The geekosystem: Adam Hyde and Julian Priest, with David Merritt

Many of us have memories, now reduced to nostalgic reminiscence, of the first time we persuaded our family’s Sinclair ZX Spectrum to move a glowing green pixel a centimetre or two to the left. At this moment we experienced the magic of programmed motion. Too quickly these early machines disappeared into obsolescence and the desire for faster and more became the dominant feature of human computer relationships, as we succumbed to the lure of the next techno-gadget. In the early twenty-first century it is essential to think about the technological footprints we are leaving in our wake as we continuously upgrade, discard and move on. In the geekosystem, Adam Hyde, Julian Priest and David Merritt forced a reconsideration of these one-way economics of technodevelopment. Socially, economically, and environmentally they gave us pause to reconsider—not simply possibilities for reuse and recycling but the very physical and emotional engagements that we have with these technologies.