The Thing Power of the Haptic Suit

The people of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011) give things a lot of power in their lives and tend to ignore things like the environment or real life. Before we delve into the thing power and the analysis of the book, we might as well give you a brief summary of the book if you have not read it before.

Ready Player One Book Cover 

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The story opens on a world that is devastated by political issues, social issues, environmental issues, and everything else that you could imagine to be wrong. The people in this society rely on something called the OASIS, which is an online virtual reality that simulates real life because it has politics, an economy, a public school system as well as fantasy things like magic and advanced technology seen in Star Wars and other SciFi worlds. Wade Watts is the main character and an orphan who lives with his aunt. However, when he becomes the first person to find the first key in Jim Halliday's death bed competition, he opens himself up for a lot of hardships within the OASIS and in real life. IOI, a corporation who wants to take control of the OASIS, threatens Wade by saying if he does not help them, they will kill him. They make good on their promise by blowing up his trailer that has many people inside. Luckily, Wade snuck out before then and is in his hideout safely on the ground. By losing the little family he has left, Wade starts out on the adventure of a life time to find the rest of these keys and the final prize, Halliday's Easter Egg, which gives the person who finds it control of the OASIS and the fortune left behind by Halliday. This is should give you a very brief gist of what happens in the book, if you want to know more, go ahead and read it! (or watch the movie, I guess) 

In order to have a more realistic experience in the OASIS, people who have a little more money can get these things called 'haptic suits.' These suits allow for the player to feel the pressure, movements, and different senses that their avatar would feel in the OASIS. In my mind, a haptic suit looks like an astronaut's space suit (see below), but maybe a little less bulky and the helmet is more like virtual reality goggles.

My Idea of a Haptic Suit 

https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/11-things-you-might-not-know-about-tim-peakes-spacesuit/

The Ready Player One movie does not show these suits to look like an astronaut suit, but when we get to "thing power," it will make more sense. Look below to see how the movie depicts these suits. 

A Ready Player One Haptic Suit

https://www.slashgear.com/holosuit-makes-ready-player-ones-haptic-suit-a-reality-02536386/

Now that all of Ready Player One and the existence of the haptic suit is established, we can talk about new materialism and the real purpose of this blog post. The haptic suit is important because I think that the world gives these suits so much power. Jane Bennett (2010) defines thing power as "the curious ability of inanimate things to animate, act, and produce effects that are dramatic or subtle." This definition then brings about 4 important 'A' words that go into thing power and the action. (I apologize for all of the definitions in advance, but they're important.) 

1. actant: this has no specific will or determination. It doesn't require conatus (or an active impulse).
2. actor: this has intentionality and is more active in the action.
3. agent: someone who acts
4. agency: having the ability to affect.

The most important 'A' word to remember here is agency because according to Jane Bennett (2010), things have agency and the person using the thing is the agent. These things can go through demystification so that we can make them more transparent than they actually are and this can be done with the haptic suit. This creates the thing's assemblage ("the ad hoc groups of diverse elements of vibrant materials of all sorts.")

https://www.rakuten.com/shop/unique-bargains/product/s17050900wm0021/

As the magnifying glass says, let's break down the history of the haptic suit. As people began to use the OASIS more and more, they wanted a way to be more interactive and feel even more as if they were in this virtual world and not reality. This created the idea to make something that could take all of a person's senses out of the real world and into the OASIS, so an idea was the first step. The design itself needed to come from something that was full body and that is why I think the original haptic suits looked like the astronaut space suits with the wires and suction cups that connect to the body and nerves. This suit adapted over time to be the suits that people wear in Ready Player One that you can see above. These suits became more spandex like and fit right over the skin. We can see that when Wade describes taking one off in the second part of the book. He says that he has to peel the suit off, but be careful enough so that he does not ruin the inside of the suit (Cline 2011). 

