In the past, Apple has stretched boundaries and disfigured them beyond belief. Now, in its latest ad campaign, boundaries don’t exist. It’s not an exercise in innovation, rather a ‘difficult to watch’ expression of bravado.
The ad is a science-fiction film come to life. Set in grey-scaled metallic tones, it systematically destroys creative instruments and artefacts. Not with a bang, not with a whimper. Just in stony silence. What emerges from the rubble is the improved, and sleeker-than-ever iPad Pro –– “the thinnest product we’ve ever created,” CEO Tim Cook proudly proclaims in an X post.
There’s a distinctly time-warp-ish feel to the ad. Tech from a bygone era. There’s an arcade gaming console, a model of the bird from Angry Birds, an old-timey music system.
But there’s also a grand piano, a sculpture, cameras, and a guitar that are destroyed. Essentially, the company’s trying to say that everything –– recreational activities, hobbies, work, entertainment, art and even our entire lives — can be compressed into the iPad Pro.
Art compressed in a device
The iPad Pro is a symptom, an expression of a disease that Big tech has come to represent. It’s unsettling to think of the machismo with which tech companies operate. The grossly inflated sense of self, the complete and utter lack of nuance, and their own infallibility. The structures that have governed the world for the past hundreds of years are in danger of being replaced by tech in various forms—this appears to be the principle.
Whether it is governance, healthcare, or education, tech has seeped in. And the flip side is apparently a terrifyingly skewed power dynamic, with only a handful of companies benefiting while those without access are thrown to the wayside.
We are always talking about the feverish pace with which things change; how we are entirely beholden to technology, how it’s unimaginable to think about life pre-internet or pre-iPhone. But it wasn’t all that long ago. Tech-ubiquity and our new-age propensity for snap judgments make it feel like the world is always on the verge of catastrophe. But it’s shortsighted and arrogant to say that the fate of creativity and art hinges on a mere device.
It’s impossible to predict what the next few decades will bring, the directions in which tech will take us. There’s an AI revolution upon us, the ways in which we communicate have changed permanently, as have the ways in which we navigate life. While it might sound contrived to say, there’s a degree of truth to it. But art, artists, and creative practitioners of all kinds have withstood various atmospheric changes.
Revolution lies in the middle
But it’s not as much about them, as it is about the hubris of our do-gooder tech despots. The idea that technology is supposed to replace everything that makes us human (art, for one), and the light at the end of the tunnel is mechanised convenience, is hard to comprehend. It’s fun to discuss whether we are living in a dystopia, or if the tech-revolution is going to lead to some sort of utopia. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. We are not there yet; it’s not that heavyset.
Apple’s clunky Vision Pro headset is supposed to be a mediator between us and the world. Reality is augmented, shinier, newer—and the screen is no longer an interloper, and is basically part of your body. “I would say my experience was religious,” James Cameron told Vanity Fair. “I was skeptical at first. I don’t bow down before the great god of Apple, but I was really, really blown away.” He was quoted in the magazine’s January cover article, which had Tim Cook on the cover. A revolution was upon us.
Fast forward a few months later: it’s priced at over $3,500, reviews have been mixed, and sales are dropping. It was supposed to be Apple’s most game-changing product since the iPhone. There’s no great demise or anything, and Apple’s producing apps specifically for the Vision Pro, but it goes to show that maybe we aren’t all on the same wavelength.
There are probably people who still watch TV on TataSky. The horror.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)