bitch! Hey, old man, I own your ass!'"
Louis C.K. On Cellphones And Flying
"People on planes they complain. They get off the plane, and they come to your house and tell you about their whole flight experience, and they make it sound like it was a cattle car in Poland in the 40's."
Pete Holmes On How Smartphones Are Ruining Our lives
"There was a time when if you didn't know where Tom Petty was from, you just didn't know."
Bill Sanitiago Is Sick Of Facebook
"These people are not your friends. Sending you cocktails? They wouldn't buy you a drink in real life. Poking? I would put a stop to the poking right away."
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Speed of light is not the bottleneck, there are latency issues and server lag just to name a couple. But I agree, we expect too much too soon. Be patient.
theveggiedude: Speed of light is not the bottleneck, there are latency
for a truly insightful look at technology and its probable influence in the downfall of humanity, i implore you read ted kaczynski's manifeso, which can be found here:
The Huffington Post Ramona Emerson First Posted: 02/20/2012 2:06 pm Updated: 02/20/2012 2:39 pm