The suit itself helps to create the dystopian society by taking the person outside of the real world more so than they could before. It has helped in the degradation of the environment and society by allowing someone to completely submerse themselves away from the true problems of the world. 

The suit itself relates to the gloves, goggles, and electronics that all work together to create realistic feelings. The human inside of the haptic suit is the agent using the object and giving it the ability to have the effects that it does. 

This object does not have the ability to speak or act on its own, but when connected to the world of the OASIS, as said before, it creates feelings that are so real that some people may not be able to distinct the fake world from the real one. 

Finally, the invention of the haptic suit was an important one for this society. It created a larger separation between those who had money and those who didn't because it is an expensive investment to add to the OASIS. It also creates environments. In the case of Wade, he is no longer in his dark, one room apartment when he wears the suit and is on the OASIS. 

OASIS Logo 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427208714646635366/

Overall, the haptic suit was not always something that was attainable for Wade and may not have even been apart of his quest. However, after finding the first key, a door was opened for Wade in the OASIS and real life because he finally had money that was in his control. He used it to invest in equipment that would aid in his quest and that investment included the haptic suit. Not even just one suit, but two so that he could trade one out when it was dirty. He used the suit to give himself an experience as close to real life as if he actually went out into the world and did it himself. This experience allowed for him to then come to the conclusion, at the end, that he might just exit out of the OASIS every now and then to get something out of life beyond the virtual world. 

*Author's Note
To give this book an honest review, I wasn't really feeling it at the beginning. It did not have things that interested me, but as the story and action picked up, my interest grew. I wound up enjoying the adventure that Wade went on even if I wasn't a fan of the characters themselves. The book is not that long and an easy read, but if you'd prefer, you can watch the movie (Find trailer here). Do be advised that the movie and book are VERY different, plot and everything. Therefore, do proceed with caution!

References

Bennett, Jane. 2010. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press. 

Cline, Ernest. 2011. Ready Player One. New York: Crown Publishers.

The Hunger Games as Panem's Popular Culture

The Hunger Games is a dystopian world where there is one source of power, the Capital, and individual power is drained from the citizens and districts as a whole. The video below can give you an explanation of Panem's geographical structure as well as the history of the country and the power that the Capital holds.

Once the country becomes stable once again, a hierarchy is placed within all of Panem. President Snow and the Capital (Gamemakers, Advisors to the President, etc.) are at the very top. Then, you have the citizens of the Capital and just below them, the recruiters like Effie. Just above those of the districts, you have the winners of the Hunger games, who don't seem to escape the arena. Finally, you have the districts. This hierarchy is pictured below and does include the District 13 because even though they have been nearly exterminated from Panem and are living underground.

https://www.pinterest.com/offsite/?token=666-206&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdatascholars.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F03%2Fhierarchy-pyramids-feudalism-in.html&pin=137570963597150444&client_tracking_params=CwABAAAAEDIxMjA2MjY3NzU2ODAwODEA~0

This system ensures that there is a vertically integrated system (O'Brien & Szeman 2019). This type of system consists of a board or executive at the top, aka President Snow, and then assemblage according to a complex division of labor. Each specific job assigned to each district creates an environment that the citizens must stick too. Additionally, because of the geographical layout seen in the video above, there is great separation between the districts and that creates a panoptic structure for the Capital where they have the technology to watch everyone, but no one can communicate to see how the other districts are fairing (Foucault 2008). This helps to ensure structure, discipline, and limited uprisings for nearly 75 years.

