Fitter, Happier, More Innovative… The Legacy of Radiohead’s “OK Computer”

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Maheshwari, P. (2018, March 4). Fitter, Happier, More Productive. Medium. https://medium.com/@pranshum/fitter-happier-more-productive-f04fb04e9c05

Radiohead’s “Fitter Happier” offers an opportunity to reflect on unrealistic expectations of progress:


Radiohead. (2016, April 6). Fitter Happier [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4SzvsMFaek



I gathered a few articles that I thought best encapsulated the song’s meaning, and I found it reflected what a financial planner would spit out as the expectations for personal progress. As people, we can see this rapid succession as unreasonable, but to a computer, it creates an ideal society. How many people truly want to live this way, and can an algorithm accurately accommodate those who don’t? When applied to banking, will an algorithm be able to initiate self-growth or should it rely on the customer to set it in motion?

One article mentions social media as a driving force behind connection and detachment; I think this could be broadened to emerging technology as a whole. This concept calls attention to a society driven by consumerism, slowly creeping into false hope. How can this be turned around? What is there to incentivize people, if not more stuff and promised progress?

In what ways can technology perform as a tool for positive change instead of adding to the disconnection? How would a system use artificial interactions to balance the need for authentic relationships?


References

Hong, W. (2017). Fitter, Happier, More Innovative… The Legacy of Radiohead’s “OK Computer.” The Spectator. https://stuyspec.com/article/fitter-happier-more-innovative-the-legacy-of-radiohead-s-ok-computer
Maheshwari, P. (2018, March 4). Fitter, Happier, More Productive. Medium. https://medium.com/@pranshum/fitter-happier-more-productive-f04fb04e9c05
Zaleski, A. (2017, May 15). Writer’s Block and Unsettled Thoughts Inform Radiohead’s ‘Fitter Happier.’ Townsquare Media. https://diffuser.fm/radiohead-fitter-happier/