TechSmart 121, October 2013 TechSmart 132, September 2014 | Page 49

GAMES

The Ice Age
BEFORE THE INTERNET, PEOPLE

WERE FORCED TO BEHAVE
STUPIDLY IN FRONT OF ONLY

A SMALL GROUP OF FRIENDS,
WRITES DEEP FRIED MAN

T

he internet offers human beings a
choice. It is a source of limitless
information, and so we can choose
to spend our time researching modern
philosophy, or expanding our knowledge of
quantum physics. The fact that we instead
choose to look at pics of cats and check to see
if Jay-Z and Beyoncé are still an item says a lot
about us. Or rather, it says one thing about us That we are stupid.
Nothing encapsulated that stupidity
more than the recent rise of
Neknomination. Invented, as stupid
things often are, by a drunken
Australian, the Neknomination
involves downing alcohol, often
accompanied by the performance
of a life-threatening, strange or
otherwise mind-numbingly asinine
stunt. As you may expect, it
became a huge viral success.
Now, Neknomination has
been surpassed by the ice
bucket challenge. Pouring
a bucket of ice water over
your own head is not a
significantly more intelligent
or sophisticated action
than downing an alcoholic
beverage, but somehow the
ice bucket challenge comes
across as far more noble
than its predecessor.
First of all, it’s meant to raise
awareness for Lou Gehrig’s
disease, with those nominated
having the option of performing
the challenge or forfeiting and
donating a hundred dollars to the
ALS Association charity. Attach a
charitable cause to an action, no
matter how unjustifiable, and that
action suddenly seems selfless
and philanthropic.

September 2014 | TechSmart

Whether it’s tempting hypothermia, as in this
case, or growing the kind of facial hair, as with
Movember, that would usually identify you
as a possible threat to the wellbeing of small
children, no-one can resist a dumb challenge
when there’s a charity involved.
And, unlike the Neknomination, which is usually
taken up by those who previously had an
extremely small chance of being nominated for
anything other than a Darwin Award, the list of
those who have succumbed to the ice bucket
challenge reads like Time’s 50 Most Influential
People. The ice bucket challenge is, therefore,
a phenomenon that opens up a variety of deep,
philosophical questions.

IF IT’S FOR A GOOD CAUSE, IS IT OKAY IF I
STILL FIND IT REALLY, REALLY STUPID?
Your choices are donating a hundred dollars
to the cause or pouring ice water over your
own head. Doesn’t that make you a better
person if you refuse the nomination, firstly
because you donate money to a good cause
and secondly because you don’t have to suffer
the humiliation of large amounts of people
watching you pour ice water over yourself?
Couldn’t the likes of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey
and Justin Bieber afford to fork out the hundred
bucks? And, if so, are they not maybe doing it
just because they don’t want to feel left out, like
if you refused to join the pile-on in high school?
But the most pressing question is, where do
we draw the line? If we were told that filming
ourselves wearing nothing but a g-string and
crocks, riding on a unicycle