However, there is also a hierarchy between the districts themselves. Some are treated much better than others and this makes them more willing to listen to and accept the Capital's propaganda. That hierarchy can be seen in the photo below.

https://wikieducator.org/English/THG-JJJJGovtControl

These hierarchies all play into the environment that the Capital has created in order to control and manipulate the public. O'Brien and Szeman (2019) explore how the cultural separation can impact those who are lower in the pyramid as well as those who are higher up. For instance, in the district hierarchy, there is the Capital at the top. These people represent the upper class that O'Brien and Szeman refer to. Other than President Snow, these people are generally carefree about what is going on below them. They may sometimes interact with those in the middle class (Districts 1, 2, and 4 as well as potentially 3 because of their efforts to technology in the Capital). The interaction is even further from those on the last two tiers in the picture above because unless the people from here are the tributes entering the Capital, reporting to the Hunger Games. Those on the second and third tier often provide the surveillance of the lower districts. Many come from District 2 and therefore act in the role that the middle class does in "History of Popular Culture." As peacekeepers, they keep the low class from intermingling any higher than their District's status as well as keep order. This is what the middle class did during the Industrial Revolution with the lower class. They kept them out of their  areas by creating separate towns and policing street games so that the lower class did not get any ideas.

The use of the districts altogether also shows a shift between wide open fields to fences and then buildings and streets. The new arrangement keeps the citizens from coming together in a way that the Capital cannot take on for a very long time. That is until the fall of the arena in the 75th Hunger Games when a real chance for nationwide rebellion to occur. 

The Hob in District 12

https://historymaniacmegan.com/2016/02/13/the-hunger-games-the-musical-the-hob/

However, within the districts, specifically District 12, the hierarchy was not as strict. Yes, there was the Peacekeepers, town officials, merchant class, and those in the Seam, but District 12 worked different than the others. Their lives more so replicated those of the land owners and laborers in the 18th century (O'Brien & Szeman 2019). The land owners wanted the laborers to work hard, but in order to get the most efficient work, they have to tolerate the play of the laborers so they never thought that they could rise up because of being oppressed. The peacekeepers and government officials let the Hob continue on even though it was illegal. They didn't arrest and punish Gale and Katniss for hunting because they benefitted from the catches. The Capital may look down upon this greatly, but in District 12, the more relaxed way of life worked and that's why it resembles the land owner/laborer relationship.

This relationship did not continue. At the beginning of Catching Fire, President Snow assigns new peacekeepers to District 12 and they are much more strict. They burn down the Hob and enforce strict curfews. They even reinstate the whole concept of the town square where public beatings and executions occur. These are things that District 12 has not seen in years. This sudden change is what manipulates the public into being completely subdued by the Capital. The rebellious acts subside and Katniss takes the message that is being given to her. Not to mention the reinforcement of a panoptic society because President Snow shows Katniss images of her movements and whereabouts that she knew imagined President Snow to see. 

Katniss and Peeta...Free At Last

http://getyourimage.club/resize-15-february.html

In the end, the Capital does fall and their geographical divide is put to an end so that, I assume, people can roam about freely. This shows the overall failure of a panoptic society because people who are watched and severely surveilled are not going to be happy in the long run and that is shown throughout Panem (Foucault 2008). Even so, while in power, the Capital does a good job of creating an environment where they can force people to watch the shows, messages, and events that they want and create a sense of fear and worry that keeps people separated and too scared to say anything negative about the Capital. The Hunger Games series does a good job to show the extremes of an upper class oppression  over a larger lower class that has little power to do anything. 

*Author's Note

Interested in getting a feel for what each Hunger Games movie is about (There are 4!)? Watch these trailers and then decide if you want to read the books or watch the movies (I highly recommend the books first) 

• The Hunger Games 
• Catching Fire
• Mockingjay: Part 1
• Mockingjay: Part 2

References

Collins, Suzanne. 2009. The Hunger Games. Scholastic.

Foucault, Michel. 2008. "Panopticism." Discipline & Punishment. Indiana University Press.

Lawrence, Francis (Director). (2013). Catching Fire. USA: Lionsgate. 

Lawrence, Francis (Director). (2014). Mockingjay – Part 1. USA: Lionsgate.

Lawrence, Francis (Director). (2014). Mockingjay – Part 2. USA: Lionsgate.

O’Brien, Susie & Imre Szeman. 2019. “History of Popular Culture.” Popular Culture: A User’sGuide. Langara College.